SOURCES OF FERTILIZING MATERIALS 57 



from this base, it has been shown that the manure from feeding a ton of wheat 

 bran will have a value of $12.50, and fed to milch cows will have 75 per cent, 

 of this value. While no such value is ever recovered, even with the best treat- 

 ment of the manure, these figures show the importance of the best care, since 

 the most costly part, the nitrogen, gets away so rapidly. The chief value of 

 the home-made manure is in the nitrogen it contains, and in the capacity 

 it has for the nitrification of its organic matter in the soil. It is this organic 

 matter in the stable and barnyard manure which gives it its chief advantage 

 over the commercial fertilizers. We can get nitrogen in a far more available 

 form in the fertilizers, but will lose the beneficial mechanical effect of the 

 organic matter in the manure. Still, although admitting the great value of 

 the home-made manure as a source of nitrogen, and the importance of saving 

 it in the best manner, I have long been of the opinion that there is too much 

 of a disposition on the part of some writers to make a sort of fetich of a 

 manure heap, and to advise the application of more labor than the manure 

 is worth to the piling, turning and composting of manure. The manure of 

 the farm, while a valuable thing, and an article not to be wasted, has not a 

 value that will repay the putting of the amount of labor on it which some ad- 

 vise. Take care of the manure, and get it as soon as possible, out on the land 

 where plants are waiting to use it. On a farm on which a proper rotation is 

 practiced there is always a place to spread the manure. In the North, where 

 it is impracticable to haul out the manure during the winter months, the best 

 way to save it is to have all animals in box stalls, or in covered barnyards, 

 with plenty of litter, allow the manure to be packed down under foot, and let 

 it remain undisturbed. In this condition it will not heat seriously and will 

 lose less than in any other way. But, by all means, abandon the silly practice 

 of throwing it out the stable windows, in piles, to heat and wash away in the 

 rain. 



The extent to which the keeping of live stock and the saving of manure 

 is neglected in the South Atlantic Cotton States would be amazing to the 

 farmers of the North and West, who have so long been brought up to consider 

 the feeding of stock and the handling of manure a necessary part of farm 

 life. Thousands of cotton farms in this section have no stock on them but the 

 mules that till the crop, and in many cases even the provender for these is 

 bought and hauled to the place. There is evidence in many sections, how- 

 ever, of improvement in this respect, and these conditions are usually found 

 among the tenant "croppers" rather than among the farm owners. Still, the 

 great need of the South Atlantic States is live stock. It has been stated by 

 competent authority that the States of North and South Carolina grow three 

 bales of cotton for every cow kept, while Texas, which produces the largest 



