The morning news. [volume] (Savannah, Ga.) 1887-1900, 1896-04-27


stable Manure-Irs value.
Good stable manure. such as is made
from well-fed horses IL livery stables,
or on the farm, is manure that the
farmer can always rely upon for pro-
ducing certain well defined results. it
matters not what may be the crop.
The actual value of any kind of manure
is to be determined only by practical
test in the field. Repeated analyses have
shown what we may expect to get out
of stable manure, and Il we know the
character of the food fed to the animal
and can take observation of its mechan-
zeal condition, we have no hesitation in
purchasing and applying It to the soil
upon the basis of certain valuations det-
rimental long ago. both by scientific an
alysis and by practical test.
From these we expect an average sample
of stable manure to afford the following
valuable fertil.zing elements;
Nitrogen .--.....-..-..... .-......s....- %
Potash .;......1 .''''' .'''.'..'..'''...'.'.'S0
PhOsphOric acid -.-.....- .....-.-....--.....SO
And this aggregates per ton:
10 lbs nitrogen, worth .-...........-...A 80
y lbs. potash, worth ................ so
lbs. phosphoric acid .................. 80
Total ........... ....................S2lo
This, is perhaps, higher than the aver
age valuation placed upon this kind of
manure, but where II is made from ami
mails fed upon grain and first-class hay
il should be worth this price to farmer
anywhere, and truckers or market gar
deners especially.
For certain crops, such as are grown
for their seeds, stable manure by itself
is not usually desirable fertilizer, and to
get the best results from it it becomes
necessary to compost il, and in so do
ing increase largely the proportion or per-
centage of the mineral elements, potash
and phOsphoric acid. While there is no
great gain TO be derived from mixing the
several materials in compost before APP
=. rf.s1 fa 4 "a ratQ ra
obtained from composing that usually
warrants the extra labor of manipula-
tion. If properly composted much the
larger part of the grass seeds and of the
seeds of nOxious weeds always present in
stable manure are destroyed through the
process of heating and fermentation. This
is very important item TO the trucker
and if he is wise he cannot regard the
labor of composing as given without
compensation. If the work is done as IL
ought to be, on rainy days, or when no
other work is pressing, there is ample
return for the labor.
For ordinary garden vegetables. an ap-
Proclamation to the following mixture will
he found TO give satisfactory results:
one ton fined stable manure. 1000 lbs
Acid phosphate .......-...,.....,..- 200 lbs
This drilled in on soil fairly rich in
humus is a reasonable application to one
acre The whole should be we'll mixed
together and kept moist for a sufficient
length of time to sprout any weed seeds
contained in the manure. Poorer soils
Soils
nitrogen than is furnished by such a
mixture. should be supplied with a COM
post somewhat like the following:
STABLE manure -.t'.. .-...'..'''.'- ....z,Vg0
Acid phosphate OBSERVATION-DISCLOSURES. 200
Hull ashes ...-....................... $50
Per acre ............................2.sOo
on soils devoted 10 market gardening
or trucking double to treble this quantity
of fertilizing materials may be advan-
II rrhn a.
terias for supplying the essential min
eral elements and the farmer of course
viii use these that are the more readily
obtained. The cheapest source of nitro
gen in the south is cotton seed meal, and
where it can be procured the best source
of potash is the ashes of cotton seed
hulls. where the oil mills use the hulls
for fuel, and our phosDhoric acid is more
cheaply obtained from acid phosphates
The German potash salts are largely used
here, as elsewhere.
Very few farmers or truckers ever have
one-tenth the stable manure that they
could probably use and what they do
good in quality as the above analysis
Well-fed horses or mules should supply
manure as good as that If it is properly
protected from the weather. and some
good bedding material used that will alb
sorb the urine, the best part of animal
excrement. In every stable there should
be a barrel of land plaster. little of
which should be sprinkled daily over the
droppings. Lime will not answer the pur-
monia and hold it in the form of a salt
and when the manure is spread on the
land the slightest rain will wash out the
ammonia into the soil as if 1t were so
much nitrate of soda or sulphate of
ammonia In fact the nitrogen in the
urine and solid matter is converted into
the latter by combining with the sui
phuric acid in the. land plaster. Acid
phosphate can be adYantageously used as
an absorbent and some have used kainit
for the purpose but we do not think it
advisable to use this material If freely
used 1t will produce sore feet in the ami
NAL, especially if it is unshod. 1t is quite
true 1900 pounds of stable manure goes
very little ways toward enriching an
acre of land; spread broadcast such a
quantity makes no show at all, and
truckers or market gardeners frequently
use broadcast 20 to 80 times this amount
and some occasionally have used even
more where they determined to make a
plat of land rich without any dial. Only
those who grow the more valuable crops,
such as celery. caulifiower, onions and
the ike can afford to make such heavy
applications as this. The farmer grow
ing the ordinary staple crops could not
afford it. Some fertilizers have only an
effect on the one crop; good dressing of