THE YOUNG FARMER 



(3) In thus acting as machines in manu- 

 facturing raw materials into finished prod- 

 ucts animals convert these coarse and 

 bulky materials into those which are much 

 more concentrated, thus making their trans- 

 portation economically possible. A pound 

 of beef has required food containing ten 

 pounds of dry substance, and a pound of but- 

 ter has required thirty pounds of dry mat- 

 ter to produce it. 



These refined products may be shipped 

 around the world, while the raw materials 

 may not be profitably transported beyond 

 the county in which they are raised. More- 

 over, the farmer has the profit which comes 

 from manufacturing the raw materials into 

 refined products. 



(4) In the production of these finer 

 products much of the essential materials of 

 plant growth are left upon the farm. The 

 experiments of Lawes and Gilbert show 

 conclusively that in fattening animals more 

 than nine pounds out of ten of the essential 

 fertilizing ingredients of the food reappear 

 in the solid and liquid excrements. Proth- 



, 7 8 



