MANURE 



MAPANIA 



1993 



Animals fed on a highly nitrogenous or narrow 

 ration (as 1:4), as were the pigs in the above investi- 

 gations, consume large quantities of water and produce 

 a large amount of manure, the weight of which often 

 exceeds the amount of food consumed; while those 

 fed on a carbonaceous or wide ration (as 1:9) consume 

 comparatively little water and produce less weight of 

 manure. 



Some conditions affecting the production of manure 

 and its value may be stated as follows: If the plant- 

 food value of manure is computed at the price that is 

 paid for the same constituents in fertilizers, it is found 

 that the value of manure produced by animals is equal 

 to 30 to 50 per cent of the cost of their food. Young 

 animals produce poorer manure than mature ones. 

 The excrements of animals which give a product, as 

 milk or young, are poorer than those from non-pro- 

 ductive animals. The more abundant the ration the 

 less complete the digestion and the greater the value 

 of the manure produced. Concentrated and nitrog- 

 enous foods result in richer and more valuable excre- 

 ments than unconcentrated or carbonaceous foods. 

 Liberal salting and excessively succulent foods dimin- 

 ish the value a ton of manures. The amount and kind 

 of bedding affect not only the quantity but the value 

 a ton. Animals kept in cold quarters drink little water, 

 digest their food closely and produce a manure rela- 

 tively small in amount and poor in quality. 



Rich manures are relatively more valuable to the 

 unit of contained fertility than poor ones, because their 

 fertilizing constituents are more quickly available 

 than are those of poor ones. Plants receive greater 

 benefit from extra nourishment in the early stages of 

 their growth than when they approach maturity. 

 Coarse low-grade manures should be weathered or 

 rotted to improve their availability, even though some 

 loss may occur. A unit of plant-food in high-grade 

 fertilizers or well-preserved rotted manures is worth 

 more than in low grades. The valuable constituents 

 in farm-manures are not so quickly available as they 

 are in high-grade fertilizers, but they have an addi- 

 tional value, since they furnish humus, lighten the 

 soil, inoculate it with nitrifying organisms and 

 increase its power to hold moisture, while assisting in 

 liberating the mineral constituents of the soil. The 

 value of manure as set down below is determined by 

 investigations during the winter months, and the 

 nitrogen, phosphoric acid and potash are computed at 

 15, 6 and 4}/ cents a pound, respectively. The indirect 

 beneficial effects of manure are considered an equal 

 offset for the slightly less availability of their plant- 

 food constituents as compared with fertilizers: 



Kind of manure. Value a ton. 



Sheep $3 30 



Calves 2 17 



Pigs 3 29 



Cows 2 02 



Horses 2 21 



Limited amounts of bedding were used in the tests from 

 which the foregoing figures were made. 



Kind of animal. Value a year. 

 Fowls (1,000 pounds of) $51 10 



Sheep 



Calves 



Pigs 



Cows 



Horses 



26 09 

 24 45 

 60 88 

 29 27 



27 74 



Usually these animals are kept in the stables but half of 

 the year, and inevitably some loss will occur; therefore 

 it will be safe to estimate the recovered value a year 

 at one-third to one-fourth of the above. 



Heretofore the waste of the valuable constituents of 

 manures in the United States has been very great. 

 Until recently, large open barnyards have been the 

 rule. In the northern and central parts of the United 

 States the rainfall exceeds 30 inches per annum. Many 



barnyards contain from J^ to J- acre. One inch of 

 rainfall equals 113 tons of water an acre. If this be mul- 

 tiplied by thirty, a fairly accurate estimate is secured 

 of the water which largely passes through or over the 

 manure and carries off its most soluble and hence most 

 valuable constituents. The loss of value in manures 

 exposed at Ithaca, New York, in loose heaps of two to 

 ten tons, during six months, was as follows: 



Per cent 



1889. Horse-manure 42 



1890. Horse-manure 62 



1890. Cow-manure 30 



1889. Mixed, compacted 9 



Even in horticulture, where a more liberal use of 

 manure than in general farming is admissible, top much 

 reliance is often placed on manures and too little on 

 tillage. Manures may furnish plant-food, improve the 

 physical condition of the soil, conserve and increase 

 heat and moisture. Ten to twenty times as much food 

 as the plants can utilize is frequently applied at one 

 dressing, which is poor economy, since manures give 

 best results when applied in moderate quantities, in a 

 well-rotted condition and in close contact with the 

 seed. Growth and development are more largely 

 determined by the amount of moisture than by the 

 amount of plant-food. Five tons of preserved barn- 

 manure contain of nitrogen, phosphoric acid and potash, 

 sixty, thirty and forty-five pounds, respectively. 

 Twenty-five bushels of wheat, with straw, contain 

 forty-five pounds of nitrogen, eighteen pounds of 

 phosphoric acid, and twenty-seven pounds of potash. 

 Most soils contain large amounts of unavailable or dif- 

 ficultjy available plant-food. Manures should be used 

 largely to feed plants between the time the nutrients 

 in the seed have been exhausted and that when the 

 plants have secured a firm- hold on the soil by manifold 

 rootlets. Except when otherwise most suitable and 

 convenient, fresh manures should be spread thinly in 

 the autumn or early winter on the surface where plants 

 are growing, thus imitating nature's methods of main- 

 taining and increasing productivity. 



It is usually found to be both difficult and expensive 

 to maintain productivity by means of barn-manures 

 supplemented with light applications of fertilizers. In 

 this case, unless plant-food can be secured from outside 

 sources easily, recourse should be had to green-manur- 

 ing. In some cases this is the cheapest and the best 

 method of rejuvenating old, weedy, tired lands. By 

 raising and plowing under two crops one at least a 

 legume in one season many weeds may be destroyed, 

 quantities of humus and nitrogen added, and inert 

 plant-food transformed into readily available forms. 

 At the same time the soil is improved physically and 

 its power to pass the free water of precipitation through 

 its subsoil is augmented while the tendency to pud- 

 dling is diminished. Added humus and tillage combined 

 hasten nitrification and the liberation of inert mineral 

 plant-food while imparting to the land a greater 

 capacity to hold moisture by capillary action. See 

 Fertility. i. p. ROBERTS. 



MAPANIA (an aboriginal name). Cyperdcese. Grass- 

 like or sedge-like plants, sometimes grown under cover 

 for the foliage effects. 



Stem very short, bearing long and often striking Ivs. : 

 scapes mostly leafless, bearing congested inn.: spikelet 

 of 6 (sometimes 5) glumes: fr. a bony nut either dry 

 or succulent. There are perhaps 50 species in the 

 tropics of both hemispheres, comprising strong often 

 tall-lvd. perennial herbs. Two species, apparently good 

 pot subjects, have been listed in recent years. M. 

 pandanasfolia, Hort., is represented as dracena-like, 

 caulescent, 3-4 ft. high, with long narrow graceful 

 stiffish Ivs. 24 in. long by 1 in. wide. G.C. III. 21 : 349. 

 Gt. 46, p. 523. It is perhaps M. Pandanophyllum, 

 Schum. & Hollr., which is M. hypolytrcndes, Benth., of 



