The Abbeville press and banner. [volume] (Abbeville, S.C.) 1869-1924, 1897-01-27
elements utilized by the animals are

elements utilized by the animals are
largely carbohydrates and fat and not
phosphoric acid and potash. for which
we pay in commercial fertilizers. The
animal also uses nitrogen. But for
every article so extracted from the
food, a corresponding amount is re-
leased from the body. Hence whether
we sell our farm products or, after
feeding them to our animals, fail to
take proper care of their manures, our
farms are just that much poorer.
But some one asks, how shall we
care for the manures In order to bet
ter ans wer this question, let us first
inquire what manure is, and
how it is formed. The. object
of adding manure of any kind
to a soil is either to supply
natural deficiency of that soil in the
elements of plant food, to return what
we have taken from it. or to increase
its fertility. A manure must, there
fore, contain these elements of plant
food. While the substances necessa-
ry to supply plant food are numerous,
fortunately for us, they nearly all ex-
ist in nature in such abundance that
they are practically inexhaustlble
from any soil. Nitrogen, phosphoric
acid and potash, however, form nota-
BILE exceptions to this rule; hence the
chief object in manuring is to supply
these, and no substance IS of any val,
ue as a manure unless it contains some
or all of these elements. When ami
mails take food into their stomachs
they extract therefrom, more or less
completely, nitrogen, carbohydrates
and fat-the latter two of no use as
plant food. The medium by which
these substances are held in the plant
and the undigested portions of the
plant, then pass on and are voided
from the body. The nitrogen is taken
| into the animal in the form Of albuml-
noids. In a mature animal, at rest,
the only use of food is to get material
TO supply heat supplied by fat and
carbohydrates to replace the tbs.
sue worn out in performing the vital
functions. This last is supplied by al,
buminoids. But, as stated above, fol
every part of albuminoids so used, 8
corresponding amount already con
tanned in the body is split up into its
constituents of nitrogen, carbon, ny
drogen, etc., and escapes from the ami
NAL in the liquid excrements. 1t is thus
seen that while the solid excrements
are the refuse from the food, the Ii
quid contains the worn.out portion OF
| the body, and the two together, in the
case of the mature animal, contain al
| the elements of the plant food con
tanned in the original plant. 1t has
been found by repeated trials that TIE
amount of albuminoids taken up by
the body is dependent largely upon
the supply in the food. Feed an ami
NAL on a highly nitrogenous fodder
and the resultant manure will be rlcE
in that substance. Hence the value ol
manure depends largely upon the fooo
of the animal. In chemical compost
ton, for manure, the plant has beer
practically unchanged in its passage
through the animal. But while in the
form of food it would have required
many months for its constituents tc
become available to plants in the
form of manure, its constituents have
been converted into an easily soluble
rapidly fermentable medium OF plan
food.
g. FITz5iMoNs,
Manager Southern Cotton Oil Co.,
Go11 nohia g O.