The morning news. [volume] (Savannah, Ga.) 1887-1900, 1891-07-06
What is Manure Worth?

It is practically impossible, says the
american CuLtiUator, to determine the
worth of manure to the farmer. 1t is
worth much more in some places than in
others, and in the same locality its value
varies with the crop, the soil to which it is
applied, and even more with the industry
andiutelligence OF the farmer using it. Com
plicated as the manure question is with so
many factors, there can be no end to the
problems resulting from 1t. Whether the
commercial manures pay or do not depends,
as we have shown. upon the crops to which
they are applied. The monopoly which the
southern planter has held in growing cotton
has always MADE phosphate more profitable
on this crop than it averages on crops
grown in the north in which there is
greater competition. In the older states,
also, commercial and other manures have
paid better than was possible where virgin
soil needed no manure. 1t has sometimes
been wonder that early settlers in new
states left stable manure to lie unused for
years. Yet those who went west, imbued
with purpose to reform this wasteful
practice, almost always found themselves
obliged at first to fall in with it.
Only as land grows poorer does high and
expensive manuring pay. is certain that
for years to come the average value of
manure will be greater than it has been, for
the reason that extending settlements west
ward on well-watered, virgin soil is no
longer possible In this fact we see the as
surance of an era Of prosperity for farmers
for the next few years, and that will not
only equal that of any former period, but
will have greater assurance of permanence.
When all crops have to be grown on land
artiticiallY fortified, farmers in the older
states will not be placed under such compe-
tition as they have been heretofore. The
farms then in older states, with Genser popu-
lation, will pay better for manur1ng than
lands at the far west, where not merely
manuring, but irrigation, is required to
make them productive.
After all, the factor that is most impor-
tant in determining the value of manure is
the character of the farmer himself. If ne
is industrious, intelligent and skillful, the
probabilities are that he has made money
even during the past few years. 1t pays
such men to purchase manure.
They do not buy it to grow weeds, or to al
low crops to which it is applied to suffer
from lack of cultivation. Then when crops
are grown such farmers make more from
them than other farmers can. because they
keep better stock. 1t may seem paradOxlcal
that the farmer who keeps animals that
more than pay their way can afford to buy
more manure than one who keeps ordinary
stock. But it is true. In the first case, the
manure his stock makes Is so much clear
profit. In the other, that which he buys is
cheaper than that his stock makes. Yet
the man who practically gets a part of his
fertilizer for nothing can best afford to pay
high prices for what additional supplies he
needs. Thus the whole question of manures
depends on the kind of stock the farmer
keeps. and in this way it becomes ecesssrily
the basis of all good farming. Tne farmer
who keeps the best stock thereby makes the
highest price for the produce which he pro-
duces, and can, therefore, we'll afford to pay
the highest price for the manure needed to
produce it.