BARNYARD MANURE 



139 



use the manure on the land rather than purchase fertil- 

 izers. In general, it is more profitable to purchase fertility 

 as feed for stock than to buy it in a fertilizer bag. A 

 good many eastern farmers feed sheep and beef cattle 

 not so much for the profit that the animals give directly as 

 for the manure that they produce. 



143. Amount and Value of Manure Produced by Farm 

 Animals. A 1,200-pound horse will produce about eleven 

 tons of excrement per year, which, together with the 

 bedding, will make about fourteen tons of manure. A 

 cow produces about the same amount. Steers fed at the 

 Ohio Station averaged at the rate of nine tons per year. 

 An equal weight of sheep produces fewer tons, but the 

 manure is drier, so that about the same amount of plant- 

 food is produced. A fairly safe rule for any stock except 

 sheep, poultry and hogs is to count one ton per month 

 for each 1,000 pounds of animals kept. To purchase an 

 equal amount of plant-food in fertilizers would cost about 

 $40 per year. The following table gives results procured 

 by Roberts: 



MANURE PER 1,000 POUNDS OF LIVE WEIGHT 



'The nitrogen is figured at 20 centa and the other constituents at 5 

 rent* per pound. 



