Pine Bluff daily graphic., 1916-07-08
SOILS AND SOIL FERTILITY
No. z. Farm Manure,
By De F Huagerro-d. Assistant Agro-

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- perlnents for many years comparing
 manure with various amounts of com merclal fertilizers. In one Of these tests the plot receiving nc manure or l fertilizer of any kind yielded 13.l
 bushel Of wheat as an average for 1 fifty years. The plot receiving 14 tons or manure per acre each year yielded 3o.5 bushels as the fifty year
 average. Anotn4r plot was treated
 each year with fertilizer costing s15.25
 per acre and produced 239 bushels
 Of wheat. The only plot in the tes,
 which produced as much wheat as the
 manured plot was one which received
 each year fertilizer at cost of s29S5 per acre. This plot averaged 36.s bushels of wheat per acre for fifty
 years. Countless other experiments have shown that manure is valuable
 fertilizer and should 2 be preserved and used accordingly
 The reasons for the effectiveness Of
 manure as fertilizer are apparen, when it's 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 1ol pounds of potash. These quantities
 may seem to be insignificant, but plants do not require very large amounts although little of each Is absolutely essential. If these mater ials are bought in commercial fertiliz- CTS they are expensive. At the cus- tomary price for fertilizers the con. stftuents ln one ton of manure would ! 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 fed 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 A the manure Manure is valuable for other req. sons besides the, plant food it con- 1 tafns. In every ton of average manure there is about 300 pounds of organic
 matter This has very beneficial in- | fiuence on the physical condition of 1 the soil. I. makes heavy clay. soils more mellow and open, and tt* binds 1 the sand grains together in a sandy
 soil making frmer seed bed and en- abling Tre soil to store up more water against time of drought. One of the greatest needs of the soils of this state is 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 l bacteria fed by the manure are able
 to take nitrogen from the air and
 make it 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 ! ganic matter to take place with the i liberation of carbonic acid which ren, I i available.
 | Since manure is valuable in 90 { 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 b. avoided as much as possible. ! The manure is frequently thrown out ! of 6 window iz 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 clements
 needed by crops. If the manure is al.
 lowed to lie in loose open heaps
 where the air can circulate freely
 through 1t the insoluble nitrogen
 changes 10 soluble forms and is then
 lost by teaching. Tn this way manure
 Jeff out in the open subject to alter
 nate Wetting and drying, quickly lc.l....
 much of it's value
 ] Tn order to reduce losses to miss
 mum manure should be spread on the ! land as soon as produced Then the
 rains will wash the soluble part Into
 the soil where 1t is needed If it is
 impractical to spread the manure
 every day losses can be kept down py
 storing in large. moist, compact heaps
 under roof A basin-shaped cement
 floor under the heap will proven, mos, ! If tho laa aohinp vnrv ecopop,t,o,