46« vNNUAL KEPORT OF THE Off. Doc. 



a study of the value of the food as a fertilizer for the land, after it is 

 fed to the animal. While our farmers are devoting and spending 

 hard cash for fertilizers, there are countries that pay more attention 

 (and advisedly so) to the value of the food given to animals as a 

 fertilizer for the Land. Cotton seed meal, gluten meal, bran and many 

 other products should be fed with an eye opeu to the fertility that 

 they contain for the enriching of the land. 



A recent bulletin estimated that five-eighths of the plant food in 

 the manure of farm animals is contained in the liquids. A large part 

 of this liquid is lost through the barnyard on many farms. The 

 annual value of the manure of one cow is about $19.00, hence five- 

 eighths of $19.00 or $12.00 can easily be lost by many farmers if the 

 greatest care is not observed. 



In Germany premiums are offered for the best systems of taking 

 care of farm manure. The Pennsylvania farmers would do well and 

 reap a much larger profit from their farms if they would be more 

 painstaking with the farm manure as a fertilizer. 



Though no correct estimate of the value of farmyard manure can be 

 made, yet the following is an approximate value arrived at: The 

 value from cotton seed meal is about $28.00 per ton, linseed meal, 

 $20.00, beans $16,00, bran $12.00, clover hay $10.00, timothy hay 

 $4.84, corn meal $7.00, straw $3.00, and so on. 



The value of manures, however, depends not only upon the food, 

 but also upon the condition of the animal that makes it and the 

 fluctuation of the market. Just as soon as farmers can be induced 

 to experiment on their farms more, if only on a few small plots, 

 they will become converts to the many advantages in using Com- 

 mercial Fertilizers in forcing the land to give larger crops. We are 

 now learning that a greater value is contained in an insoluble Rock 

 Fertilizer than we were led to believe years ago. The preference is 

 given an insoluble phosphate that can be dissolved but slowly in the 

 soil, through the agency of the weak vegetable acids, but which will 

 accomplish the desired results if the farmer can afford to wait two 

 or three years for the return of his investment. Farmers, neverthe- 

 less, require soluble and immediately available plant foods if they 

 wish to realize in the shortest period of time and derive fair profits. 

 Insoluble or soluble, which is what we ask from our learned men. 



The output or sales of fertilizers by the manufacturers in the State 

 has been larger than for any previous year. Farmers are using more 

 fertilizing per acre on their farms or on their various crops and find 

 it pays them to do so. In Pennsylvania, it is said, almost five millions 

 were spent for fertilizers the last year. Some use as much as one ton 

 per acre. To show how rapidly, comparatively speaking, the fertilizer 

 sales are increasing, we can judge by noting the following output in 

 the little country of Australia since 1897. In 1897, 3,000 tons were 

 used; in 1898, 12*500 tons; in 1899, 16,500 tons; in 1900, 24,600 tons; 

 in 1901, 31,400 tons; in 1902, 37,500 tons; in 1903, 44,500 tons; in 1904, 

 52,000 tons and in 1905, 56,000 tons. This shows a constant gain in 

 the use of fertilizers, more than double in five years. Pennsyl- 

 vania shows a like increase. 



A fertilizer has two values, its commercial and agricultural value. 

 Its commercial value is determined by the market value of its con- 

 stituents and the cost of the labor required in preparing it for the 

 farmers' uge. The agricultural value of a fertilizer is the increase 



