IMPORTANCE OF RAISING LIVE-STOCK 27! 



nitrogen and this fact should impress one with the necessity of 

 absorbing and saving the urine. The phosphoric acid is only 

 present in traces in the urine of horses and cattle but is quite 

 considerable in the liquid portions from sheep and swine. 



Value of Manure. The following are average values of farm 

 manures when nitrogen is valued at 15 cents a pound, phosphoric 

 acid at 7 cents and potash at 4^/2 cents :* 



Value 

 per ton 



Horse $ 2.49 



Cow 2.43 



Sheep 4-25 



Pig 3 20 



Continued Cropping Exhausts the Soil. In the New England 

 States the continual selling of farm crops has exhausted the soil 

 on many of the farms of a great deal of its fertility. In some 

 localities, 150-200 Ibs. of commercial fertilizer formerly pro- 

 duced as good returns as 1000-1200 Ibs. do now. Because of the 

 continual selling of farm crops without maintaining soil fertility, 

 we have many abandoned farms in the older sections of this 

 country. 



Now in order to get this valuable fertilizer, farm manure, to 

 keep up the fertility of the soil, we must raise live-stock or pur- 

 chase manure. 



If live-stock are kept on the farm and fed the farm products, 

 80-90 per cent, of the fertilizer value of the crops may be saved 

 and put back on the land and the full feed value may be realized. 



Idle Lands may be Made Profitable. The feeding of live-stock 

 makes it profitable to pasture lands that are too poor for the 

 growing of the ordinary cultivated crops. In this way the land 

 that is ordinarily idle may be utilized. 



Reducing Freight Charges. Live-stock create a market for 

 selling farm crops in a more condensed form. It takes about 

 7-12 Ibs. of farm products to produce a pound of gain and by 

 feeding the farm products to live-stock the weight of these prod- 

 ucts is reduced 1/7 to 1/12, which is a great saving in the 

 freight charges of marketing. 



1 Roberts, "The Fertility of the Land." 



