FARMYARD MANURE 181 



the store to the fat condition, during a 

 period of 6 months will increase about 

 320 Ib. in live weight ; and this increase will 

 contain about 3 Ib. of nitrogen, 2 Ib. of phos- 

 phoric acid, and Ib. of potash. Valuing 

 these substances as before, and similarly 

 assuming an out-put of 6 tons of dung, we 

 find that the theoretical difference in the 

 value of a ton of farmyard manure made in 

 the one case by a milk cow and in the other 

 case by a fattening steer is about Is. lid. 

 In actual practice, however, the difference 

 in value will probably be less, because 

 during six months a milk cow will usually 

 consume a larger quantity of nitrogenous 

 food than a steer passing from the store to 

 the fat condition, and the nitrogenous residues 

 in the former case may also be greater. 



While the quality of farmyard manure 

 is primarily influenced by the character of 

 the food, it also depends to a large extent 

 upon other causes. Thus, the various farm 

 animals produce manure of differing char- 

 acter and quality, that produced by bovine 

 animals being comparatively wet and dense, 

 so that the mass is not well permeated by 

 air. As a consequence it decays slowly, 

 being what farmers and gardeners call 

 " cold," so that, when applied to the land, 



