232 BOARD OF AGRICULTURE. [Jan. 



of the total gain in dressed weight. Then from this gross 

 cost he subtracts the value, at market prices of fertilizers, 

 of 70 per cent of the nitrogen, potash and phosphoric acid 

 given in the food ; estimating that certainly not more than 

 30 per cent of these elements will become a part of the 

 animal fed. He thus obtains the net cost of the number of 

 pounds of dressed pork made. I have endeavored to find 

 out whether this allowance for manurial value is fair and 

 reasonable, in the following manner : — 



The gain in live weight made by the six pigs in Dr. 

 Goessmann's experiment is known ; it amounted to about 

 one thousand pounds. The average composition of live pig 

 is known ; the composition of the foods given is known. 

 From these known compositions I have computed that the 

 one thousand pounds live weight gained during the experi- 

 ment must have taken of the nitrogen, potash and phosphoric 

 acid the following proportions of the amounts given in the 

 foods : — 



Of nitrogen, less than i, or about 20 per cent of that in the food. 

 Of potash, less than ^i^, or about S^\ per cent of that in the food. 

 Of phosphoric acid, less than J, or about 16| per cent of that in the food. 



But Dr. Goessmanu allows an average of 30 per cent of 

 each of these manurial substances to have entered into the 

 animal. Clearly, then, he cannot be accused of making 

 an excessively large allowance for manurial value. If the 

 farmer does not get 70 per cent of the total nitrogen, 

 potash and phosphoric acid of the foods in the manure, the 

 fault must be his own, in allowing it to waste. The animal 

 surely does not carry it away, and what of these elements 

 he does not carry away is practically all voided in the dung 

 and urine. The values per pound set upon the nitrogen, 

 potash and phosphoric acid by Dr. Goessmann, are the 

 ordinary market values of similar sul^stances in commercial 

 fertilizers: viz., nitrogen, I G| cents; potash, 4^ cents; and 

 phosphoric acid, 6 cents. These, if purchased, would cost 

 these figures ; so it cannot be legitimately urged, from any 

 point of view, that Dr. Goessmann allows too much for 

 manurial value. 



In some quarters it may be further objected that Dr. 



