The Anderson intelligencer. [volume] (Anderson Court House, S.C.) 1860-1914, 1880-04-15

Pr0f. johnson IN MS WOIk, LOW
Crops Crow" says that nitrogen is
constant constituent of all plants, and in
the animal it is never failing compo-
nent of the working tissues, the muscles,
tendons and nerves, and is hence an in
dispensable ingredient of food"
For these reasons farmers should know
whence it is derived, what is its value,
and what is its province in the produc.
tire economy of nature. Hence we pub
lish the following interesting article by
Prof. Caldwell, Of New York, taken from
the Tribune:
IT'S SOURCE.
The compounds of the nitrogen in the
excrements of animals are of course de-
rived from the nitrogenous compounds
in the fodder consumed by animals, and
from the materials used for their bedding,
in case they are kept in stalls and are
cared for as they should be. All tho
nitrogen of the litter appears in the. ma
nure, but such is not the case-with the;
nitrogen Of the fodder; if wearefeeding
young growing animal, certain pro-
portion of nitrogen must be s'bstracted
from its food for the production of the
additional bone aud tissue required for
its growth; if, the animal is yielding
milk, nitrogen must be Withdrawn from
the food for the caseine of the milk !; if
it is being fattened nitrogen is needed for
the::production Of the cellular tissue in
which the additional fat is deposited F; if
It'll producing nothing-no increase of
bulk, nor milk, nor fat-nearly all the
nitrogen may be removed in the excre--
ments, and such an animal may be rtil
lied as q manure making machine, albeit
costly and extravagant one. Of all the
cases above noted in which the animal is
producing something besides manure, it
is the fattening OK, cow or sheep that re-
turns the largest proportion of the nitro
gen of its fodder in its excrements, and
the milch COW that returns the smallest
proportion. Lawes and Gilbert .esti-
mated from the results of their ovrn e1-
periments that fattening OK retains
only 8. little over four pounds of nitro
genous matter ont of every hundred
pounds in its fodder. In some of
Kuehn's experiments with milch COWS,
from 25 to 40 per cent. of the nitrogenous
substance in the fodder was withdrawn
for the production Of milk, and therefore
did not appear in the excrement; for the
average consumption and withdrawal OF
nitrogen in the case of a COW in milk,
Wolf allows twenty pounds out of every
hundred in the fodder. A young animal.
in its. second year would require about
two pounds of nitrogenous matter in its
fodder to yield one pound of increase in
weight; this one pound of increase
would contain about OH of a pound of
heterogeneous substance; hence young,
growing animal, well fed, would with
draw about 8 per cent. of the nitrogen OF
its fodder. The horse withdraws about
IL per cent, and the. sheep about 6Sper
cent. of the nitrogen of its fodder, and
they consequently return about SO and 95
per cent. respectively in their manure.
The loss is go much greater jim the case
Of the horse than in the case of the sheep
or OK, partly because he espends so much
of his time on the road, when the 8ma
nure is either entirely lost to the farm or
else is partially wasted by exposure to
the direct heat Of the sun. The sfatten-
ing pig returns but 81 per cent. of the.
nitrogen of its food in the excrements,.
according to Lawes and Gilbert, SO that
it makes much larger draft than the
fattening OK does on the farmers supply
of nitrogen. These considerations show
that fattening horned cattle are the best
manure-making machines, so far as the
nitrogen of the manure is concerned, and
that lnilch COWS are the poorest.
IN WHAT FORM DOES THE NITROGEN
EXIST IN FARMYARD MANURE?
On comparing the proportion Of nitro
gen in the solid excrements with that in
the urine, we: find that, except ID the case
of the sheep, by far the larger part, Of it
is contained in, the solid part Of the ex-
crements. In some cases there is more
than twice as much nitrogen, in, the solid
as in the liquid part. The nitrogen&in
the solid excrements represents the undl-
gested and more difficulty soluble por-7
tions of the nitrogenous substance Of the
fodder; and, since undecomposedv yege-
table matter cannot serve directly as
plant-fcod, this part of the excteted nj
trogenous matter must suffer further
change, suchas takes placein the rotti1g
of manure, before itlcomes to possess flts
highest agricultural value. The nitrogen
in the urine, on the other hand, repre-.
sents that part of the nitrogenous sub:
stance of tae fodder that was more SOL
uble. and has been digested and assimi-
lated, and, which, having served its pur-
pose in the animal economy, is cast of
and conveyed out of the system through
the kidneys. As these compounds of
nitrogen are mostly in solution in tho
urine, they must therefore be soluble and
in so far ready for the use of the plant as
food; and experiments have shown that
plants can feed on the nitrogen in the
very forms of combination in which it
occurs in the urine, and they have fur
ther shown that these compounds them
selves suffer rapid alteration on exposure
60 the air, and become thereby converted
into compounds of ammonia and nitric
acid, which are unquestionably suitable
constituents of plant food.
HOW MUCH NITROGEN Is THERE IN
FARMYARD MANURE I?
In the case of substance so variable
in composition as stable manure, this
question is not easily answered. Of
course the proportion must vary accord
ing to the predominating character OF the
animals that make the'mauure, the rich-
ness of their fodder, and the proportion
of litter used. In one instance, where
the excrements were carefully preserved
for analysis, the manure of l6 fattening
oxen contained 0.9S per cent. of nitrogen,
and the mixed manure of 46 milch COWS
and 36 young cattle contaiued 0.A per;
cent Of nitrogen. Horse and sheep ma,
nure contain about the same proportion
of nitrogen as the manure Of fattenlng
oxen. In the case of the ordinary mix.
ture of manure of the farmyard, we shall
probably get as near the truth as is pos
sible under the circumstances IT We as
sumo that it contains in the fresh condl-2