464 ANNUAL, REPORT! OF THE Off. Doc. 



a!*sumiug the average composition above given, of these cows, would 

 be equivalent to the 



Nitrogen contained in 398,204 tons of nitrate of soda. 

 Phosphoric acid contained in 290,000 tons of acid phosphate. 

 Potash contained in 93,901 tons of muriate of potash. 



If to these amounts were added the constituents contained in the 

 manures from 900,000 other cattle, 900,000 sheep, 600,000 horses 

 and 1,000,000 hogs, there would be, in round numbers, 750,000 tons 

 of nitrate of soda, and the proportionate amounts of the other con- 

 stituents, or more than twice as much nitrogen as is now purchased 

 in the fertilizers bought. Or, in the State of Pennsylvania alone, 

 the constituents contained in the manures of the farm animals, 

 would, if existing in commercial forms, be worth more than is now 

 paid by the entire United States for the constituents in commercial 

 fertilizer. Obviously it is a question of importance. Manure is 

 one of the most valuable assets of the farm, yet because of the char- 

 acter and composition of manures, the chances are that even under 

 the best methods of handling and use, but a small proportion of the 

 nitrogen at least is recovered in future crops. In other words, the 

 question of the utilization of the constituents in manures is two- 

 fold: First, we have the losses that are liable to occur previous to 

 the application of the manure upon the land; and second, the losses 

 that result from the lower availability of the constituents in the 

 residues of manures that have been badly handled. The losses 

 that may occur previous to applying to the land, are due to two 

 causes, first, fermentation, which results in the loss of nitrogen 

 only and which may be very considerable, and second, the losses 

 due to leaching, which affects all of the constituents, nitrogen, phos- 

 phoric acid and potash. In both these instances, the greatest loss 

 is liable to fall upon the constituent nitrogen, because when in com- 

 bination with organic substances, it will escape when changes take 

 place, which sets it free from that substance, and in the case of the 

 liquid portion of manures, the leaching will carry away the nitro- 

 gen that is in such combination as to be in liquid form. It is be- 

 cause of the lack of knowledge and the lack of appreciation of the 

 possible loss that may take place in these directions, that accounts 

 in part at least for the poor methods of management that are ob- 

 served throughout this and other states. 



We speak of the wastes of food value that are liable to occur 

 when hay is subjected to rain, or when corn-stalks are left in the 

 field unprotected from the rains and winds, and progressive farmers 

 are particularly careful to prevent losses from these sources, and 

 yet they will allow their manures to lie in the open yard to ferment, 

 and be subjected to all of the losses that will occur through fre- 

 quent saturation with water. The first loss can be seen and felt, 

 as it were, while the other is obscure from the sight, though actually 

 much greater in the aggregate than the other. Many experiments 

 have been conducted in this and other countries, both in reference to 

 the methods of preserving manure, as well as investigations concern- 

 ing their best use, and naturally the first point which is of the great- 

 est interest, is that which has to do with the preservation of the orig- 

 inal constituents, and necessarily in order that these efforts may 

 be properly conducted, it is necessary that we shall have definite 



