76 Report of the Acting Director and Chemist of the 



the food passes into the manure ; in the case of fattening or work- 

 ing animals, from 90 to 95 per cent. 



Influence of Food upon Manure. — In the case of any one class 

 of animals, the value of the manure is, as a rule, more dependent 

 upon the kind of food than any other one condition. It is a serious 

 but not uncommon mistake among farmers to suppose that the pro- 

 cess of animal digestion adds something to the food. While the 

 food matei'ials are changed more or less completely and appear in 

 the dung and urine in forms different from those existing in the 

 food before it was eaten, and while these forms are, in general, more 

 available as plant-food than the forms existing in the original food, 

 still there can be in the excrement no more nitrogen, potash, phos- 

 phoric acid, etc., than there was in the food eaten, and, in most 

 cases, as will be noticed later, there is some loss of fertilizing 

 materials. 



Relative Yalue of Fei'tilizing Materials in Different Classes of 

 Foods. — The amount of nitrogen, phosphoric acid, and potash in ma- 

 nure depends upon the amount of these materials in the food. From 

 the table given below, it can be seen that concentrated food, such as 

 meat-scrap, cottonseed-meal, linseed meal, and wheat bran must 

 yield richest manures, Next to these foods, would come leguminous 

 plants, such as clover, alfalfa, etc. The cereals, such as wheat, oats, 

 corn, etc., would follow third. Root crops would come last. 



Table Showing Approximate Fertilizing Yalue of Some 

 Common Foods. 



KIND of food. 



Value of nitro- 

 gen in iiOOO 

 pounds. 



Value of phos- 

 phoric acid 

 in 3000 pounds. 



Value of pot- 

 ash in 3000 

 pounds. 



Total ferti- 

 lizing value 

 in 2000 

 pounds. 



Meat scrap 



Cottonseed-meal. 



Linseed-meal 



Grluten-meal 



Wheat bran 



Clover hay (red) 



Alfalfa hay 



Wheat 



Oats 



Corn-meal 



Timotby-hay 



Wheat straw 



Skim-milk 



Corn ensilage ... 

 Turnips , 



$33 00 



21 20 



16 50 



1.^) 00 



8 00 



6 20 



6 50 



7 10 

 6 20 

 4 75 

 3 75 

 1 80 

 1 50 



85 

 55 



$1 80 



1 40 



5 



1 60 



2 20 

 1 70 



60 

 60 

 40 

 90 

 50 

 20 

 35 

 40 



^35 00 



26 00 



19 70 



15 35 



12 50 



8 80 



8 70 



8 60 



7 60 



5 75 



5 20 



2 45 



2 00 



1 30 



1 05 



