170 



(9) If allowed to ripen, the seed of the cowpea and soja bean furnishes 

 an extremely rich concentrated feed which can be ground and fed in 

 place of expensive commercial feeds. The straw remaining may be fed 

 as coarse fodder, for it is richer than ordinary hay. 



(10) Grow more leguminous crops. They furnish the cheapest food 

 for stock and the cheapest manure for the soil. They do this because 

 they obtain from the air a substance necessary for plants and animals 

 alike, which costs in the form of fertilisers and feeding stuffs from 15 

 to 25 cents a pound. 



BARNYARD MANURE. 



By W. H. Beal, of the Office of Experiment Stations, U. S. 

 Department of Agriculture. 



Reprinted from Farmers' Bulletin, No. 21. 



MANURE AS A FARM RESOURCE. 



The term "barnyard manure" is used to mean the solid and liquid 

 excrement of farm animals either alone or mixed with litter and more 

 or less fermented 



A well-kept manure heap may be safely taken as one of the surest 

 indications of thrift and succass in farming. Neglect of this resource 

 causes losses, which, though vast in extent, are little appraciated. 

 Waste of manure is either so common as to breed indifference or so 

 silent and hidden as to escape notice. 



According to recent statistics there are in the United States, in round 

 numbers, 16,000,000 horses, 5 ,: !,000,000 cattle, 45,200,000 hogs, and 

 45,000,000 sheep. Experiments indicate that if these animals were kept 

 in stalls or pens throughout the year and the manure carefully saved 

 the approximate value of the fertilising constituents of the manure 

 produced by each horse annually would be $27, by each head of cattle 

 $19, by each hog $12, and by each sheep $2. The fertilising value of 

 the manure produced by the different classes of farm animals of the 

 United States would, therefore, be for horses, $432,000,000 ; cattle, 

 $1,007,000,000 ; hogs, $542,400,000 ; and sheep, $90,000,000, or a total 

 of $2,071,400,000. 



These estimates are ba*ed on the values usually assigned to phos- 

 phoric acid, potash, and nitrogen in commercial fertilisers, and are pos- 

 sibly somewhat too high from a practical standpoint. On the other 

 hand, it must be borne in mind that no account is taken of the value 

 of manure for improving the mechanical condition and drainage of 

 soils, which, as the subsequent pages will show, is fully as important a 

 consideration as its direct fertilising value. 



Discussing this subject from a more practical standpoint, Prof . Roberts 

 has suggested $250 as a conservative estimate of the value of the 

 manure produced during seven winter months on a small farm carrying 

 4 horses, 20 cows, 50 sheep, and 10 pigs. 



If we assume that one third of the value of manure is annually l"st 

 by present methods of management, and this estimate is undoubtedly 

 a conservative one, the total loss from this source in the United States, 

 as indicated by the first figures, would be about $690,466,000; or, 

 using Robert's figures, the annual loss for each farm would amount to 

 $83.33. 



