ECONOMY OF FARMING. 87 



The following Table of Thaer's, also shows the quantity of manure applied by 

 different modes of manuring. Of 1850 lbs. cart-loads, there are carried on a yoke 

 (= 1.422 acre) 11^, 18 to 22-J-. The first is called iveak, the second good, the third 

 strong or rich manuring. 



With 11^ cart-loads or 20,800 lbs. there will be put on one square foot 0.403 lb. 



' " ■ " 0.464 



' « " 0.536 



' « « 0.644 



' « " 0.716 



' " " 0.805 



With the strongest manuring, therefore, there is on a square foot 0.8 lb. 



ScHWERTZ too, in Vol. III., p. 141, Anleitung zum Practischen Ackerbau (Guide to 

 Practical Agriculture), has many valuable observations on this subject. He inquires, 

 How much do vegetables gain or lose by their conversion into manure ? To answer 

 this question, he says, ''that in modern times there has been proposed a multiplier for 

 these materials before use, and variously from 1.3 to 3.7, according as the discussion 

 was of litter or of fodder, of the greater or less nutriment of the latter, or its more 

 or less juicy state. It makes, indeed, the highest conceivable difference, whether the 

 beasts are nourished by watery or dry substance, good or bad ; w^hether they are 

 littered proportionally much or little ; whether the weight of fresh manure, or that 

 which has lain some time, be brought into the account and how long, in this latter 

 case, the manure has lain 5 whether it has been protected, and how treated ; with 

 what kind of beast, finally, the straw and fodder has been employed, since that used 

 by the cow yields more fresh manure than that by the horse, and this more than that 

 by the sheep. But with whatever species of beasts both may be used, therefore the 

 weight of the fresh manure thereby obtained, rests almost simply and alone on 

 the quantity of moisture which is mingled with it, and only in the smallest degree on 

 the kind of the beast, provided that the beasts are sound, and in a condition to be fed 

 for their needs. Therefore the weight is nearly equal, if we take the excrements in 

 their dry state. This dry weight, with a cow is 44, with a horse 40, w^ith the sheep 42. 

 We may hence disregard tlie difference of the consumer, and in the following 

 estimate confine ourselves to cattle as the most common. 



" One of the greatest difficulties in this estimate lies in this, that the beast is not 

 always foddered wnth dry, but also with juicy substances. Of the first, it is known 

 that though a portion of it, going from the maw to the animal's support, is employed 

 for growth, &c., and therefore is lost for manure, yet the dry fodder yields a greater 

 weight in the excrements than it bore before it w^as eaten. This increase of weight 

 can rest on nothing else than on the addition of water or other liquids which are 

 introduced into the body of the animal. Wholly contrary is the proportion with green 

 fodder, the texture of which is not only sufficiently filled with its own juices, but of 

 which it makes more than its separated parts could hold after their decomposition. 

 There can, therefore, be no increase of substances foddered out in a still juicy state, 

 but a diminution in its mass must take place, whilst the surplus of moisture then 

 separates itself therefrom, and partly evaporates, and partly unites with the dry-eaten 

 fodder, and partly goes off with the urine and soaks into the litter. 



"It follows, therefore, that if we would make an estimate before-hand of the produc- 

 tion of manure, it is necessary to bring the substances foddered out to one common 

 measure of solid parts, and from this to conclude on the increase of weight in manure, 

 on account of the admission of moisture, which is added in the maw or entrails of 

 the beast. It might, indeed, seem, that the dry parts of one absorbing substance would 

 take up more watery parts than those of another, as is the case in different subjects 

 of which they are derived ; but the wateriness of organic bodies proceeds not so 

 much from their constituent parts, as tVom the kind of connexion of lliose parts and 

 their texture. As this texture is loosened by digestion, so the difference of their 

 water-retaining property passes away, and one pound of dry potatoes will not give 

 more manure than one pound of hay. We have therefore to determine, first how 

 much dry substance the usual fresh or juicy articles of fodder giv^e after the loss of 

 their moisture, and for this purpose, quote the statements of the excellent A. K. 

 Block." It will be recollected, that we have already quoted a table of Equivalents 

 from this distinguished author, which our readers may find, with other similar and 

 valuable ones, on page 30 of the present work. 



