CHAPTER XXX 



FARM MANURE 



THE value of farm manure is governed largely by four modify- 

 ing and somewhat related factors. 



First, the composition of the materials used for feed and bedding. 



Second, the dryness, or dry-matter content, of the manure. 



Third, the preservation or stage of decomposition or waste of 

 the manure. 



Fourth, the kind of animals producing the manure. 



As a general average a ton of fresh-mixed cattle and horse manure 

 contains about 500 pounds of dry matter, 10 pounds of nitrogen, 

 2 pounds of phosphorus, and 8 pounds of potassium. It would be 

 produced from about 810 pounds of air-dry feed (yielding 270 

 pounds of dry excrement) and 270 pounds of air-dry bedding 

 (containing 230 pounds of dry matter). On this basis, four tons 

 of air-dry feed and bedding (used in the proportion of 3 to i) 

 would produce about 7^ tons of average fresh manure containing 

 25 per cent of dry matter and 75 per cent of water. 



Roughly, this represents the theoretically possible production 

 of manure on the farm, if all crops grown are used for feed and 

 bedding. If the crops sold from the farm amount to one third of 

 the total produced, and if one fifth of the manure made is lost be- 

 fore it is applied to the land, then for every ton of air-dry produce 

 harvested and removed from the land one ton of manure could be 

 returned. 



If we count 85 per cent of dry matter in the air-dry feed and 

 bedding, and 66f as the average digestion sufficient for the dry 

 matter in the food consumed (see Table 29), and 75 per cent of 

 the nitrogen and phosphorus and 90 per cent of the potassium re- 

 turned in the manurial excrements, then a ration of 500 pounds of 

 clover hay and 310 pounds of corn, with 270 pounds of wheat 



