174 



NEW ENGLAND FARMER. 



June 



carried home. The rooster followed her. She 

 laid many eggs, hatched and brought up three 

 broods of chickens. The surplus eggs were sold. 

 The chickens, except twelve pullets, were killed 

 and sold at the door in November last. The eggs 

 and chickens sold, reckoning the live pullets equal 

 to a like number killed, all amounted to ten dol- 

 lars and some thirty cents, and the hen was still 

 laying. This she produced besides scratching for 

 most of her living and support of her chickens 

 while under her care. 



Now it requires no figuring of the price of corn 

 and other food in these two cases, to decide on 

 the profitableness of Johnny's hen for some eight 

 months, and the unprofitableness of those of his 

 uncle for two years. 



Do we not often witness the same difference in 

 the productions of other domestic animals of the 

 same breeds? Are we not too apt to jump at 

 conclusions of the value of a breed, from an exper- 

 iment with a single individual of the race ? 



Rufus McIntire. 



Parsonsfield, Me., 1864. 



For the New England Farmer. 

 VALUE OF BAHIYAED MANURE. 



With the view of determining the actual value 

 of barnyard manure as found in the enclosures of 

 our New England farmers, I have recently sub* 

 mitted several specimens to chemical analysis. A 

 parcel obtained from the yard of a neighbor, 

 which, under the conditions in which it was pro- 

 duced and preserved, may be regarded as a fair 

 representative of the article as furnished by ordi- 

 nary farmers, gave the following results : 



A portion, weighing 7280 grains, was carefully 

 dried in a porcelain dish over a water bath, and 

 it was found to lose of water 5960 grains, leaving 

 of dry matter 1320^rains. Of the residuum thuS 

 freed from moisture, 455 grains were placed in a 

 platinum capsule and carefully ignited, thus re- 

 moving the combustible or carbonaceous matter 

 made up of the elements, oxygen, hydrogen and 

 carbon. The resultant ash weighed 177 grains, 

 showing a loss of volatile or combustible elements 

 amounting to 278 grains. 



In order that the results of the analysis may be 

 clearly understood by agriculturists, it may be 

 desirable to present them without regard to frac- 

 tional parts, and to estimate by the whole amount 

 experimented with, viz., 7280 grains. This amount 

 gave of water, 5960 grains ; combustible or car- 

 bonaceous matter, 806 ; nitrogen, 29; potash and 

 soda, 41 ; lime, 43 ; magnesia, 14 ; phosphoric 

 acid, 15 ; sulphuric acid, ll ; chlorine, 14 ; silicon 

 or sand, 335; oxide of iron and alumina, 22. The 

 points in this examination which will doubtless 

 appear most striking, are the large amounts of 

 worthless material which constitute the bulk of 

 barnyard manure, the water and sand greatly pre- 

 dominating over everything else. A better idea 

 of this may be obtained, if the results of the analy- 

 sis are applied to a larger amount of manure, 

 which will give the constituents in pounds. 



Assuming that a cord of ordinary barnyard 

 manure will weigh 3000 pounds, its actual value 

 as a fertilizer may be presented as follows : There 

 are contained in it of water, 2456 pounds, common 

 sand, 138 pounds ; these added together give 

 2594 pounds of perfectly worthless substances. 

 Now, if we still further subtract the carbonaceous 



matter, 332 pounds, which is of no more value than 

 muck, peat, straw, or chaff, we have left only 74 

 pounds of active fertilizing material, which has a 

 money value. To obtain this 74 pounds, which 

 really is all that is valuable, the farmer loads and 

 hauls upon his field 3000 pounds, or one and a 

 half tons of a compound in which there is water 

 enough to do the weekly washing of a small neigh- 

 borhood, and a sufficiency of sand to keep the 

 kitchen floor tidy for a month. The 74 pounds 

 of mineral salts might be taken in an ordinary 

 bushel basket and carried upon the shoulder to 

 any point desired. 



In this amount there is the nitrogen, potash, 

 soda, lime, magnesia, phosphoric acid, sulphuric 

 acid, chlorine, iron and alum. In estimating the 

 market value of these substances, we may obtain 

 the nitrogen by the use of crude nitrate of soda 

 or sulphate of ammonia, at a cost of $1.70 ; the 

 potash, soda, &c, in 1£ bushels of good wood 

 ashes, at 25 cents; and 15 pounds of common 

 salt, 10 pounds of bone dust, 3 pounds of gypsum, 

 will supply the remaining constituents at a cost 

 of 40 cents. If we estimate the carbonaceous 

 matter at 10 cents, we have, as the actual cash 

 value of all that promotes plant growth, in 3000 

 pounds of barnyard manure, the sum of $2.45. 



There are but few localities where the farmer 

 can purchase manure at less than five dollars the 

 cord ; and when to this we add the expense of 

 hauling and applying to fields, we find there is a 

 wide margin between the cost of the isolated val- 

 uable constituents of manure, and the article as 

 furnished in its natural condition. 



If bulk in fertilizers is desirable, artificial barn- 

 yard manure may be produced by thoroughly com- 

 posting with a cord of seasoned meadow muck, 

 65 pounds of crude nitrate of scda, 2 bushels of 

 wood ashes, 1 peck of common salt, 10 pounds of 

 fine bone meal, 2 quarts of plaster, 10 pounds of 

 epsom salts. The cost of this compost ought not 

 to be over $3.00 the cord, and in fertilizing pow- 

 er it may be found to exceed ordinary animal 

 excrement. 



The question has arisen, whether analysis fur- 

 nishes true data from which to estimate the actual 

 value of barnyard manure ; whether there is not 

 some property communicated to mineral salts in 

 their passage through plant and animal organisms, 

 which peculiarly adapts or fits them for again be- 

 coming plant fructifiers. This is an interesting 

 question, and one which may be considered in a 

 future communication. In what has been pre- 

 sented, the fact is not overlooked, that manure 

 or animal excrement as found upon the premises 

 of farmers varies greatly in value. Its value is in 

 proportion to the worth or richness of food sup- 

 plied to animals. A herd of kine fed upon clover 

 hay, and supplied liberally with grain and tur- 

 nips, will furnish excrement of more than twice 

 the value of that from animals fed upon run hay, 

 witli no grain or roots. 



The farmer is very apt to look upon the con- 

 tents of his yard as so much manure — in value 

 equal to any other which it may in' physical as- 

 pect resemble. This is a very erroneous view of 

 the matter. Lean feed makes lean manure ; and 

 the actual value of a parcel may be understood by 

 knowing what kind of hay or grain has been fur- 

 nished the animals producing it. Whenever, in 

 riding past a farm-house iu the winter, we notice 



