The Bridgeport evening farmer. [volume] (Bridgeport, Conn.) 1866-1917, 1917-07-05
URGES FARMERS
TO PUT END TO
MANURE WASTE
Billion Dollar Loss of Ferti
lizers Cost Of Care
leSSneSS.

1 80
ers are urged in a statement issued
: by Assistant Secretary Carl Vrooman
! to make every effort to save the vast
amount Of valuable manure now al
| lowed to go to waste in this country.
| Assistant Secretary Vrooman est1-
| mates that one-half the manure pro-
duced in the United States is not US
ed as a fertilizer, there being an an
nua1 loss of material worth twelve
hundred million dollars-once and q
+! half the value TO the country's 1915
! wheat crop.
This is not a wild guess he con-
| tinues, but a very shrewd and con-
sentative estimate based or reliable
| statistics. It has been found that
each horse or mule produces annually
| sgt worth Of manure Gas compared
with commercial fertilizers;) each
head of cattle $40 worth; each So
worth. Calculating from the 1910
census figures for number of animals
on farms-62,ooo,0o cattle, 24,000.-
| 900 horses and mules, 58,000,000
swine, and 54,500,000 sheep and
goats,-the total value of manure pro-
duced is found to be about $2,461,-
100000. Recent designations by the
Department of Agriculture indicate
! that at least half of this great wealth
of fertilizing material is sheer waste.
In some good general farming sections
not more than Is per cent. of the ma
nure produced is used. Even in the
most intensive dairy regions, where
cows are largely stall fed and compar-
atively great care taken with the ma
nure, the loss seems to be approx
mately 25 per cent.
"Bere, then, is job for the Amer
lean farmer, worthy of his utmost eff
fort and in keeping with the spirit OF
this great hour in American history
To save a billion dollars worth OF
manure is a Herculeani task-a VERT.
able latter day Augean stable job
for it means the handling of literall!
millions of tons of dung and litter
It means the construction of concrete
4 manure pits, of paved feeding pen
4 or sheds, and greatly increased car'
4 in the conservation and use of bed
ding materials. It means lot O
work, but it is work that can be dom
at odd hours and moments, and Worl
that will pay tremendous dividends
not only as a war measure, but con
hi ceivab1y for all time, for if we one
get the habit of making full use o
our available manure supply we ar
\ not likely to lapse into the old
wasteful ways again.
AAsAAA
y die manure, where convenient, is t.
haul it to the field and spread it daily
or at least every two or three days
In this way, if plenty of bedding b
used, practically all the valuable con
5 Stituents of the manure are saveo
since teaching after the. manure is O.
: arabic land merely serves to put tn
: fertihzing materials where they ough
r to be. In this way, too, loss throug
: heating, or '.fire-fanging," is avoided
r = MANY farmers, however, are not S
a situated as to make it profitable TO
" them to handle manure in this way
q For such farmers the concrete ma
a nure pit offers an ideal way of say
. ing manure. Such a pit need nc
Z entail great expense. A pit fee
deep, ~ feet long and feet wide
with walls and floors 5 inches thicl
= will serve the needs of the averag
= farm. In ground that does not cav
in, only an inside form will be need
= ed for such a pit, except where tn
s concrete extends a few inches abov
= the ground to prevent flooding b
l. surface water. The floor should +
o reinforced with woven wire fencini
: put in after about two inches of ce
o ment has been laid, the section {
II fencing beingscut long enough to ben
up a lew 1nCUGS dt 0ILaCl Gnu lIito IL
d1 side walls. When the reinforcing hs
le been put in, the remaining thre
IL inches of the floor is laid, ad tn
S. forms for the side walls set UP an
used Immediately. Use one part c.
ment, two of sand, and four of scree1
+ ed gravel. A pit Of this kind is lars
q enough to hold the accumulation
manure on the average farm unit
4 such a time as it can be hauled col
le veniently to the field and spread.
:. Another good way to save mi
-, nure, especially in the case of hogs
- of beef cattle, is to have a concre
= paved feed lot, preferably under
!. shed roof. Where the farmer can n
- afford "a paved floor, cheap OPP
- feeding shed may be made to ser
"a the purpose very well, if abunda
bedding is used to abosrb the val
able liquid manure. In such a fee
ling lot or shed, the manure is alloN
~ ed to gather under the feet of t.
= animals, each days bedding beil
y strewn over the wel1-tramped accur
~ ulation. below. Some farmers usil
this system arrange their feed rae
so that they can be raised from tir
to time, making it possible to feed