ECONOMY OF FARMING. STT 



value of the manure is to be considered as clear gain ; if the value of the use of the 

 cattle is the greater, yet ought we not to reckon the given manure cheaper to the field 

 on this account, because we should deceive ourselves concerning the pure profit j 

 so that we must reckon to the field the manure in equal value, if the account shows 

 that the use of the cattle has not covered the cost expended on it, although we brmg 

 thus into the account the value of the manure. In this case the use of cattle for ma- 

 nure brings a loss, and we must examine to discover and remove the causes. 



[The amount of manure produced, its comparative strength and its value as a 

 means of nourishing plants, must have a very important influence in deciding the 

 question as to the kinds of animals kept to the greatest advantage. On some of these 

 topics Thaer furnishes us with tlie following statements : 



"NicoLAi, in his Principles for the Administration of Estates, (Grundsatzen zur 

 Verwaltung des Domainenwesens), assumes, probably after Bekendorf, that there 

 will be produced from 1 head of cattle, 10 two-spanned loads. 



" 1 " young kine, 5 " " " 



" 1 stall-fed horse, 15 '» " ''• 



« 1 grass-fed " 7^ " « " 



" 100 head of sheep, 100 " ' « 



For swine, by careful littering, we may reckon twice as much as the cattle. 

 Therefore, 1 head of cattle, will manure -f of a yoke (-,% acre). 

 1 " ofyoung cattle " « i " « (r^\ " ). 

 1 horse, fed in the stall, « " ^ " " ( i « ). 

 100 head of sheep, " ♦' 3 yokes (4^ acres). 



''Fredersdorf reckons for one cow, with good fodder, if she has 2^ shock of lit- 

 ter, 6 four-spanned cartloads at 23 cwt ; with stall foddering, 10 four-spanned cartloads. 

 Of one, if he has daily 1^ bundle of straw, 7^ loads ; 15 sheep, or 4 or 5 full-grown 

 swine, as one cow. According to Karbe, 65 cows in summer on a pasture, being 

 kept over night in the stall, will manure 44 yokes (62^ acres) ; horses and small cows 

 are in proportion as 2 : 3 ; oxen foddered in the stall, as 3 : 2. 



"According to Von Pfeifer, 1 cow foddered in the stall gives 184 cwt; a fattened 

 ox, during time of fattening, 73 cwt. 



According to Leopold, 4 cows foddered in the stall give 50 loads of manure, of 

 which 6 would answer for an acre. 



In a very learned and able treatise found in the Annals of Netherland Agriculture, 

 the proportion of manure of different animals is stated to be, 



For 1 head of cattle, 180 



] horse, 170 



1 sheep, 10 



1 swine, 18 



On the subjects of the value and cost of manure, the Authors I have heretofore 

 quoted are full of estimates and many valuable remarks. I shall make some extracts 

 from Veit, as he has treated the subject very practically. It must be obvious indeed 

 to any one, that the estimates must be regarded as comparative, since the price of the 

 articles used, as well as of labor, &c.. varies greatly in this country from those in 

 Europe. Still the computations may be valuable, as furnishing intelligent farmers 

 with rules by which to judge with more accuracy of their losses or gains. 



Veit says. Vol I. p. 365, " The value of stall-manure is determined by the value of 

 the production effected by it. The quantity of production depends on, 



" 1. The natural capacity of production of the soil. 



" 2. On the choice preparation and employment of the manure. 



" 3, On the choice of the plants which are cultivated in one period of manuring. '■ 



" 4. On the system of culture, especially the rotation of the crops, and the treat- , 

 ment and use of the soil. 



"Since so many circumstances co-operate which, with the employment of an equal 

 quantity of manure, may produce a different amount of production ; hence is clear 

 the difficulty of ascertaining the part of production which belongs to the account of 

 manure, and the worth of which expresses the positive value of the manure. 



"Different writers on husbandry have reckoned the value of manure at different, 

 amounts, and should all faimers ascertain the value of their employed manure, very 

 probably scarcely one would agree with another. Of the results of a great number- 

 of experiments which we have made from 1821 to 1822, concerning the efficacy of 

 different kinds of manure, we take tlie following extract : 



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