S68 
acid and linio. Tlio addition of a frvain ration rather 
I'ich in jirotein matter wonld improve the nitrogen 
eontent of the mannre and also tlie phosphate and 
lime content. As near as I am al)le to jndge, a 
fertilizer rich in phosphoric acid with a reasonable 
l)ercentage of nitrogen may imi)rove the conditions. 
It is jji’ctty difiicnlt to answer blindly without be¬ 
ing able to have exact facts in mind. 
2. It does not seem reasonable to me that the 
continued use of silage as a food for animals has 
a tendency to make the mannre acid. The organic 
acids, snch as lactic acid and possibly acetic acid 
Manure Sampling Tube Showing Cutting Edge. Fig. 257 
Contained in the silage, are supposed to be decom- 
l»os(‘d and ntilized in the blood stream and not ex¬ 
creted as inert matter in the form of mannre. I 
find nothing in the literature to indicate that the 
mannre from .silage-fed cows is acid, neither have 
T observed it in my experience. Parties who make 
this comj)laint should get in touch with their own 
experiment station and liave the entire matter 
looked into. Some other cause for the trouble may 
be found. If the soil has become acid, a reasonable 
application of calcium carbonate or of slaked lime 
would prove an efficient corrective. 
J. B. LINDSEY. 
Massachusetts Experiment Station. 
A Loss of Plant Food 
INIanure from siilage is of iiractically the same 
value as manure from dry fodder as regards ele¬ 
ments of fertility. However, in the case of manure 
from sila^ge there is perhaps more danger of loss 
of fertility in the barn or in the manure pile due 
to the greater water content of the manure and 
the greater teiubmcy to leach. Cement gutters, 
liberal use of bedding, and direct hauling to the 
Held, or storage in jiroperly constructed manure 
sheds or pit.s, will of course overcome this los.s. 
The falling off in crop production as noted is en¬ 
tirely natural, for even in the case of dairy farm¬ 
ing there is a loss of fertility from the soil, al¬ 
though less rapid than in the case of grain farm¬ 
ing. This falling off in crops may be due to lack 
of available phosphates or soil acidity. The acid 
condition of the soil, however, if it exists, is not 
due to the feeding of silage. The organic acids in 
silage manure decompose quite rapidly when the 
manure ds ajiplied to well cultivated soil. On con¬ 
tinued cultivation, practically all upland soils, either 
with grain farming or dairy farming,' tend to be¬ 
come acid, due to the loss of ba.ses and formation 
tif mineral acids. The acidity of peat and muck 
soils may. however, be due largely to organic acids, 
'riiis condition can only be corrected by the use of 
lime in some form. These soils that are falling off 
in pi'odnctivity should be tested for acidity, and 
lime applied if found to be acid, in order that good 
crops of legumes may be grown. The matter of 
phosphates should also be investigated. 
Wisconsin Experiment Station. E. truog. 
Silage May Slightly Increase Acid 
q'here are several reasons that may contribute to 
the condition described by your correspondent that 
would^account for decreased yield of crops on cer¬ 
tain farms in the corn belt, where systematic rota¬ 
tion of ci-ops is not practised, and where corn, oats 
and hay ai-e exten.sively grown. The suggestion that 
this decreased yield is due to the application of 
manure voided from animals fed on silage is not 
well founded, or in any event only one of a series 
of contributing causes, I took occasion to submit 
this question to Dr. Lipman and he replied as fol¬ 
lows : 
“From the .standpoint of composition, there is no 
reason why manure from farm animals fed on 
corn silage should have a lower content of plant 
RURAL NEW-YORKER 
food than manure from similar animals fed on 
corn fodder. It is pos.sible that manure from ani¬ 
mals fed on corn silage would show a higher de¬ 
gree of acidity and, for this reason would cause the 
loss of a larger amount of lime from the soil. 'This 
in time would lessen the proportion of clover in 
the meadows, and in general would dei)ress the 
nitrogen .supply of crops in the rotation. It is my 
Itelief, therefore, that if any depressing effect has 
b(‘en noted from the continued use of manure from 
silage-fed animals, the dei)res.sion would be due to 
the ci’eating of a less satisfactory reaction in the 
soil ratlier than to a diminished .sui)ply of fertility 
elements ordinarily exi)ected from animal ma¬ 
nures.” 
It must be remembered that before the advent of 
the silo it was the pi-actice of Western farmers to 
husk the corn direct from the field, and after the 
crop had been gathered to turn the livestock into 
the field to consume and pick over the roughage. 
During the Winter months a stalk-breaker or cut¬ 
ter was used, which made it possible to plow under 
such portions of the cornstalks as were not con¬ 
sumed by the animal. In addition to this decaying 
vegetable matter there, was distributed over the 
fields the voidings of the animals themselves, which 
naturally would have a tendency to increase the 
productivity of the areas, F, c. minkler. 
New Brunswick, N. .T. 
Sampling Tubes for Manure, Alfalfa or 
Other Organic Materials 
O KCIANIC MUI/TIES.—During recent years 
there has been a growing interest amongst 
citrus growers in California in the use of organic 
materials as mulches for citrus orchards, or for 
use in connection with the feeding of citrus trees. 
Sampling Tube for Baled Hay. Fig. 258 
Large amounts of manure. Alfalfa hay, bean straw 
or other similar organic materials are being msed 
at the present time in California citrus orchards 
and the increasing demands have resulted in the 
raising of prices for these anaterials in many in¬ 
stances. The higher cost of these organic mulches 
and fertilizers has led some citrus growers to care¬ 
fully consider the method of handling and using 
them and the comparative costliness of the different 
materials, Several different methods of valuing 
these materials have been practiced, the more com¬ 
mon ones being the value per ton, and the value 
per cubic foot. 
WEIGHT AND W.VTER CONTENT.—If the or¬ 
ganic materials are purchased on the basis of 
weiffiit, it is evident that the water content of these 
materials is a very important factor in determining 
the comparative value of the materials; for in¬ 
stance, in one test a comparison of the water con¬ 
tent of two organic materials to be used for mulches 
showed that one of them contained 15 per cent, of 
water on the basis of its dry weight, while the 
other material contained 152 per cent, of water. It 
is evident, thei’efore, that in order to arrive at a 
fair and equitable valuation of organic materials to 
be used as mulches, or for other imrposes in oi’- 
chard work, a knowledge of the water content of 
these materials is desirable. 
THE TESTING APPARATUS.—Frank F. Chase, 
of Riverside, has devised a method for securing 
such samples, which may prove to be of interest to 
the citrus growers or others who purchase manure. 
Alfalfa, bean straw or other such material for use 
in their orchards or fields. The ajjparatus used for 
this purpo.se consists of a tube somewhat similar 
in arrangement and appearance to the King soil 
tube. Two different sizes of .sampling tubes have 
been made, one for u.se in sampling carload or other 
May 12, 11)17. 
large lots of manure, and the other for sam])ling 
bales of Alfalfa, bean straw, cornstalks or other 
similar materials. 
CGNSTRUCTIGN GF SAMPLING TUBE.—The 
manure sami)ling tube, a picture of which is shoAvn 
at Pig. 250, is about six feet in length and about 
two inches in diameter. One end is made with a 
sharp saw-tooth like cutting edge, as shown in the 
accompanying illustration. Fig. 257, arranged so as 
to cut down through the manure somewhat on the 
principle of the knives commonly used for cutting 
hay in the st:ick. .\t the other end of the tube an 
extra ring of imetal is welded onto the tube in order 
to give it added supi)ort. .V hole is cut through 
this ring and the tube so that a handle Ciin be 
pushed through it as shown in Fig. 2.59 for u.se in 
twisting the tube when the sample is being taken. 
It has been found in pi'actice desir.able to cut a 
.sample about one foot or less in de])th. then shake 
or pu.sh it out into a can in which it is to be dried. 
Another .sample is then t:iken below the first one, 
and so on, until a complete s.-imple of the manure is 
obtained, from the top to the Ixittom of the pile. If 
desirable, more than one set of samples can be 
made in different portions of the pile of manure, 
the necessity for which will depend upon the con¬ 
dition of the manure. The samples ai'e then ])laced 
in a drying oven and reduced to a dry basis. The 
difference in weight between the fresh sam¬ 
ples taken from the pile of manure and their weight 
after drying will give the amount of water con¬ 
tained in them. The i)ercentage of water can then 
be computed on the basis of the dry weight of the 
.sample.s. 
SAMPLING HAY AND STRAW.—The sampling 
tube used for securing representative samples from 
bales of Alfalfa, bean straw, co.rn.stalks or other 
organic materials, as shown in the accompanying 
illustration. Pig. 25.S. is like the manure sampling 
tube excepting that it is shorter. The baled hay 
.sampling tube is about three feet in length, about 
two inches in diameter and is arranged with a cut¬ 
ting edge similar to that of the manure sampling 
tube. The saunples of the Alfalfa, bean straw or 
other materials are dried in a similar manner to 
that u.sed for drying the manure samples, and the 
per cent, of water is calculated in the same way. 
The samples of organic materials are forced out 
of the tube by the use of the twisting handle. Tliis 
handle is made of iron, and is dropped in at the 
top of the tube onto the samples in the tube until 
the samples are forced out into the drying cans. 
METHODS AND MATERIALS.—The sampling 
tubes are made of iron and the cutting edges of 
tempered steel. The method of the use of these 
tubes, as suggested above, is similar to that of tlie 
use of the soil-saimpling tubes now in common use 
in many citrus orchards. It seems likely that im¬ 
provements can be made in the structure and ar¬ 
rangement of these tubes as the result’ of further 
exi)erience in their u.se. For example, it seems pos¬ 
sible that the sampling tubes can be constructed .so 
that after the samples have been cut, the tubes can 
be opened so that the samples are fully exposed and 
Manure Sampling Tube. Fig. 259 
e.isily removed from the tube.s. In this event the 
tubes would be divided into equal longitudinal 
halves, arranged so that they can be opened readily, 
and hinged so that the two halves can be ea.sily 
handled and kept in position when opened. Or it 
is i)os.sible that the shape and size of the tube or the 
cutting edge may be modified so that the samples 
ciin be more easily removed than is the case at 
present. This description of manure and other 
sampling tubes is presented here in the hopes of 
arousing greater interest in the study of a stand¬ 
ard for the water content of organic materials as a 
