CHAPTER XI 

 MANURIAL VALUES OF FEEDING STUFFS 



Fertility in Feeds. When a farmer buys feed for his stock the 

 fertility which is contained therein is often not taken into considera- 

 tion, especially in the central or western States, where the supply 

 of fertility in the soil, as a rule, has not as yet been depleted by 

 continuous cropping. Farmers in the older sections of our country, 

 and in the countries of the Old World, who pay out enormous sums 

 of money annually for commercial fertilizers, are more likely to con- 

 sider the manurial value of feeding stuffs. In addition to furnishing 

 feed for farm animals, all plant materials supply valuable fertilizer 

 ingredients (nitrogen and mineral matter) which largely go into the 

 manure and aid in restoring the fertility of the farm land that has 

 been lost through the removal of agricultural crops. Under other- 

 wise similar conditions the feeds that furnish the largest quantities 

 of fertilizing ingredients should, therefore, be selected. We under- 

 stand by manurial value of feeds the value which these would have 

 if applied directly as manure on the land. This value is figured on 

 the basis of the amounts and cost of the three fertilizer constituents, 

 nitrogen, phosphoric acid, and potash, which have definite and fairly 

 constant market values. Table V in the Appendix shows that a ton 

 of alfalfa hay, e.g., contains 44 pounds of nitrogen, 10 pounds of 

 phosphoric acid, and 34 pounds of potash ; these amounts of fertilizer 

 constituents would be worth, at a low valuation (15 cents per pound 

 of nitrogen, 4 cents per pound of phosphoric acid and potash), $8.36 

 (Fig. 10 ).* 



If a farmer buys a ton of alfalfa hay, he therefore receives, in 

 addition to the energy for feeding purposes contained therein, an 

 amount of fertilizer constituents which would cost $8.36 if bought 

 in the form of commercial fertilizers. In the same way, the ferti- 

 lizer value of Indian corn would be $5.64; oats, $6.63; wheat bran, 

 $11.55; linseed meal, $18.75, and cotton-seed meal, $23.36. 



These figures make up a large proportion of the market values 

 of the feeds ; a study of them will show that the most expensive feeds, 

 which are all high-protein feeds, have, generally speaking, also the 



1 Present market prices vary considerably from the figures used in 

 these calculations. 



