IMPORTANCE OF FARM ANIMALS 17 



of some great river vallej^s, like the Nile, which are enriched 

 by annual overflow, no agricultural region has continued to 

 grow abundant harvests without the aid of manure from 

 domestic animals. Each year the wheat fields of Canada 

 and the corn fields of the Mississippi Valley yield in reduced 

 amounts per acre, unless fertility replaces that removed by 

 the crop. Experience has also shown that, where farmers 

 keep the most hve stock, there the crops are most abundant 

 and the people most prosperous. 



We purchase commercial fertilizers to restore fertility 

 to the soil; but these lack one thing of great importance 

 found in stable manures, and that is vegetable matter, which 

 is as necessary to the soil as is the chemical nutriment. The 

 rotted manm-e in the soil makes it more porous and mellow 

 and permits the entrance of air and the growth of roots 

 through it more freely than where no vegetable mould is 

 present. Interesting experiments conducted for more than 

 seventy continuous years on the same land, in England, at 

 Rothamsted Experiment Station, showed that wheat grown 

 on unmanured land yielded just about 12 bushels per acre, 

 while a yield of about 40 bushels occurred where stable ma- 

 nure was used. A ton of average stable manure is regarded 

 as containing about $2.50 worth of plant food. Professor 

 Roberts has figured* that the average value of the manure 

 produced by a cow each day is 8 cents, while that of a horse 

 is worth about a half cent less. The value of stable ma- 

 nure, however, depends upon the feed the animal gets. Feed 

 rich in grain makes a more valuable manure than that from 

 hay only, and so will return more fertility to the soil. 



The animal is a machine for changing coarse into fine 

 material. The ideal kind of farming combines the growing 

 of grass and grain and the feeding of these to the animals 

 of the farm. These raw crops are thus converted into con- 

 centrated and high priced products, as represented in meat, 

 milk, butter, cheese, or breeding stock. A large percentage 



♦Bulletin 56, Cornell University Experiment Station. 



