12 BEEF PRODUCTION 



pounds, representing a money value of $2.74, figuring 

 the hay at $8 per ton. 



Summarizing, then, we may say that the applica- 

 tion of eight tons of farm yard manure increased the 

 crops of corn, wheat, and clover in rotation represent- 

 ing a money value of $17.32, or $2.17 per ton. This 

 value was determined for yard manure that had lain in 

 the open through the winter. The value of stall manure 

 that had been kept under cover during the time it was 

 accumulating until a short time before application was 

 $23.61 for the eight-ton application, or $2.95 per ton. 



WHAT AN ILLINOIS AUTHORITY SAYS 



Dr. C. G. Hopkins of the Illinois Station is authority 

 for the statement that the value of farm yard manure 

 comes not only from the elements of plant food which 

 it may contain, but also and sometimes chiefly that 

 the decaying organic matter of the manure liberates 

 quantities of plant food already in the soil and adds 

 humus, which may or may not, according to the 

 character and previous treatment of the soil, add con- 

 siderably to its value. By balancing the stall manure 

 by the addition of a carrier of phosphorus the value of 

 the eight tons of such manure was increased $12.20, or 

 $1.53 per ton, and this after deducting the cost of the 

 material used for balancing the same. Adding this to 

 the untreated stall manure we have $2.95 plus $1.53, 

 which equals $4.48 as the possible net agricultural value 

 of the phosphated farm manure as applied to the soil 

 at the Wooster Experiment Station, where the soil is 

 a sandy clay loam. It should be clearly understood 

 that more than one-third of this value is due to the 

 addition of phosphorus, and it may be stated that prac- 

 tically the same increase was made whether the phos- 

 phorus was applied as acid phosphate, costing 30 cents, 

 or as finely ground natural rock phosphate, costing 16 

 cents, to the ton of manure. The power of farm manura 

 to liberate mineral plant food from the soil applies with 



