! V\ 



MODERN HIGH FARMING. 45 



pounds of assimilable nitrogen, and consequently be equal to nearly 

 two tons of ordinary farm-yard manure. 



OIL CAKES contain five per cent, of nitrogen and about three 

 per cent, of phosphoric acid, with traces of potash. When damaged 

 or otherwise unfit for cattle-feeding, they may be employed as ma. 

 nures with excellent results, especially on sandy or too porous soils. 



In some districts near the coast, the sea weeds gathered along the 

 shore are found to have a beneficial action, but as they contain a 

 maximum of one per cent, of nitrogen and insignificant portions of 

 phosphoric acid, we must consider their efficiency to solely arise 

 from their slow carbonization or decomposition. 



We have already dwelt at considerable length, in our previous 

 chapters, upon the chemical action of vegetable organic matter on the 

 various bodies contained in the soil, and it is only necessary to repeat 

 here that in all cases where it is desired to grow cereals and to pro- 

 duce plentiful crops on an economical basis, the farmer will do well, 

 rather than sell his green crops, to plow them into his wheat field as 

 manures, and to plow them in evenly and with an unsparing hand. 



ANIMAL MANURES. 



Those within this category most worthy of attention are human 

 dejections, guano, blood, fish, wool, rags, horns, -hoofs, hair, and 

 all animal refuse from the slaughter houses. 



The efficacy of night-soil as a fertilizer has been recognized from 

 time immemorial by practical farmers, but it is still more so now 

 that the advancement of science has permitted us to accurately esti- 

 mate its valuable elements, and to judge of the reckless manner in 

 which they are yearly thrown away. 



If we take the average weight of the entire population in the Uni- 

 ted States at ninety pounds each for men, women and children, 

 we find that the daily product proportionate to this weight must not 

 be less than two pounds per head. 



The present population being estimated at fifty-five millions, we 

 should reach the figure of fifty-five thousand tons per day, or, in 

 round figures, twenty million tons per year. 



