The Springdale news. [volume] (Springdale, Ark.) 1887-1990, 1916-12-01
SOILS AND SOIL FERTILITY
No. 7. Farm Manure.

By De F. Hungerford, Assistant Agro-
nomist, University of Arkansas.
Farm manure is. without question,
the best fertilizer the farmer can put
on his land. The Oldest experiment
station in the world. located at Roth.
amstead, England, has conducted ex-
perlments for many years comparing
manure with various amounts of COM
mercial fertilizers. In one of these
tests the plot receiving no manure or
fertilizer of any kind yielded 13.1
bushel of wheat as an average for
nifty years. The plot re~siving IA
tons or manure GER acre e>..h year
yielded 35.5 bushels as the fifty year
average. Another Ilot was treated
each year with fertilizer costing S15.25
per acre and produced 239 bushels
of wheat. The only plot in the test
which produced as much wheat as the
MANFRED plot was one which received
each year fertilizer at a cost of $685.
per acre. This plot averaged 36.9
bushels OF wheat per acre for fifty
years. Countless other experiments
have shown that manure is a valuable
fertilizer and should be preserved
and used accordingly.
The reasons for the effectiveness o.
manure IS a fertilizer are apparen,
when its composition and action in
the soil is understood. Plants require
certain substances to make them grow
Just as animals must have food The
most important Of these substances
are nitrogen, phosphoric acid and pot
ash. These are commonly called plant
foods because they serve as food for
plants. A ton of average manure
contains 10 pounds of nitrogen. five
pounds OF phosphoric acid and 10
pounds OF potash These quantities
may seem to be Insignificant, but
plants do not require very large
amounts although little of each is
ials are bought in commercial fertiliz-
ers they are expensive. At the Gus
tomary price for fertilizers the con-
stituents in one ton of manure would
cost s2S5. The cost would be very
much more at the prices now pre-
vailing
The value of manure varies some
what with the feed the animals re-
ceive. The richer the feed is In pro
tein the more nitrogen is contained in
the manure. For this reason the ma
nure from animals red on cotton seed
meal bran, alfalfa hay or other rich
feeds is especially valuable Nearly
all Of the nitrogen fed to a fattening
animal is returned in the manure.
Manure is valuable for other rea-
sons besides the plant food it CON
tains. In every ton Of average manure
there is about 500 pounds Of organic
matter. This las a very beneficial in.
f1uence on the physical condition OF
The soil II makes heavy clay soils
more mellow and open, and II binds
the sand grains together in a sandy
soil making a firmer seed bed and en-
aiding the soil to store up more water
against a time Of drought One OF
the greatest needs of the soils of this
state is a larger supply OF organic mat
ter The organic matter supplied in
manure also furnishes food for the
bacteria which are essential TO the
best growth of crops Some OF the
bacteria fed by the manure are able
to take nitrogen from the air and
make il available for crops in much
the same manner as do the bacteria
which live on the roots of legumes.
Others cause fermentation of the or
ga9ic matter to take place with the
liberation of carbonic acid which ren.
ders the mineral matter OF the soil
available
Since manure is valuable in so
many ways. great care should be exer-
cised to prevent unnecessary losses.
Some of the valuable ingredients are
soluble and others are lost by expos.
ure to the air Leaching should there.
fore be avoided as much as possible.
The manure is frequently thrown out
of window in the stable and allowed
to lie under the caves until most of
the plant food is leached out The
dark brown LIQUID often seen about
barnYards is rich in the elements
needed by crops. If the manure Is al.