238 AGRICULTURE 



farming which have robbed the soil of its nitrogen, phos- 

 phorus and potassium. Farms located within a hundred 

 miles of .the great eastern markets have recently been 

 bought for from ten dollars to twenty dollars an acre, when 

 middle western land is selling for one hundred dollars to 

 two hundred dollars an acre. Much of this eastern land 

 was originally as good as the western, and would be worth 

 three hundred dollars an acre if it had been properly farmed 

 to conserve its fertility. 



There are three principal methods of maintaining the 

 fertility of the soil or increasing it when it has run down. 

 These are : ( 1 ) manuring, either with barnyard manure or 

 by plowing under such plants as clover, alfalfa, cow-peas^ 

 or some other green crop ; (2) using commercial fertilizers; 

 (3) rotation of crops. 



2. Barnyard Manure as a Fertiliser 



One of the best evidences of careful farming and good 

 management is a well kept and well used manure heap. 

 Manure should no more be wasted than any other farm 

 product. 



The value of barnyard manure. Barnyard manure is 

 rich in all three of the elements in which the soil is likely 

 to run short nitrogen, phosphorus and potassium. It has 

 been estimated by experts that if animals are kept in stalls 

 or pens throughout the year, given a reasonable amountrof 

 litter for bedding and all the manure saved, the annual value 

 of the manure from each animal will be: horses or mules, 

 twenty-seven dollars ; cattle, 'twenty dollars ; hogs, eight 

 dollars; sheep, two dollars. Differently stated, the value of 

 the manur6 produced during the seven winter months on a 

 farm keeping four horses, twenty cows, fifty sheep and ten 

 hogs would be at least two hundred and fifty dollars. These 



