54 CROP GROWING AND CROP FEEDING 



that they bring to the soil no weed seeds. The salt which they contain may 

 act as a solvent of matters in the soil of value to plant life, and be to some 

 extent serviceable in destroying fungi and insects in the soil. 



BARN AND STABLE MANURES. 



The greatest source of organic nitrogen on the farm is, of course, the 

 manure made from the droppings of domestic animals. The care and proper 

 use of the home-made deposit lies at the very foundation of successful farm- 

 ing. No purchase of commercial fertilizers can fully atone financially for a 

 waste of this home-made article. And yet there is no one thing on the farm 

 generally so badly managed, and subjected to so much waste, as the barnyard 

 and stable manure. It has been estimated that if the manure annually pro- 

 duced by all the domestic animals kept in the United States was properly 

 saved, its total value would be over two thousand millions of dollars. Prof. 

 Eoberts of Cornell has estimated that on a farm on which are kept 4 horses, 20 

 cows, 50 sheep and 10 pigs, there should be produced during seven months of 

 the winter and colder part of the year at least $250 worth of manure, valuing 

 it at the rate paid for phosphoric acid, potash and nitrogen in commercial 

 fertilizers. And it is further estimated that one-third of the value of all the 

 manure made is annually lost through bad management. This means an 

 annual loss of nearly seven hundred millions of dollars in the United States, 

 or an average annual loss on each farm of $83.33. This means that to keep 

 up the waste made from selling crops this loss makes necessary the purchase 

 of that much more of plant food to replace the loss, if fertility is to be main- 

 tained. Every ton of hay sold from the farm removes plant food to the value 

 of $5.10 if bought in a commercial fertilizer. Every ton of wheat carries 

 off from the farm plant food to the value of $7.75. Or, as Dr. Armsby has 

 said, "A farmer who sells, for example, $10 worth of wheat sells with it about 

 $2,58 worth of the fertility of his soil. In other words, when he receives his 

 $1 this amount does not represent the net receipts of the transaction, for he 

 has parted with $2.58 of his capital, that is, of the stored up fertility 

 of his soil ; and if he does not take this into account he makes the same mis- 

 take a merchant would should he estimate his profits by the amount of cash 

 which he received and neglect to take an account of stock/' But if, instead 

 of selling all the products of the farm, a large part is retained and fed thereon 

 to animals and the droppings carefully saved, a large part of this fertility is 

 retained on the farm. Then, too, where the entire product of a farm is not 

 only fed upon it, but some food which was grown on other land is purchased 

 for animals, the farm may be kept improving without the purchase of plant 



