366 ANNUAL, REPORT OF THE Off. Doc. 



The poorer tlie ration tlio more compJelcly is its plant food re- 

 Tnoved, so that, for instance, yonng stock wintered on straw, wonld 

 produce manure almost lacking in plant food, wliile full-grown 

 steers, fattened on linseed meal, furnish the richest of stable 

 manure. Farm animals retuni to the manure pile from 60 to 75 

 per cent, of the fertilizing value of their food. The average of all 

 farm animals is about SO per cent. 



The above figures represent the amount of plant food produced by 

 the animal. How much of this the farmer will actually supply to 

 his crops depends largely on how he takes care of the manure. 

 Some loss is unavoidable and the farmer's problem is how to re- 

 duce this loss to a minimum. The largest part of the loss will be in 

 tlie liquid part of the manure, and the fact cannot be too often or 

 too strongly urged that this loss is one of the worst wastes of the 

 farm. The liquid manure has a high fertilizing value. The figures 

 just given show that a pound of liquid is worth fully two pounds 

 of solid, but as the solid manure produced in a year weighs about 

 twice as much as the liquid, it follows that the yearly value of the 

 two is about equal, and he who allows the liquid part of the manure 

 to run to waste is losing half of the plant food produced on his 

 farm. 



Special attention needs to be called to the comparatiA'e composi- 

 tion of the liquid and solid parts of the manure. The total nitrogen 

 of the food leaves the body about half in the liquid and half in the 

 solid; the phosphoric acid is found almost entirely in the solid, and 

 the potash as completely in the liquid. These facts have had a 

 profound influence on Pennsylvania agriculture. Nearly all the 

 soils of this State are poorly supplied with phosphoric acid, and if 

 this ingredient was easily lost from the manure, the settled, older 

 portions of the State would years ago have become dependent on 

 the fertilizer bag for their supply of phosphoric acid. But fortu- 

 nately nearly all the phosphoric acid of the food leaves the body 

 in a form not soluble in water, and is saved in the manure and re- 

 turned to the land. Nevertheless, these same long cultivated areas 

 have been so robbed of their phosphoric acid by the selling from the 

 farm of wheat, hay, milk and cheese, that there are few farms in 

 the State to-day that are not seriously in need of phosphates. 



The fact that the potash of the food leaves the body in the liquid 

 part of the manure has been the most potent factor in producing the 

 present condition of fertility in Pennsylvania farms. Nature 

 was good to the farmer of Pennsylvania. She filled his soil 

 with plant food, and when he cleared off the forest he found a 

 soil of wonderful productiveness. Clover grew luxuriantly and 

 oxery Pennsylvania farmer knows that when he has a fine growth 

 of clover in the rotation, the success of the other crops is assured. 



