The Opelousas courier., 1902-05-17
RAW MATERIAL ON FARMS.


Crops are grown for use on the farm
as we'll as for market, hence the value
of a crop does not depend solely upon
what it will bring wheG sold, but also
upon the uses. to which it may be ap.
piled upon the farm. In fact, a crop
may be worth more in the barn than
in the market, al it is so much raw ma
terial ready for use to be converted
into better products, while IL marketed
in the raw condition the transporta-
ton charges and commissions for sell
ing reduce its value. Even when a
crop, such as corn, is converted into
meat, milk. butter Or other products,
it's value cannot be estimated, as there
is always a portion remaining over
n the manure heap which may be
equal in value to that sold.
The value of the products of all ami.
mails on farms depends so largely up
on the individual characteristics of the
animals as to render it almost impos-
sible to estimate the wealth of the
farm manure. When food has passed
through the bodies of the
animals the manure from each
will differ from that produced
by the others, as the proportions
consumed. the digestive capacity of
each animal and the kinds of foods
used are factors to be considered in
the estimate, but experiments in M
case show that with a lot of animals.
tested for two weeks, as much as 62
per cent. of all the nitrogen, 80 per
cent. of all the phosphoric acid and
6 per cent. of all the potash in the
foods consumed remained over in the
manure, which demonstrates that less
than one-third of the food is converted
into marketable products, and that
much the larger proportion goes into
the manure heap. because Of being
only partially digested. 1t is, how.
ever, so much raw material awaiting
application to the soil for assisting in
providing crops another year.
The profit on the raw materials
will be but little if the materials are
not of the best quality, and the gain
will be large if the raw materials are
Of themselves valuable. For instance,
where such concentrated foods as lin.
seed meal and cotton-seed meal are
purchased and brought on the farm
the value of the manure will be great
err than when it was produced from
bulky foods, hence If the prices OBJ.
tanned by the farmer for his milk, beef
and butter are no greater than the
actual outlay for the concentrated
foods purchased the manure alone will
give a large profit, as the larger pro-
portion of the foods will find their way
to the refuse heap, but, having passed
through the bodies of the animals, will
be in proper condition to serve as
available plant foods. The material
value of a food is sometimes greater
than its feeding value, and if the man.
ure should be sold to a customer who
fully understood its real value it
would be as much a marketable pro-
duct of the farm as meat or milk, but
it is more economical to retain it than
to sell it, as its removal adds to its
cost. Many foods are even cheaper
than their manurial value, and may be
applied directly to the land with ad.
vantage, but a large profit will be Sc
cured by feeding the foods to animals
and using the The farmer,
therefore, produces many articles Of
value, though they can be changed on
the farm into crops, the crops into
more concentrated produces. and a
profit secured because the con.
c%entrateed the product the lower the
expense of marketing. There are
many sources of profit on farms that
are overlooked, but the farmers who
give careful attention to the manure
heap are those whose farms become
more valuable every ar.-Philadel.
phia Record.