44 SILAGE SYSTEM MAINTAINS FERTILITY. 



of the land determined by the net income, it would be 

 found that the well farmed acres would be worth an enor- 

 mous price as compared with a gift of the land that pro- 

 duced the smaller yield." 



Barn-yard manure makes splendid fertilizer. It is per- 

 haps the most important for soil improvement. The rea- 

 son for this is that it supplies nitrogen, phosphorous and 

 potash and the decaying organic matter needed. In feed- 

 ing oats, corn, wheat or other crops to animals, it is well 

 to know that about three-quarters of the phosphorous and 

 nitrogen and practically all of the potash go through the 

 body and are returned in the solid and liquid manure. It 

 is evident that the value or richness of the manure de- 

 pends largely on the crops or part of the crops fed to the 

 animals. Leguminous crops are rich in nitrogen and phos- 

 phorous. Three and one-half tons of clover will contain 

 as much phosphorous and 40 pounds more nitrogen than 

 100 bushels of corn, i. e.: 23 pounds phosphorous and 188 

 pounds nitrogen. Any system of farming where grain is 

 sold and only stalks and straw retained for feed produces 

 manure weak in both nitrogen and phosphorous. These 

 elements are divided in the corn plant on the 100-bushel 

 basis, about as follows: 



100 Ibs. nitrogen in grain and 48 Ibs. in the stalk. 

 17 Ibs. phosphorous in grain and 6 Ibs. in the stalk. 

 19 Ibs. potassium in grain and 52 Ibs. in the stalk. 



In other words, two-thirds of the nitrogen, three-fourths 

 of the phosphorous and one-fourth of the potassium are 

 in the grain or seed and one-third of the' nitrogen, one- 

 fourth of the phosphorus and three-fourths of the potas- 

 sium are in the stalk or straw. In siloing the corn plant 

 the full value of the fertilizer, in both stalk and grain, is 

 obtained in the manure. 



The value of manure depends very largely on the way 

 in which it is handled. Over half the value is in the liquid 

 portion. 



Experiments were conducted at the Ohio Experiment 

 Station with two lots of steers for six months to ascertain 



