138 ELEMENTS OF AGRICULTURE 



141. Factors Influencing the Value of Manure. Young 

 animals, poor animals, those producing a rich product, 

 as milk, or those doing hard work, usually digest their 

 food more fully, so that the manure is less valuable. If 

 the food is rich, the manure is improved. The manure 

 of different animals differs in value. That from poultry 

 is most valuable. Sheep manure is more valuable than 

 cow manure, chiefly because it is drier. The character 

 of bedding also influences the value of manure. Sawdust 

 and shavings are of no value, so that if they are used the 

 manure is not so valuable as when straw is used. If the 

 liquid portion is lost, if it ferments, or if it leaches, the 

 manure will be less valuable. 



142. Fertilizing Value of Food and of Manure. From 

 65 to 75 per cent of the nitrogen, phosphoric acid and potash 

 fed to cows is recovered in the manure, with fattening 

 animals 85 to 95 per cent is recovered. (See page 153.) 

 In general, it is safe to assume that three-fourths of the 

 fertility in the feed is recovered in the manure. This, 

 of course, assumes that the liquid portion is saved and 

 that leaching and other losses are prevented. 



This fact has an important bearing on farm manage- 

 ment. Cottonseed meal, dried blood and tankage are used 

 as fertilizers and as feed. The meal is fed to cattle. The 

 dried blood and tankage are fed to hogs and poultry. 

 It is usually more profitable to feed these to animals and 

 use the manure on the land rather than purchase fertil- 

 izers. In general, it is more profitable to purchase fertility 

 as feed for stock than to buy it in a fertilizer bag. A 

 good many eastern farmers feed sheep and beef cattle 

 not so much for the profit that the animals give directly as 



