80 



FEEDING ANIMALS. 



Even English farmers, who have heretofore valued ma- 

 nure much higher than American farmers, have often 

 mentioned Dr. Lawes' table as placing too high an estimate 

 upon the manurial value of food, because, as they said, the 

 same elements could be more cheaply purchased in com- 

 mercial fertilizers. But it may be doubted if this is true 

 of the present market value of the three elements, nitrogen, 

 potash and phosphoric acid. We therefore give another 

 table showing the amount of each of these elements in 

 1,000 pounds of the different foods, and then calculating 

 the value of one ton at the prices mentioned at the head of 

 the columns. These prices are 18 cents for nitrogen, 6 

 cents for potash and 10 cents for phosphoric acid. These 

 are considerably lower than the prices estimated in com- 

 mercial fertilizers. We give this here as a convenient table 

 for reference : 



