202 HANDY-BOOK OF HUSBANDRY. 



" well, in making these estimates, to fall a little below, than to go 

 " above the real value) : — 



" Ammonia, 20 cents per pound. 



" Phosphoric acid, (insoluble,) 5 cents per pound. 



" Phosphoric acid, (soluble,) 14 cents per pound. 



" Potash, 5 cents per pound." 



Estimated at these rates, and supposing Dr. Voelcker's analysis 

 to be of an average sample of manure, the value per cord would 

 be:— 



Ammonia, 55 lbs. at 20c $11 00 



Soluble phosphoric acid, 13 " " 14.C I 82 



Insoluble " " 12 " " 5c 60 



Potash, 47 " " 5c 2 35 



$15 77 



Of course the only real dependence to be placed on this calcu- 

 lation is confined to the question of comparative value, when con- 

 sidering the relative advantages of different manures. Still, it 

 shows, unmistakably, that in all localities where manures are used 

 at all, that made on the farm is very much too valuable to be kept 

 under the eaves of a barn, or in a yard that will not protect it from 

 being washed away by the rain. 



It is difficult to believe that these four constituents of average 

 farm-yard manure are worth so much as the above estimate, espe- 

 cially when we consider that the value of the lime, sulphuric acid, 

 salt, and soda, of the very large amount of carbonaceous matter, 

 and all the mechanical effect of such manure, (greater than that of 

 any other,) are amply sufficient to repay all of the labor of handling 

 and of a long haul. 



Yet, is it not, after all, this very remarkable money value which 

 has so strengthened the opposition of " practice " to " science }" 

 The "good old stuff" has always been upheld by farmers as the 

 great manure, — almost the only one that is worth using. Those 

 who first commenced the advocacy of more scientific cultivation 

 were led away by the glittering promises of chemical analysis 

 of the soil and the plant, and believed that it would be possible 



