118 



Agricultural Chemistry. 



Effect of bedding on value of manure. Barn yard manure, 

 as the term is generally used, includes in addition to the excreta, 

 the litter or bedding used to absorb the urine. The following 

 table gives the composition of some of the materials used for 

 bedding : 



Fertilizing Constituents in One Ton of Litter. 



The richer the bedding the more valuable will be the manure. 

 The materials commonly used for bedding are low in the elements 

 of fertility, so that the use of large amounts decreases the worth 

 per ton of the manure, but in any case sufficient litter should bo 

 used to absorb all the liquid excrement. 



Calculating the amount of manure from the ration. The to- 

 tal weight of manure that will be produced from the material 

 fed an animal can be calculated with considerable accuracy. Ex- 

 periments have shown that about 50 per cent of the dry matter 

 present in the ration is recovered in the excrement. The least 

 amount of bedding that will absorb all urine excreted must con- 

 tain dry matter equal to 25 per cent of the dry matter in the 

 feeds used; consequently if just enough bedding is used, the 

 manure (excrement plus bedding) contains 75 per cent of the 

 dry matter in the ration. Since mixed farm manure contains on 

 an average 75 per cent of water, or 25 per cent of dry matter, the 

 75 per cent of dry matter mentioned above must be multiplied 

 by four to find the total manure. This gives a result of 300 pei 

 cent of the dry matter in the ration for the weight of the mam 

 In other words if we multiply the dry matter of the ration 

 three, we will have a close approximation to the weight of tl 



