MEASURING STABLE MANURE. 75 



bargain, and in loading and hauling the manure. If 

 a "load" is sold at a certain price, with the under- 

 standing that "load" means all that the buyer's 

 team can draw, it is the buyer' s privilege to keep 

 strong, well-fed horses, and well-greased capacious 

 wagons, and to pick out a time of good roads for the 

 job of hauling. Usually manure can be bought 

 cheaper by the two or three horse load than by the 

 one-horse load, for the one horse draws half wagon 

 and half manure, while each additional horse con- 

 centrates his strength upon pulling manure. 



How can the manure be measured? The manure- 

 buying farmer is usually an expert in estimating 

 the weight of his load. A span of ordinary 1,000 lb. 

 horses, as usually kept in our rolling sections, and 

 on roads by no means too good, can just handle a 

 2,000 lb. load on wheels with comparative ease, while 

 two tons or over are not too much for heavy horses 

 on smooth, nearly level roads. More can be loaded 

 and easily hauled on good sleighing. 



The bulk of the manure must of course be the 

 chief guide in estimating its weight. A cord of 

 average barnyard manure (128 cubic feet) weighs 

 about 4,500 pounds, so that a ton of such manure 

 contains about fifty-seven cubic feet. To estimate the 

 weight of a pile of manure, multiply the figures 

 representing average length, width and height, and 

 divide by fifty-seven. This will give you the num- 

 ber of tons in the heap. A wagon or sleigh box 

 twelve feet long and three feet wide, loaded with 

 manure nearly two feet high (allowing for loose 

 packing) contains a good plump ton— more, if the 

 manure is wet and compact, less perhaps, it consist- 

 ing largely of dry coarse litter. 



In the computation of the commercial value of 



