CARE OF LIVESTOCK 19 



spreading the manure uniformly over the land the most possible good is 

 obtained. If manure must be stored it should be kept under cover if possible 

 and on a tight floor, keeping it only wet enough to prevent heating. Where 

 the manure must be accumulated in heaps it is a good plan to sprinkle a 

 few pounds of land plaster over it each day to absorb and hold the ammonia 

 until the soil can get it. Where a phosphate fertilizer is to be applied to 

 the soil it should be mixed with the manure at the rate of one pound of rock 

 phosphate or floats per day for each animal. This should be mixed with 

 the manure as it is taken from the stable. Some caution is necessary against 

 the use of wood ashes and lime with manure as these materials produce an 

 alkaline condition, resulting in the loss of ammonia, which carries off the 

 nitrogen. Lime and ashes if needed for the soil should be applied other 

 years than when farm manure is used. Soils differ greatly, so do their 

 requirements; and it is well to have a knowledge of the subject for the 

 profits of the farm depend largely on intelligent fertilization of the soil. 



The following table of manurial values is given in a bulletin issued by 

 the United States Department of Agriculture: 



Droppings from cows $2.02 a ton 



Droppings from calves 2.18 a ton 



Droppings from horses 2.21 a ton 



Droppings from pigs 3.20 a ton 



Droppings from sheep 3.30 a ton 



Droppings from hens 7.07 a ton 



BETTER Feeding from pastures will always be one of the cheapest 

 PASTURES methods of feeding, as well as offering enormous other 

 advantages which will readily occur to any farmer. But 

 the worth of any pasture depends upon the kind of grass of which it is 

 composed, and the care you give it. Most pasture lots in this country 

 consist of one kind of grass only, and often it is indifferent in quality. 

 If permanent pastures, they are frequently grown with one grass, such 

 as Blue grass in the North, or, in the South, Bermuda; but how much 

 better is a mixed permanent pasture, where the selected best grasses for 

 forage are grown in combination, giving variety, and furnishing grazing 

 at all stages of the growing season. Unquestionably, a permanent pas- 

 ture of the highest quality and one from which the stock could derive a 

 maximum of good, would be composed of ^various selected grasses, such 

 as Kentucky Blue, Russian Brome, Timothy 'and Western Rye. 

 But more of this when we come to the topic of feeding. 



WATERING Side by side with pasturage is the question of watering 

 STOCK stock. Plenty of drinking water is necessary for health 



or full production. The ideal system in mild weather is 

 watering from brooks flowing through farms, since running water has the 

 advantage of purifying itself by its constant exposure to the atmosphere. 

 On the other hand water in wells close to barns, manure piles, or other- 

 wise affected by surface drainage, is sure to be unclean and sooner or 

 later will be the source of disease. Look to tire water supply. If the 

 water is bad the animal suffers. 



The water should be at an agreeable temperature. The ice-bound 

 drinking trough in winter is one great cause of poor production. Thrifty 

 farmers warm the drinking water always. Troublesome? Yes but on 

 general principles it is a good deal cheaper to heat the water on a stove 

 than in the stomachs of your valuable animals. 



