104 Practical Farming 



loosened up and the air admitted it should at once go to 

 the field. In covered manure yards, where there are cat- 

 tle enough to keep the manure trampled down as made, 

 there will be less loss than in an uncovered yard, but 

 manure thrown in heaps in a covered yard will lose more 

 rapidly than in an open one. We have said that the 

 urine of the domestic animals has a far higher manurial 

 value than the solid excrement. Few farmers realize this. 

 Carefully made analyses show that the urine of the horse 

 has plant food in it that makes it worth $5.37 per ton, 

 while the solid excrement is worth by the same analyses 

 $2.23 per ton. The urine of the cow is worth $4.37 per 

 ton, and the solid dropping but $1.49 per ton. 



It has been estimated from carefully made experiments 

 that the manure of one horse is worth annually, from the 

 market price of the nitrogen, phosphoric acid, and potash 

 it contains, $24.06 per year; that of the cow is worth 

 $32.25 per year; that of a sheep is worth $2.29 per year, 

 and that of a pig $3.06 per year. Where a large stock is 

 kept, and half the value of the manure is lost by fermen- 

 tation and leaching, we can readily see how much the 

 farmer is losing, and why so many farms get poorer in- 

 stead of richer. The average barnyard manure, as ascer- 

 tained by a number of investigators, will contain plant 

 food to the value of $2.20 per ton. In addition to the 

 waste of manure in yard and stable there is commonly a 

 great waste in its apphcations when spread by hand, some 

 spots getting an excess in the large lumps while other 

 spots are not covered. It is here that the value of the 

 manure-spreader comes in, giving a more uniform coat 

 and making the manure go much further than if spread 



