94 



AGRICULTURE 



meal. Animals take from the food fed them chiefly those 

 substances that are worthless as fertilizers, such as starch 

 and fat. The farmer, therefore, who buys cotton-seed meal 

 to use as a fertilizer for his crop can make two profits by 

 first feeding it and then using the manure as fertilizer. 



Any pasture or field can be 

 made rich by keeping on it 

 live-stock that is fed partly on 

 purchased food or food grown 

 on other parts of the farm. 

 The manure from different 

 animals is different in fertiliz- 

 ing value largely because 

 they are fed on different 

 foods. Manure from the 

 poultry house is several times 

 more valuable than any other. 

 When only the solid waste 

 from animals is saved, the 

 farmer gets only about half 

 the fertilizer available. If 



the manure p [] e has nQ roo f 



over it, the rain water de- 

 stroys much of the fertilizing value. Manure that has been 

 exposed to rain for a number of months is sometimes worth 

 less than half as much for fertilizing crops as it was at 

 first. Most of the plant-food has been dissolved and 

 carried off by water ; some of the nitrogen has changed 

 into ammonia and passed off into the air as a strong-smell- 

 ing gas; and a large part of the soil-loosening material 



FIG. 60. SHOWING FIRST HOW MOST 

 or THE VALUE OF MANURE is LOST, 



AND SECOND, HOW HOST OF ITS VALUE 



is RETAINED 



