1908.] 



Farmyard Manure. 



569 



value should be much below 12s. On the other hand, the 

 organic matter supplied in the farmyard manure is not valued, 

 yet it is for the effect of this organic matter on the texture 

 of the soil that farmyard manure is most generally required. 

 The cost of handling farmyard manure, which is so much greater 

 than it is for an equivalent amount of artificial fertiliser, 

 should also be taken into comparison, but cannot w T ell be 

 estimated, since it will vary on each farm. 



While it is thus practically impossible to value farmyard 

 manure on its composition, a proper system of bookkeeping 

 will show what it costs to make in a manner that is independent 

 of the profit and loss upon the live stock, and will also 

 enable a farmer to form for himself a clear idea of the economics 

 of dung making as compared with the purchase of either town 

 manure or artificial fertilisers. The most valid principle on 

 which the cost can be worked out, and one which does justice 

 equally to the live stock and to the manure, is to charge the 

 dung made with the litter and the manure value of all the 

 foods consumed in the yards or boxes. This is indeed, as far 

 as purchased foods go, exactly what the valuer would allow 

 to an outgoing tenant for the fertilising material which he 

 brought on to the farm during the year of his tenancy and 

 which he leaves behind in the form of dung. Of course the 

 valuer does not allow compensation for the roots, hay and 

 straw grown on the farm ; these, however, must be reckoned 

 in making up the cost of the dung. 



The manure value of any food is based upon its composition, 

 and represents the value at current market rates of what- 

 ever part of the food has a fertilising value and may be sup- 

 posed to find its way into the manure ; the values employed 

 below are derived from Voelcker and Hall's paper in the 

 Journal of the Royal Agricultural Society for 1902, p. 76, 

 and are those recommended by the Central Chamber of 

 Agriculture for adoption in farm valuations. To arrive 

 at the cost of the dung the manure values of all the food 

 consumed must be taken and added to the whole cost of 

 the litter, whether straw or peat moss, the sum is then divided 

 by the amount of manure ascertained to have been made. 

 In Table XVI this principle is applied to the data obtained from 

 some of the feeding experiments, already quoted (see- Journal, 



