156 Our. Farming. 



deal of attention to this. For example, in selling one ton of but- 

 ter I would take off but forty -eight cents' worth of fertility, and 

 my friend William H. Gilbert says: "You need not sell even that 

 much if you do not get any manure in the milk . ' ' Above all others , 

 this is the product to sell when one wants to bring up a farm, 

 leaving out all other considerations. Let me give you a table to 

 study over lately brought out by Geneva, N. Y. Kxperiment 

 Station, showing the fertilizing value per ton of different articles. 

 This value is based, of course, on the value of fertilizers in market. 



Cottonseed meal, $28.68 



Linseed meal, 21.42 



Wheat bran, 11-65 



Clover hay, 8.20 



Crushed oats, 8.17 



Cornmeal, 6.31 



Timothy hay, 5.48 



Oat straw, 2.58 



Wheat straw, 2.21 



Butter, 48 



Potatoes, 2. 02 



Milk, ' 2.80 . 



Wheat, 7.09 



Cheese, . 20.83 



Fat sheep, 8.14 



Fat calves, 10.55 



Fat oxen, 11.80 



Fat pigs, 6.92 



It is an amusing fact that a noted advocate of fertilizers 

 gave this table in The Ohio Farmer last winter with all the figures 

 divided by two, as much as to say they were twice too high for 

 practical use. He forgot, or did not think, this was virtually 

 saying that fertilizers were only worth half market price. Com- 

 paratively speaking, these tables are correct. Now notice, first, 

 the great value as a fertilizer of the cottonseed meal, linseed 

 meal and bran that I have just spoken of. Notice how much faster 

 cheese will run your farm down than butter, if you sell it. I sell 

 potatoes and wheat. The potatoes are mostly water a pretty 

 good thing to sell, only $2.02 worth of fertilizer in a ton, and I get 

 usually not less than $13.20 a ton for them, and sometimes twice 

 that or more. Suppose a man sells timothy hay. He may think 

 he is doing as good farming as I . Thousands of tons are sold in 

 Ohio as low as at $6 a ton. At one institute where I was, the 

 statement was made that over 2,500 tons of timothy hay had been 

 shipped from that station during the last eighteen months, bring- 

 ing the farmers on an average $6 per ton. An average yield, 

 or rather a good yield, we will call two tons per acre. This 

 brings $12. It contains $10.96 worth of fertilizer. Two and a 

 half tons would be a big yield. This would bring $15 and 

 contain $13.70 of fertilizer. My average crop of potatoes is 

 nearly six tons per acre, say. These sell on the average for about 



