VALUES OF BARNYARD MANURES 



intensity is included in natural fertility. This being the case, the 

 writer does not undertake prophecy. In a few years the progressive 

 work which is now under way, especially in southern California, in 

 trial of artificial manures for vegetable growing, will furnish object 

 lessons for general guidance. Present purposes will be best served 

 by offering suggestions as to the ways to turn natural supplies to 

 best account. 



Comparative Value of Animal Manures. The excrements of 

 different animals serve somewhat different purposes in garden 

 practice because they act more or less quickly and are more or less 

 stimulating to the plant. There is also warrant in carrying with 

 the word stimulating the inference that in feeding plants, as in 

 treating animals, that which is most stimulating must be used with 

 the greatest caution. Both caution and economy prescribe that the 

 manure which has the highest content of plant food should be used 

 in less amount and more carefully distributed through the area of 

 soil which the roots of the plant are expected to traverse. 



The excrements of animals depend in composition upon the 

 abundance and richness of the food furnished them. The follow- 

 ing table is compiled from experiments and analyses made at Cor- 

 nell University, and there is no doubt that the stock was well fed. 



COMPOSITION AND VALUE OF FRESH MANURE FROM DIFFERENT 



ANIMALS. 



Nitrogen, Potash, Phosphoric Acid Value per 



Animals. Per cent. Per cent. Per cent. Ton. 



Cows 0.50 0.29 0.45 2.37 



Horses 0.47 0.94 0.39 2.79 



Sheep 1.00 1.21 0.08 4.19 



Swine 0.83 0.61 0.04 3.18 



Hens 1.10 0.29 0.47 4.22 



The value is figured at the price agreed upon by eastern chem- 

 ists as fair value for the ingredients as used in artificial fertilizers. 



Value per ton is also conditioned upon the percentage of water 

 in the manure. Hen manure has much less water even in a fresh 

 state than that of cattle, and air-dried hen manure, free from earth, 

 etc., is sometimes worth as much as $10 per ton, providing the hens 

 are well fed. In this state air-dried sheep manure in large corral 

 deposits in Fresno county has been found by analyses at the Uni- 

 versity of California to have this composition and value : 



Per cent. 



Nitrogen 2.32 



Potash 2.90 



Phosphoric Acid 2.88 



The material had only twenty-eight per cent of water and its 

 value calculated at the agreed price of its ingredients is $10.95 per 

 ton. Even when calculated at the same per cent of water, the Cali- 

 fornia corral deposit has much higher value than the eastern sheep 

 manure, because it has suffered less from leaching. 



