SECTION XVI. BARNYARD MANURE 



A FARM with many animals is generally rich and produc- 

 tive because of the supply of manure. Experience in all 

 countries shows that this material is an excellent means 

 for enriching all kinds of soil. Some chemical fertilizers, 

 however, are beneficial only on certain soils. 



Manure has these good effects : (i) It makes the earth 

 loose and mellow, allowing the roots and air to come into 

 contact with all parts of the soil. (2) After it has rotted, 

 it enables the soil to hold moisture in dry weather. (3) It 

 furnishes plant-food to the roots of growing crops. (4) It 

 adds needed germs and causes the beneficial ones already 

 in the soil to thrive and multiply, thus helping the crop. 



Richest manure from richest food. Barnyard manure 

 is -composed largely of ground-up parts of plants, and con- 

 tains very nearly what the plants contained. The richest 

 is made by feeding cotton-seed meal and other foods rich 

 in nitrogen. Hay from cowpeas and other legumes makes 

 better manure than that from shucks, straw, or grass. 



Fertilizing crops by buying food for live-stock. A 

 farmer may buy 100 pounds of cotton-seed meal and place 

 it in the ground as fertilizer. It would pay him better first 

 to feed it to cattle and then to use the manure. If all of 

 this, solid and liquid, were carefully saved, it would have 

 the same value as a fertilizer as 80 pounds of cotton-seed 



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