Morris tribune. [volume] (Morris, Minn.) 1880-2000, 1917-07-27
MANURE WASTED In
U.S.. WORTH MILLIONS
Assistant Secretary Urges Farmers
to End Tremendous Loss of Fer
tilizing Materials


country. Assistant Secretary VroO-
man estimates that One-half the ma
nure produced in the United States
is not used as fertilizer, there being
an annual loss of material worth
100000, O0O-once and half
the value of the country's 1916
wheat crop.
This is not a wild guess" he con-
tinues, but a very shrewd and con-
sentative estimate based on reliable
statistics 1t has been found that
each horse or mule produces annually
$27 worth Of manure (as compared
with commercial fertilizers), each
head of cattle $40 worth, each hog
So worth. Calculating from the
1910 census figures for number of
animals on farms-62,O 100000 cattle,
24,OOO,OOO horses and mules, S.
100000 swine, and 54,5OO,OO0 sheep
and goats-the total value of ma
nuTe produced is found to be about
$2,461, 100000. Recent investiga-
tiOns by the United States Depart
ment of Agriculture indicate that at
least half of this great wealth of fer
tilizing material is wasted. In some
good general farming sections not
more than Is per cent of the manure
produced is used. Even in the most
intensive dairy regions, where COWS
are largely Stalled and compare
lively great care taken with the ma
nure, the loss seems to be approx
mateIy 2 per cent.
Here, then, is a job for the Am
erican farmer, worthy of his utmost
effort and in keeping with the spirit
of this great hour in American his
tory. To save a billion dollars worth
of manure is a herculean task-a YER
liable Iatter-day Augean-stabIe job,
for it means the handling of literally
millions of tons of dung and litter
It means the construction of concrete
manure pits, of paved feeding pens
er sheds, and greatly increased care
in the conservation and use of bed
ding materials. 1t means a lot of
work, but it is work that can be done
at odd hours and moments, and work
that will pay tremendous dividends,
not only as a war measure, but con-
ceivably for all time, for if we once
get the habit of making full use of
our available manure supply we are
not likely to lapse into the old, waste
full ways again.
THE cheapest and best way to
handle manure, where convenient, is
to haul it to the field and spread it
daily, or at least every two or three
days. In this way, if plenty of bed
ding be used, practically all the valu-
able constituents of the manure are
saved, since teaching after the ma
nure is on arabic land merely serves
to put the fertilizing materials where
they ought to be. In this way, too,
loss through heating, or 'fire-fang-
ing, is avoided.
MANY farmers, however, are not
so situated as to make it profitable
for them to handle manure in this
way. For such farmers the concrete
manure pit offers an ideal way of saw
ing manure. Such a pit need not
entail great expense. A pit feet
deep. II feet long and feet wide,
with walls and floors inches thick,
will serve the needs Of the average
farm, In ground that does not cave
in, only an inside form will be need
ed for such pit, except where the
concrete extends a few inches above
the ground to prevent flooding by
surface water. The floor should be
reinforced with woven wire fencing,
put in after about inches Of cement
has been laid, the sections of fencing
being cut long enough to bend up
few inches at either end into the
side walls. When the reinforcing has
been put in the remaining inches
of the floor is laid, and the forms
for the side walls set up and used
Immediately. Use one part cement,
two of, sand, and four of screened
gravel. A pit of this kind is large
enough to hold the accumulation of
manure on the average farm until
such time as it can be hauled con-
veniently to the field and spread.
Another good way to save ma
nure, especially in the case of hogs
or of beef cattle, is to have a con-
crete paved feed lot, preferably under
a shed roof. Where the farmer can
not afford paved floor, a cheap open
feeding shed may be made to serve
the purpose very we'll if abundant
bedding is used to absorb the vaIu-
able liquid manure In such a feed
ing lot or shed the manure is allowed
to gather under the feet of the ami
mails, each days bedding being
strewn over the weII-tramped ac-
emulation below. Some farmers
using this system arrange their feed
racks so that they can be raised from
time to time, making it possible to
feed till several feet of solidly packed
manure has accumulated under the
shed. 1T has been shown that manure