44 BOARD OF AGRICULTURE. 



the figures given ; and tluit when fed properly there is in it more of 

 feeding vahie, which you can get out of it b}- feeding it to your 

 stock, than j'ou realize out of a ton of English hay. 



[Several of the farmers present testified that that was in accord- 

 ance with their experience.] 



Sec. Gilbert. So we find, when we come down to practical 

 ex[)erience, that our intelligent, thoughtful farmers are proving 

 every day of their lives the correctness of the figures which scien- 

 tific men are giving to us. 



I want to call your attention, while we are upon the subject of 

 fertilizing material, to some of these other products. Here we see 

 that a ton of fodder beets gives only eighty-seven cents worth of 

 manure ; sugar beets eighty-four ; turnips eighty-seven. These are 

 three of our root crops, you will see, which are ver}' low in the value 

 of the fertilizing material resulting from their feeding. The straws 

 give more ; and the grains, you will see, leave considerable value in 

 fertilizing materials. Peas are a crop which is sometimes raised in 

 Maine, and a crop, too, which may well receive more attention than 

 it is receiving at the hands of our farmers, as a feeding crop, espec- 

 iall}' in connection with oats, raising the old crop of oats and 

 peas that was formerl}' in practice years ago. From a ton of peas 

 fed out the resulting manure is worth twelve dollars ; and those peas 

 are a rich feeding crop, easily grown, furnishing a goodly yield to 

 the acre, besides leaving, as 3'ou will see, a rich manure for the 

 purpose of contributing to the growth of succeeding crops. 



Wheat bran is a fodder that is being used to a great extent. Fed 

 out to stock, it leaves as a result eleven dollars and thirt3'-seven 

 cents worth of fertilizing material for the benefit of the farm, — a 

 figure but little below what the bran can be bought for, some years, 

 in the market. 



Question. Isn't what is left of the bran worth more than what 

 the animal gets out of it? 



Sec. GiLBEUT. That is always the case with all these fodders. I 

 said that never more than twenty' per cent, is appropriated b}' the 

 animal. 



Cotton seed meal is given a high manurial value after being fed. 

 It is a fact that cotton seed meal is profitable as a fertilizer, applied 

 directly to the soil, without being fed, and many car loads are now 

 being used in that way. It is found to be more profitable, many 



