CHAPTER XXVI 

 FARM MANURES 



OF all the by-products of the farm, barnyard manure 

 is probably the most important, since it affords a means 

 whereby the unused portion of the crop, the residue of 

 the finished farm product, may again be returned to the 

 soil. This country is now entering on an era in which 

 the prevention of all waste is becoming more and more 

 necessary and a nearer approach to a self-sustaining sys- 

 tem of agriculture far more essential. A clear under- 

 standing of the composition of farm manure, the changes 

 it undergoes, and its avenues of loss, and also of methods 

 for its practical handling, and a realization of its effects 

 both on soil and on crop, are of vital importance. This 

 need appeals not only to the practical man but to the 

 theoretical and technical man as well, for here is a field 

 in which theory and practice not only meet but widely 

 overlap. 



481. General character and function of farm manures. 

 - The term farm manure may be employed in reference to 

 the refuse from all animals of the farm, although, as a 

 general rule, the bulk of the ordinary manure which ul- 

 timately finds its way back to the land is produced by 

 cattle and horses. This arises not only because these 

 animals consume the greater part of the grain and rough- 

 age on the average farm, but also because the methods 

 of handling them make it easier and more practicable to 

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