1Y4 



FARMER'S CYCLOPEDIA OF LIVE STOCK 



When the crop is sold, so much of the 

 fertility of the farm is removed per- 

 manently. If the crop is fed on the farm 

 and the manure saved and returned to 

 the soil, this great loss of fertility is 

 checked. If in addition to the crop 

 raised on the farm, others are bought and 

 fed and the manure spread on the fields, 

 the farm may actually grow richer and 

 richer from year to year. In fact, many 

 a run-down farm has been brought to a 

 high state of productiveness by this 

 method of stock farming. 



In selling animals or animal products 

 from the farm, there is also a certain 

 amount of fertility removed from the 

 farm. The amount, however, is very 

 much less than where the raw crops are 

 sold. Thus it takes about 15,000 pounds 

 of hay and grain to produce 1,000 pounds 

 of beef. This hay and grain if sold, 

 would remove fertility, which if bought, 

 would cost at least $100. At the same 

 prices the value of the fertility removed 



when the 1,000 pounds animal produced 

 on this feed is sold, would be but about 

 $12. 



If, instead of meat, butter is sold from 

 the farm, the fertility removed is prac- 

 tically nothing. If extra feed is bought, 

 as is common on the modern stock farm, 

 then the fertility thus brought to the 

 farm might exceed that removed in the 

 meat and milk. The degree of success of 

 a farmer can usually be accurately 

 gauged by counting the number of loads 

 of manure he hauls out on his fields 

 annually. 



Losses in fertility by different 

 methods of farming — The loss of fertil- 

 ity on a 160-acre farm from (1) all grain 

 farming, (2) mixed grain and general 

 farming, (3) mixed potato and general 

 farming, (4) stock farming and (5) 

 dairy farming has been worked out in 

 considerable detail by Snyder at the 

 Minnesota Station (Bui. 41) with the 

 following general result: 



LOSS OF FERTILIZING CONSTITUENTS UNDER DIFFERENT SYS- 

 TEMS OF FARMING 



Nitrogen 

 Kind of farming pounds 



All grain farming 5,000 



Mixed grain and general farming 2,600+ 



Mixed potato and general farming 2,300+ 



Stock farming 900 



Dairy farming S00 



These figures are conservative. The 

 loss of nitrogen in grain farming is 

 greater than represented because of 

 losses that occur in the drainage water 

 and in the decomposition of humus. In 

 the other systems of farming the loss of 

 nitrogen may not be as great as repre- 

 sented if clover, alfalfa or other nitro- 

 gen-gathering crops are grown. The 

 losses of phosphoric acid and potash 

 shown for dairy and stock farming may 

 be entirely eliminated if purchased 

 feeds are used in addition to those 

 grown on the farm. 



Elements of plant life — It is well 

 known that plants utilize many different 

 elements in their growth such as lime, 

 sulphur, magnesia, potash, chlorine, so- 

 dium, phosphorus, nitrogen, oxygen, car- 

 bon, etc. These elements, except three, 

 are sufficiently abundant in all soil for 



the full growth of all plants. These three 

 elements are nitrogen, potash and phos- 

 phoric acid ; on some soils lime is needed 

 in addition. 



The value of fertilizers is based on the 

 percentage of nitrogen, phosphoric acid 

 and potash they contain. These sub- 

 stances are always present in all farm 

 crops, and hence we may estimate the 

 manurial value of these crops by the 

 amount of these elements they contain. 

 Professor Armsby has done this for a 

 number of farm crops and animal prod- 

 ucts, estimating the value of the nitro- 

 gen they contain at 17 cents a pound, 

 which is about the usual price when this 

 fertilizer is bought, the phosphoric acid 

 at 7 cents, and potash at 4 cents a 

 pound. The results are given in the 

 table herewith. 



