74 PRACTICAL FARM CHEMISTRY. 



state had a fertilizing value of about $2.50, is still 

 worth about $2.00; more, if from highly -fed animals, 

 and kept under shelter, or otherwise well-i^reserved; 

 less, if spread in thin layer and long exposed to 

 leaching and soaking, or if originating from straw- 

 fed animals, or if sawdust, soil or sand has been the 

 only bedding material used. 



The price asked by the seller of stable manures is 

 rarely regulated by the quality or value of the 

 article itself, but invariably by local conditions of 

 supply and demand. It is rarely the case, that the 

 buyer is required to pay a price approximating the 

 real value of the article. Consequently good stable 

 manure, where obtainable, is often or usually one of 

 the very cheapest forms in which the farmer or gar- 

 dener can procure the plant foods needed for his 

 crops. Often one finds a real bonanza. 



One of my neighbors, for instance, bought the 

 past season in our immediate vicinity 100 two-horse 

 loads of rotted cow manure for fifty dollars, or at the 

 rate of fifty cents a load. He told me that he drew 

 nearly three tons to the load, his span of horses 

 being heavy and strong, and a rack being adjusted 

 to the wagon box. The plant foods in such a fifty- 

 cent load were probably worth over five dollars. 

 Seeing his advantage he has since engaged all the 

 manure the party has to sell, but there are other, 

 fully or nearly as favorable chances to be found by 

 the shrewd manure buyer in many localities. 



In some places fifty cents is asked for a "load," 

 in others the ruling price is one dollar, seldom more, 

 but the size of the load is usually left to the discre- 

 tion of the purchaser who may put on all that his 

 horse or horses can draw. Here again is consider- 

 able latitude for good judgment, both in making the 



