
92 STORRS AGRICULTURAL EXPERIMENT STATION. 
the Connecticut and other experiment stations in 1897, such 
fodders as clover hays, for instance, have a value for making 
ifanure nearly twice as great as the hays of our common 
grasses; while Chicago gluten meal, the old and new process 
linseed meals, and cotton seed meal are two and one-half to 
three times as valuable as corn meal. ‘These figures are based 
upon the fertilizing value of the different feeding stuffs in their 
natural condition before feeding. 
The amount and proportion of the fertilizing ingredients 
that the animal removes from the fodder depends largely upon 
the animal and way in which it uses its food. Young growing 
animals, for example, require a large amount of protein for the 
building up of muscle, and considerable phosphoric acid for 
the formation of bone. In the case of mature animals that are 
being fattened, nearly the whole of the fertilizing value of the 
fodder is returned in the manure. It has been found that in 
feeding milch cows as much as twenty-five per cent. of the fer- 
tilizing value of the food may be used by the animal, leaving 
about seventy-five per cent., or perhaps more, to be returned 
as manure. The actual proportion of this that the farmer 
really saves varies in accordance with the care bestowed upon 
the manure. In many stables the amount of waste, especially 
of the liquid manure, is very great. By the use of absorbents 
and the prevention of hot fermentation nearly the full value of 
the manure as voided by the animal may be retained. By 
making liberal use of feeding stuffs rich in nitrogen (protein), 
in our feeding practice, the fertilizers purchased for use on the — 
farm may consist mainly of materials furnishing phosphoric 
acid and potash. Nitrogen can be obtained in the manure in 
no way more cheaply than by feeding it liberally to good stock, 
from which a fair profit is realized. The nitrogen and other 
fertilizing ingredients not used by the animal are left upon the 
farm as cheap by-products for use in growing crops. 
In the following table will be found the percentages of 
nitrogen, phosphoric acid, and potash found in a number of our 
common feeding stuffs, and the valuation per ton based upon 
the trade values of the ingredients (nitrogen, phosphoric acid, 
and potash), as estimated by the experiment stations of New 
England, and used by them in the valuation of fertilizers for 
13897. In the last column of the table is also given the assumed 

