The Somerset herald. [volume] (Somerset, Pa.) 1870-1936, 1883-12-05
Making Manure.

Too much cannot be said regard
ing the makins ofmanure at this sea-
son, for now is the time when no
other work is pressing and when prof
liable employment in not ready for
all. While great amount of mate
rial may be advantageously placed
in the compost heap, and there saved,
the quality of the manure should
also be considered. As something
cannot be derived from nothing, it is
apparent that the manure, heat of
body, growth and milk must come
from the food. Every ounce of food
must be provided, and every limit to
the allowance is limit to produc-
ton. The quantity of the TODD is no
index to what may be expected, for
quantity indicates nothing but bulk,
asis the case with straw but quality
can only be impaired to the manure
by feeding the animals with rich, con-
centrated food, adding coarser mate
rials for dietary purposes only.
Manure is always rich in carbon,
and often in potash, but there is
great difference in the proportions of
nitrogen and phosphoric acid. Many
substances that are fed contain only
traces of those materials, while other
matter may excel in either nitrogen
OF phosphoric acid alone, or both.
Clover hay is richer in nitrogen than
corn meal is, but corn meal contains
the more carbon. The corn, when
fed to adult animals which have
ceased growth, but which readily
take on fat, will be appropriated by
the animal, through the agency of
the digestive organs, only for the
purposes intended. AS the matured
animal does not need very large
quantity of phospnoric acid and
lime for the flesh, it converts the
carbon of the corn into fat, storing it
in the body upon every available To-
cation that may serve as a place for
deposit until large excess is Great
ed but the growing or young animal
requires material from which to sup
ply not only fat but bone, muscle
and other essentials, the clover hay
being more suitable than corn in GER
tain respects.
Manure from the matured ami
mai, therefore is more valuable than
that from one that has not completed
grewth, and it is also evident that,
as food is given for the purpose of
satisfying the demands ofthe animal,
the material voided is valuable ac-
cording to the assimilating power of
the digestive organs, as every partl-
Gle of nutritious matter will be ex-
tracted if it is needed and can be di-
gested, and manure from concentrat-
ed food may be useless if the quanti-
ly allowed is insufficient. We de-
rive manure only from the food
which we feed, but its quality is reg
ulated by the animal to which feed
is given and by the character of the
feed itself.
Different kinds of stock, also, pro-
duce different kinds of manure, even
when fed upon the same food. The
manure from horse is of a different
quality from that obtained in the
cattle yards. The horse that works
daily produces manure unlike that
of the idle horse in the stable and
the manure from the barren COW is
much richer in nitrogen and phos-
phoric acid than that collected from
COW in full flow of milk or from
one that is expected to calve. 1t is
apparent, then, that certain condi-
tions change the character of the
manure, and the computation of the
value of manure according to the
amount in the heap may mislead
many to suppose they possessed
mnch valuable material when the
fact may be that it is inferior. A
wagon load of manure, hauled sever
al miles to the farm, may not be
worth the labor of hauling, and
farmers should study these matters
well, as they are very important.