stall-manure and straw. 143 



3. On the Separate Manuring Value of Straw 

 AND Leaf Litter. 



Besides the excrements and urine of animals, the 

 third factor of stall-manure, straw-litter^ still remains 

 to be considered. What share this may have in the 

 fertilizing strength and value of stable-muck is a 

 question that, at the present day, when, in addition 

 to natural manures, other analogous agents are sup- 

 plied by commerce to the farmer, is in a practical 

 point of view of especial significance, inasmuch as 

 it may importantly affect the whole arrangements 

 and management of a farm. 



I cannot conceal that I have hitherto intentionally 

 abstained, in my oral and written compositions, from 

 treating upon the importance of straw-litter as a 

 manure, because I feared that the result arrived at 

 by the chemist might appear suspicious and incor- 

 rect to all those practical farmers who still do hom- 

 age to the opinion, that straw is to be considered the 

 most valuable constituent of muck. And this opin- 

 ion is still exceedingly general. " Straw is always 

 straw"; — how often is this expression heard from 

 the lips of old, practical farmers, as the pith and 

 marrow of their experience in relation to manure! 

 " Buy straw," is still recommended, almost univer- 

 sally, as the most reliable means of raising the con- 

 dition of neglected farms, and " selling straw " is yet 

 most earnestly and emphatically deprecated in the 

 majority of farm leases. Under such circumstances, 

 it seems hazardous for me, in a matter where the 



