544 VARIOUS FERTILITY FACTORS 



Sheep manure is commonly regarded as a rich manure, but this 

 is largely due to the fact that sheep manure is usually much dryer 

 than that from other kinds of stock. Thus, the Massachusetts 

 Experiment Station reports the average of four analyses of sheep 

 manure, showing 28.4 pounds of nitrogen, 8 pounds of phosphorus, 

 and 19.4 pounds of potassium, per ton; but this manure contained 

 only 29.22 per cent of water. If the -water content were increased 

 to 75 per cent, which is about the average for. mixed manures, then 

 this sheep manure would contain only 10 pounds of nitrogen, 2.8 

 pounds of phosphorus, and 7 pounds of potassium, per ton. 



By referring to the Pennsylvania experiments recorded in Table 

 31, it will be seen that of the 37.68 pounds of potassium in the food 

 consumed, only 5.93 pounds were recovered in the dung, and 28.38 

 pounds in the urine. If these mixed excrements were exposed, and 

 the urine quickly replaced by rain water, the potassium contained 

 in one ton would decrease from about 8 pounds to 2 or 3 pounds. 

 (See Table 112.) 



The results of 79 analyses of various farm manures, made from 

 different kinds of feed and bedding, containing varying amounts 

 of water, and in different conditions of preservation or exposure, 

 showed a range per ton of manure as follows: Nitrogen from 4.2 

 to 27.2 pounds, phosphorus from .9 to 6.5 pounds, and potassium 

 from 2.2 to 23.2 pounds. 



At different places in the central West sheep are shipped in 

 from the Western range and kept upon full feed for a few months. 

 Several plants have been installed for drying and pulverizing the 

 sheep manure thus accumulated. Because of the large proportion 

 of grain and other concentrates in the rations, the manure produced 

 is about twice as rich in phosphorus as ordinary manure; but 

 otherwise the dried sheep manure has about the same composition 

 as average fresh manure reduced to the dry basis, as will be seen 

 from Tables no and in. 



The value of dried sheep manure is best determined by direct 

 comparison with ordinary manure, one ton of the former being 

 worth about as much as four or five tons of average fresh manure. 

 Probably the Pennsylvania data reported in Table 78 furnish the 

 best information the world affords as to the agricultural value of 

 ordinary manure when used on ordinary soils for the production 



