Oxford Democrat. [volume] (Paris, Me.) 1833-1933, 1907-12-17
The Waste Ia the Manure Pile.

| Inc waste ID tne manure flles
We have for years past been endeavor-
ing to impress upon farmers the neces-
sity of stopping the tremendous waste
that goes on from year to year from
cleaning out their stables and letting
the manure lie in the yard during the
winter, and the still greater waste that
goes on from leaving it to lie in the
open yard all the spring until after har-
vest.
In order to once more impress this
upon the minds of our readers, and
especially those who have been suffer
ing the extreme of waste, we call atten-
| ton to the results of seven years ex-
periments carried on at the Ohio Ex-
pertinent Station. In these experiments
part of the manure was wheeled out from
the stables and left lying in the open
yard during the winter months, and part
of it from the same class of COWS, and
fed in the same way, was hauled directly
to the field. The object was to de-
termine the value of each of these
classes of manure, and the comparison
being made with land of similar charac-
ter, grown to the same crops, in the
same rotation and in the same year.
The manure was applied on clover sod
in the month of April, one-third of the
land being left without manure for CON-
pariSon. 1t was then planted to corn,
then to wheat, and then seeded down
and moved for hay.
The increase per acre in the value of
the crop where manure was hauled out
of the yard was 16 bushels per acre the
year it was in corn, S5 bushels of wheat,
and COS pounds of hay. The manure
was applied at the rate of eight tons per
acre. The net value of the increase per
acre was Sl7.22, figuring corn at 40 cents
per bushel, wheat at 10 cents, hay SS
per ton, stover So, and straw at 80 In
other words, the actual money value of
a ton of this kind of manure was S2.15.
Where manure was hauled directly
from the stall to the field the increase
was 222 bushels per acre of corn, 9,9
bushels of wheat, 1880 pounds of hay,
or a net value of s23 70 per acre, and
net value of S2 90 for the manure.
That is, the manure that was wheeled
out of the stable and left lying in the
yard during the winter months deterior-
ated 81 cents per ton during that time.
We would not care to estimate the
deterioration in value that would have
followed during the summer months; but
we believe it quite safe to say that if
manure applied directly from the stall
was worth ~ .96 per ton, the same ma
uure hauled out in the spring would not
have been worth more than $3.50, il as
much, if it had been allowed to remain
from spring to August before being ap-
piled to the land. We base this judg
ment on experiments that have been
conducted by experiment stations in
times past.
1t is not always practicable under
western conditions to take the manure
directly from the stall or stable to the
field. 1t is always practicable in the
case of horse manure, and generally in
the case of manure from milk cows. 1t is
not, of course, practicable in the case of
feeding steers or cattle that run out of
doors.
Much of this tremendous waste could
be avoided, if farmers could be induced
to put up hay sheds and feed the hay
directly out of these sheds to cattle un-
der cover, the cover in this case being
leantos on two or three sides, these lean
tos being made at least eight feet high
in the rear, and the cattle being well
bedded where it is necessary. The
tramping OF the cattle so solidities the
manure that fermentation does not 60
on to any great extent, and there is no
teaching from the summer rains. The
waste in this case would be reduced to
the minimum.
Our readers in sections where it is
found necessary to use more or less
commercial fertilizers in order to main
tain the fertility of the land may get an
important lesson in their application
from these experiments, although the
market conditions and locality may de-
termine which commercial fertilizer
should be applied to the manure before
hauling il out to the fields.
1t was found that gypsum applied at
the rate of forty pounds per ton of ma
uure before it was hauled out increased
the value of the yard manure from S2.l5
per ton to S276 as did also kainit.
Floats or ground rock phosphate in
creased its value to 1881, and acid phos-
phate to S3.65. Gypsum increased the
value of stall manure from so 96 to 50 81,
kainit to 1888, floats or ground phos-
phate to s492, and acid phosphate to
S455.
Manifestly, our readers in Ohio, In
diana, southern Illinois and Missouri,
who feel the necessity of building up
their land by some kind of commercial
fertilizers, should use either the ground
rock phosphate or the acid phosphate,
nreferably the former on account of the
small difference, and thus avoiding the
danger of increasing the acidity of their
land. If the farmer can add practically
so per cent to the value of his manure
over and above the cost of the floats, it
is certainly wise for him to do 80.
This, however, is only applicable where
the land is deficient in phosphorus, as
much OF the land in the section above
mentioned undoubtedly is. If you are
going to apply phosphorus this is GER
tainly the way to do it.-Wallace Farm
er in Turf, Farm and Home.