ECONOMY OF FARMING. 109 



dering of grass, if this is reduced to hay, is so small, whilst 2687 lbs. of grass, 561 

 lbs. of water, and 144 lbs. of htter, together 3392 lbs., produced only 1579 lbs. of ma- 

 nure ; but 627 lbs. of hay, 2359 lbs. of water, with 105 lbs. of litter, together 3091 lbs., 

 produced 1902 lbs of manure, owing to the difference of the dissimilar evaporation 

 during the use of both means of foddering. At Schleisheim, in Bavaria, many ex- 

 periments were made on a farm there, in order to ascertain the proportion between 

 the fodder and the htter, and the manure. It is a disadvantage that the experiment 

 made with milch-kine is so far useless as we know not determinately how much of the 

 particular kinds of articles of fodder were given to the beasts ; since if the object is to 

 find out the proportion of weight between the fodder which is given to the beasts, 

 and their excrements, must one know the absolute weight of the former, because 

 its relative worth compared with hay, if it were even ascertained with certainty, which 

 is nowhere the case, is of no use, as we have already shown. The casually-tried 

 experiment with horses, speaks always of hay and its substitutes, i. e. nourishing sub- 

 stances, which are reduced to hay according to their relative value ; only with sheep 

 no such mention is made of the reduction. 



With horned cattle, 760 lbs. of hay, straw fodder, and substitutes for hay, gave 2300 

 of fresh dung (proportion 100 : 230), which after 50 days lost -J- in weight; according 

 to which 100 lbs. of fodder and litter gave 18S lbs. of fermented manure. 



With horses in the month of March, 620 lbs. of hay, straw fodder, and substitutes 

 for hay, with 380 lbs. of straw litter, gave 1400 lbs. of fresh dung (proportion 100 : 140), 

 which after 34 days lost in weight 0.48, according to which 100 lbs. of fodder and lit- 

 ter gave only 75 lbs. of fermented manure. 



With sheep from 19th of February to 25th of April, 710 lbs. of fodder and 290 lbs. 

 of litter gave, on the 27th of May, 800 lbs. of manure (proportion 100 to 80). 



The above mentioned differences between the weight of fodder and litter, and of 

 the fermented manure, are explained by the different proportion of the straw htter 

 mingled with the dung. With horned cattle the proportion of litter to hay, is as 5 to 

 15; with horses, as 11 to 18; with sheep, as 5 to 11. With horses and sheep the 

 proportion of the litter to the fodder was clearly too great, on which account the ma- 

 nure thus produced weighed less than the materials employed in preparing it; since 

 apart of the same which was dissipated by the putrefaction, was not replaced by the 

 email quantity of the liquid excrements ; with the horned cattle the proportion be- 

 tween the Utter and fodder was more correct, and therefore the results agreed more 

 with those before quoted. 



Mayer, who deserves the highest praise on account of his estimates of the propor- 

 tions of husbandry, in his work concerning the division of a community (P. III. 69) 

 first gave importance to the method of reckoning the gain of manure from the weight 

 of the fodder and litter employed. He proposed to multiply the consumed fodder and 

 straw litter by 2.7, but the hay, of which the body is more assimilated, by 1.8. Con- 

 sequently on these rules, from 70 lbs. of straw, and 30 lbs. of hay, we should have 

 189-1-54 = 243 lbs. of manure, but from 30 lbs. of straw and 70 lbs. of hay, only 

 81 -f- 126 = 207 lbs., and therefore-^ less, which appears beforehand in the highest 

 degree improbable, and by experiment is proved incorrect. The divisors for root- 

 vegetables, are with him from 2.1 to 2.8, but with potatoes, 1.3. 100 lbs. of potatoes 

 which contain somewhat more than 28 lbs. of dry substance would therefore give 77 

 lbs. of manure, while, according to our statements, they yield only 56 lbs. The grains 

 finally he would multiply by 3 — 3.7. 



Thaer has frequently quoted this subject in his Annals, and in the first Volume of 

 his Rationellen Landwirthschaft, p. 258, as well as in his History of the husbandrj' 

 of MOgelin, p. 166. He there maintains that we must multiply the hay foddered out 

 and the amount of straw-litter by 2.3, if we would know the weight of manure 

 gained. The juicy plants for fodder he would first reduce to their hay-value ; ac- 

 cording to which, 100 lbs. of hay are equal to 200 lbs. of potatoes, 460 of beets, 350 of 

 cabbage-turnips, 525 of water- turnips, 266 of carrots, 600 of white cabbage, 90 of 

 young clover-hay, 90 of vetch-hay, 90 of luzerne and sainfoin, and then would give 

 the manure in this proportion, i. e. 200 lbs. of potatoes, or 256 lbs. of turnips, or 100 lbs. 

 of hay. would give an equal quantity of manure. Mayer is inconsistent with himself 

 when he advises us to multiply hay by 1.8, and grain by 3, in order to ascertain the 

 amount of manure ; since if the physical system of beasts absorb more from hay than 

 from straw, and hay yields less manure according to its weight than straw, there- 

 fore, this must be much more true as respects the grains which are so much more 

 nutritive than hay. Thaer is of the same opinion with Mayer, and believes that a 

 horse in a great measure fed on grain would yield not fuUy but nearly as much ma-^ 



