CARING FOR MANURE 



39 



valuable humus to the soil. For convenient comparison, the amount 

 of manure produced is uniformly based on 1000 pounds live weight 

 of the animals. 



Manure Per 1000 Pounds of Live Weight* 



Nitrogen figured at 20 cents and other constituents at 5 cents per pound. 



In regions where farmers raise high-priced truck crops, and buy 

 large amounts of fertilizers, they sometimes pay as high as $2.50 per 

 ton for manure. Add to this the cost of hauling and they pay close 

 to the above estimated value. 



When commercial fertilizers alone are used, it is necessary to plow 

 under green crops occasionally to keep up the supply of vegetable 

 matter. With manure alone, the productiveness of land may be kept 

 up indefinitely. 



When crops are fed to live stock, about seventy-five per cent of the 

 nitrogen and mineral elements is recovered in the manure. 



Many farmers do not care for the manure properly. If manure 

 is leached by rains, or piled up and allowed to heat, more than half 

 the value is readily lost. 



Caring for Manure. The best way to handle manure is to 

 spread it on the land as made. If piled up, care must be exercised 

 to prevent heating, and it should be protected from rains. Some 

 farmers mix a little land plaster with the manure as made, which 

 prevents nitrogen from escaping. Farmers having land that is bene- 

 fited by the use of phosphate, find it profitable to mix ground phos- 

 phate rock or acid phosphate with the manure as made. The usual 

 rate is about 30 to 40 pounds of phosphate rock to a ton of manure. 

 This is an excellent way of applying phosphate to land. 



4 Warren's Elements of Agriculture, p. 139. 



