MANURES FOK POTATOES. 257 



hay, half clover and half timothy. Let us see what your manure 

 from this amount of grain and fodder is worth. 



Manures from 



50 tons wheat-straw, @ $2.63 $ 134.00 



35 tons oat-straw, @ $2.90 101.50 



30 tons corn-stalks, @ $3.58 107.40 



30 tons timothy-hay, @ $6.43 . . 192.90 



30 tons clover-hay, @ $9.64 289.20 



14 tons oats (1,500 bush.), @ $7.70 107.80 



24 tons corn (800 bushels), @ $6.65 159.60 



Total . . 213 tons $1,092.40 



" This is the value of the manure on tJie land. Assuming that 

 there are 600 loads, and that the labor of cleaning out the stables, 

 piling, carting, and spreading the manure is worth 30 cents per 

 load, or $180, we have $912.40 as the net value of the manure. 



" Now, your 250-acre farm might be so managed that this amount 

 of manure annually applied would soon greatly increase its fertility. 

 But you do not think you can afford to summer-fallow, and you 

 want to raise thirty or forty acres of potatoes every year." 



" I propose to do so," he replied. " Situated as I am, close to a 

 good shipping station, no crop pays me better. My potatoes this 

 year have averaged me over $100 per acre." 



"Very good. But it is perfectly clear to my mind that sooner 

 or later, you must either farm slower or feed higher. And in your 

 case, situated close to a village where you can get plenty of help, 

 and with a good shipping station near by, you had better adopt 

 the latter plan. You musjt feed higher, and make richer manure. 

 You now feed out 213 tons of stuff, and make 600 loads of manure, 

 worth $912.40. By feeding out one third, or 71 tons more, you can 

 more than double the value of the manure. 



50 tons of bran or mill-feed would give manure worth $ 729.50 



21 tons decorticated cotton-seed cake 585.06 



~8i~314.56 



" Buy and feed out this amount of bran and cake, and you would 

 have 800 loads of manure, worth on tlie land $2,226.96, or, estimat- 

 ing as before that it cost 30 cents a load to handle it, its net value 

 would be $1,986.96." 



I am well aware that comparatively few farmers in this section 

 can afford to adopt this plan of enriching their land. .We want 

 better stock. I do not know where I could buy a lot of steers that 

 it would pay to fatten in the winter. Those farmers who raise 

 good grade Shorthorn or Devon cattle are not the men to sell 

 them half-fat at low rates. They can fatten them as well as I can. 

 For some time to come, the farmer who proposes to feed liberally, 



