48 TALKS ON MANURES. 



aud the hay is composed of a number of the best grasses, cut early 

 and carefully cured. It will be noticed, however, that even this 

 choice meadow-hay is not as valuable for manure as clover-hay. 



English bean-straw is estimated as worth $3.87 per ton for 

 manure. The English " horse bean," which is the kind here 

 alluded to, has a very stiff, coarse long straw, and looks as though 

 it was much inferior as fodder, to the straw of our ordinary white 

 beans. See Wolff's table in the appendix. 



Pea-straw is estimated at $3. 74 per ton. When the peas are not al- 

 lowed to grow until dead ripe, and when the straw is carefully cured, 

 it makes capital food for sheep. Taking the grain and straw 

 together, it will be seen that peas are an unusually valuable crop to 

 grow for the purpose of making rich manure. 



The straw of oats, wheat, and barley, is worth from $2.25 to $2.90 

 per ton. Barley straw being the poorest for manure, and oat straw 

 the richest. 



Potatoes are worth $1.50 per ton, or nearly 5 cents a bushel for 

 manure. 



The manurial value of roots varies from 80 cents a ton for 

 carrots, to $1.07 for mangel-wurzel, and $1.14 for parsnips. 



I am very anxious t'jat there should be no misapprehension as 

 to the meaning of these figures. I am sure they are well worth 

 the careful study of every intelligent farmer. Mr. Lawes has been 

 engaged in making experiments for over thirty years. There is no 

 man more competent to speak with authority on such a subject. 

 The figures showing the money value of the manure made from 

 the different foods, are based on the amount of nitrogen, phos- 

 phoric acid, and potash, which they contain. Mr. Lawes has been 

 buying and using artificial manures for many j'ears, and is quite 

 competent to form a correct conclusion as to the cheapest sources 

 of obtaining nitrogen, phosphoric acid, and potash. He has cer- 

 tainly not overestimated their cost. Thoy can not be bought at 

 lower rates, either in England or America. But of course it does 

 not follow from this that these manures are worth to the farmer 

 the price charged for them; that is a matter depending on many 

 conditions. All that can be said is, that if you are going to buy 

 commercial manures, you will have to pay at least as much for the 

 nitrogen, phosphoric acid, and potash, as the price fixed upon by 

 Mr. Lawes. And you should recollect that there are other in- 

 gredients in the manure ob'ained from the food of animals, which 

 are not estimated as of any value in the table. For instance, there 

 is a large amount of carbonaceous matter in the manure of animals, 



