CROPS AND SOIL IMPROVEMENT 



he is like a manufacturer who can use much of 

 his raw material over and over again. The value 

 is in the manure, and full appreciation is lacking 

 only because a majority of farms do not provide 

 for careful saving of its valuable constituents. 



Relative Values. The plant-food content of 

 manure is determined chiefly by the feed. The 

 animals add nothing: they subtract. The kind 

 of animals consuming the feed does not affect 

 materially the value of the manure made from it, 

 if the animals are mature and not giving milk. 

 The manures from the various kinds of animals 

 differ in value per ton because the feeds differ 

 in character and the manure varies in percentage 

 of water. On an average, however, the total 

 annual product of manure from farm animals, 

 per 1000 pounds of live weight, does not vary 

 widely in value. The rich protein feeds given 

 the cow, and the heavy feeding, more than make 

 amends for the fertility that goes into the milk, 

 and her annual product, per 1000 pounds of live 

 weight, may exceed in value that of the horse 

 by 25 per cent. This is likewise true of the 

 pig, figured on the 1000-pound basis, while in 

 the case of the sheep the value, per 1000 pounds 

 of live weight, is near that of the horse. 



[126] 



