CHAPTER XI 
MANURIAL VALUES OF FEEDING STUFFS 
Fertility in Feeds——When a farmer buys feed for his stock the 
fertility which is contained therein is often not taken into considera- 
tion, especially in the central or western States, where the supply 
of fertility in the soil, as a rule, has not as yet been depleted by 
continuous cropping. Farmers in the older sections of our country, 
and in the countries of the Old World, who pay out enormous sums 
of money annually for commercial fertilizers, are more likely to con- 
sider the manurial value of feeding stuffs. In addition to furnishing 
feed for farm animals, all plant materials supply valuable fertilizer 
ingredients (nitrogen and mineral matter) which largely go into the 
manure and aid in restoring the fertility of the farm land that has 
been lost through the removal of agricultural crops. Under other- 
wise similar conditions the feeds that furnish the largest quantities 
of fertilizing ingredients should, therefore, be selected. We under- 
stand by manurial value of feeds the value which these would have 
if applied directly as manure on the land. This value is figured on 
the basis of the amounts and cost of the three fertilizer constituents, 
nitrogen, phosphoric acid, and potash, which have definite and fairly 
constant market values. Table V in the Appendix shows that a ton 
of alfalfa hay, e.g., contains 44 pounds of nitrogen, 10 pounds of 
phosphoric acid, and 34 pounds of potash ; these amounts of fertilizer 
constituents would be worth, at a low valuation (15 cents per pound 
of nitrogen, 4 cents per pound of phosphoric acid and potash), $8.36 
(Fig. 10).* 
If a farmer buys a ton of alfalfa hay, he therefore receives, in 
addition to the energy for feeding purposes contained therein, an 
amount of fertilizer constituents which would cost $8.36 if bought 
in the form of commercial fertilizers. In the same way, the ferti- 
lizer value of Indian corn would be $5.64; oats, $6.63; wheat bran, 
$11.55 ; linseed meal, $18.75, and cotton-seed meal, $23.36. 
These figures make up a large proportion of the market values 
of the feeds ; a study of them will show that the most expensive feeds, 
which are all high-protein feeds, have, generally speaking, also the 
1 Present market. prices vary considerably from the figures used in 
these calculations. 
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