GRAYLING INSTITUTE. 331 



Farm stock should be looked upon as machines for manufacturing animal 

 products from the crops of the farm, and strict economy demands that large 

 machines should not be used when smaller and less expensive machinery will 

 equally answer the purpose. Among the breeds of cattle the Devons may be 

 mentioned as particularly adapted to the Ifghter soils. The Red Polled breed, 

 which has not been introduced to any extent in this country, appears to me to 

 be well adapted to the light soils of the plains. 



They are without horns, as their name implies, and of bright red color. 

 In size they would be classed with the smaller breeds, and they have the 

 desired qualities of hardiness, early maturity, and ability to thrive on moder- 

 ate fare. As a dairy breed they have few equals and they fatten readily, 

 furnishing beef of good quality. As a general purpose animal they give 

 promise of usefulness on lands of less than average fertility. 



The most economical, and on the whole, the most desirable fertilizer for 

 the plain lands is, in my opinion, barn-yard manure. 



It has many advantages over the commercial fertilizers in market, particu- 

 larly on lands like those under discussion. 



Its supply of of organic materials improves the physical condition of the 

 soil, and retains water near the surface where it is needed for plant growth,, 

 and thus prevents the loss of fertilizing materials by leaching. 



At Rothamsted there was seldom any discharge of water from the tile drain 

 under the barn-yard manure plot, while the drains under the plots tnat were- 

 chemically manured were often running with a decided loss of valuable 

 nitrates. 



When live stock is provided to consume the crops grown, the value of the 

 manure supply will depend upon the quality of the food, or in other words, 

 upon the rotation of crops adopted and the purchased supply of feed. 



As has been already stated the manure contains a large proportion of the 

 fertilizing constituents of the food consumed. 



The following table presents, approximately, the value of the manure pro- 

 duced by one ton of the food enumerated, when fed to average farm stock. 



The values are based upon the market price of the essential fertilizing 

 constituents in the form of commercial manures. 



