THE EFFECT OF THE RATION ON THE VALUE 

 OF THE MANURE. 



J. M. BartivEITT. 



In digestion experiments with steers, where both the feces and 

 the urine were saved, potash and phosphoric acid determinations 

 as well as nitrogen were made in order that the fertilizing value 

 of the manure from the different rations could be compared. It 

 will be noticed that no figures are given in the table on page 46 

 for the percentages of potash found in the urine. The determina- 

 tions were made, but owing to a probable error in calculating the 

 results from the dry to the fresh bases, which at this time can- 

 not be corrected, they are omitted. Other experiments show 

 that the potash of the food is practically all given off in the 

 excretions, so the figures given for potash in the urine are 

 obtained by subtracting the potash of the feces from the total 

 amount taken in the food. 



Only traces of phosphoric acid were found in the urine. In 

 the first experiment with hay alone, more nitrogen was found in 

 the excretions than was taken in the food. This discrepancy 

 was probably due to insufificient nitrogen in the ration to main- 

 tain the animals and they lost flesh, excreting some body 

 nitrogen. Therefore the feces from this ration relatively con- 

 tains more nitrogen and value higher than they should, for it is 

 evident that the animals could not continue for any length of 

 time to give off more nitrogen than they received. 



The results are given in the tables which follow. 



The first table on page 46 gives the weights of food eaten and 

 feces and urine excreted for each animal for the five day that 

 the experiment occupied and the second table contains the per- 

 centages of fertilizing ingredients in both food and excreta. 



The tables on page 47 contain the amount of fertilizing 

 ingredients excreted by each animal and the total amount of 

 fertilizing ingredients in the food, feces and urine, also the 

 percentages excreted. 



