The Pulaskian., 1916-06-30
SOILS AND SOIL FERTILITY
No. 7. Farm Manure.

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 pushei or wheat as an average for nfty years. The plot receiving If tons of manure per acre each year yielded S5.5 bushels as the fifty year average. Another plot was treated each year with fertilizer costing sI52b per acre and produced 23.9 bushels of wheat. The only plot in the test which produced as much wheat as the manured plot was one which received each year fertilizer at a cost of S2g.Sb per acre. This plot averaged 36.g | bushels of wheat per acre for fifty years. Countless other experiments have shown that manure is valuable fertilizer and should be preserved anu uSSu dCcOTulHg1y.
 The reasons for the effectiveness of manure as a fertilizer are apparent 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 l 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 a 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. stituents in one ton of manure would cost $2.S5. The cost would be very much more at the prices now pre- vailing.
 1 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 in the manure.
 Manure is valuable for other req sons besides the plant food 1t con- tains. In every ton of average manure there Is about 800 pounds of organic matter. This has very beneficial in- fiuence on the physical condition of the soil. It makes heavy clay soils more mellow and open, and 1t binds the sand grains together in a sandy soil making a firmer seed bed and en- abling the 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 bacteria fed by the manure are able to take nitrogen from the air and make 1t 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 liberation of carbonic acid which ren. ders the mineral matter of the soil available.
 Since manure is valuable in 50 many ways, great care should be exer-- cised to prevent unnecessary losses. Some of the valuable ingredients arc. 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 a window in the stable and allowed to lie under the caves until most of the plant food Is leached out. Tho dark brown liquid often seen about barnyards is rich in the elements 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 to soluble forms and is then lost by teaching. In this way manure left out in the open subject to alter nate wetting and drying, quickly loses much of It's value
 In order to reduce losses to a mini 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 Dy storing in large, moist, compact heaps under roof. A basin-shaped cement door under the heap will prevent most of the teaching. A very economical method of storing manure is to keep l the stock in deep stalls and allow 1t to | <o xvudop hosv Ia e1~1