FACTORS OF SUCCESS IN FARMING 617 



much. Either he must buy high-priced hay or sell some of his 

 stock. It usually pays to keep no more stock than one can raise 

 hay and silage for in a rather poor year. This allows some rough- 

 age to sell in good years. Hay and roughage are so expensive 

 to handle that one must study his conditions carefully before he 

 decides to buy hay regularly. Diversified farming lessens the risk. 

 If a farm is too heavily stocked, the returns from manure are 

 not so good. The thinner manure is spread, the more the returns 

 per load of manure. At the Pennsylvania Experiment Station a 

 test of this has been running for many years. Manure is applied 

 every other year at the rates of 6, 8, and 10 tons per acre. For 

 twenty-five years the average values of the increased crop per ton 

 of manure were ^ 



6 tons applied every two years $2.16 per ton 



8 tons applied every two years i .66 per ton 



I o tons applied every two years . . . . i .44 per ton 



A similar test is being conducted in Ohio. Manure is applied 

 once every three years. The average value of the increased crops 

 per ton of manure for seventeen years were^ 



4 tons applied every three years .... $3.48 per ton 

 8 tons applied every three years .... 2.70 per ton 

 1 6 tons applied every three years .... 2.24 per ton 



An animal unit usually produces a little over a ton of manure 

 a month. Much of this is produced at pasture. If all the manure 

 around the barns is saved, it will usually amount to 6 to 9 tons 

 per animal unit kept on a New York farm. If an animal unit is 

 kept for each three acres of crops, and if all the manure is 

 saved, there will be enough to cover all the cropped land with 

 about 6 to 9 tons per acre every three years. 



A very large amount of the manure is lost, so that what should 

 be one of the important returns from live-stock becomes of less 

 consequence. Some persons who would not think of selling hay, 

 for fear of losing fertility, will allow half the manure that they 



1 Pennsylvania Agr. Exp. Station, Bulletin 90, p. 23. 

 * Ohio Agricultural Experiment Station. 



