The Fargo forum and daily republican. [volume] (Fargo, N.D.) 1894-1957, 1917-07-09
URGE FARMERS
TO SAVE THE
MANURE PILES
Fertilizer Worth 81, 200,-
100000 is Wasted Il
Every Year
LESS THAN HALF rs
RETURNED TO SOIL
Horses and Mules Produce
$27 Worth of Manure
Annually


today by Assistant Secretary Carl
Vrooman to make every effort to save
the vast amount of valuable manure
now allowed to go to waste in this
country. Assistant Secretary Vroo-
man estimates that one-half the
manure produced in the United
States is not used as a fertilizer
there being an annual loss of MAJ
terial worth $1,000, 900, 000-once and
half the value of the country's 1918
crop.
This is not 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 annu-
ally $27 worth of manure Gas COM
pared with commercial fertilizers)i
each head of cattle, $40 worth; each
hog, So worth. Calculating from the
1910 census figures for number or
animals on farms-62, 100000 cattle
"a, 0O0, 900 horses and mules, $4,000, GOO
swine, and 54,500,0 900 sheep and goats,
the total value of manure pro-
duced is found to be about $2,461,-
900, 900. Recent Investigations by the
department of agriculture Indicate
that at least half of this great wealth
of fertilizing material is sheer waste.
lions not more than Is per cent OF
the manure produced is used. Even
in the most intensive dairy regions
where COWS are largely stall fed and
comparatively great care taken with
the manure, the loss seems to be app
proximately rs per cent.
Here, then, is job for the AIner-
lean farmer, worthy Of his utmost ef-
fort and in keeping with the spirit
of this great hour in American MIS-
tory. To save a billion dollars worth
of manure is a Herculean> task--a
veritable latter day Augean stable
job,-for, it means the handling OF
literally millions of tons of dung and
litter. 1t means the construction Of
concrete manure pits, of paved feed
ing pens or sheds. and greatly i'm
creased care in the conservation and
use of bedding materials. 1t means
a lot Of work, but it is work that can
be done at odd hours and momentss
and work that will pay tremendous
dividends, not only as war meas
ure, but conceivably for all time, for
If we once get the habit of making
full use of our available manure srp-
ply we are not likely to lapse into the
old, wasteful ways again.
"The cheapest and best way TO
to haul it to the field and spread II
daily, or at least every two or three
days. In this way, if plenty of bed
ding be used, practically all the VAL
liable constituents off the manure
are saved, since teaching after the
manure is an arabic land merely
serves to put the fertilizing materials
where they ought to be. In this way,
too, loss through heating, or fire.
fanging,' is avoided. Us
Many farmers, however. are not
so situated as to make 1t profitable
for them to handle manure in this
way, For such farmers the concrete
manure pit offers an ideal way or
saving manure. Such a. pit need not
entail great expense. A pit feet
deep, ~ feet long and 6 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 needed
for such a pit, except where the con-
crete extends few inches above
the ground to prevent flooding
by surface water. The floor should
be reinforced with woven wire
fencing, put in after about two
inches Of cement has been laid,
the section Of fencing being cut
long enough to band up few inches
at either end into the side walls.
When the reinforcing has been put
in the remaining three inches OF the
floor is laid, and the forms for the
side walls set up and used imme~
diately. 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 convenient-f
ly to the field and spread.
Another good way to save man.
ure, especially in the case of hogs or
of beef cattle, is to have a concrete
paved feed lot, preferably under
shed roof Where the farmer can
not afford a paved floor, a cheap
open feeding shed may be made to
serve the purpose very we'll, Is
abundant bedding is used to absorb
the valuable liquid manure. In such
a feeding lot or shed, the manure IS
allowed to gather under the feet or
the animals, each days bedding
being strewn over the well-trampeo
accumulation below. Some farmers
using this system arrange their feed
racks so that they can be raised from
time to time, making 1t possible TO
feed till several feet OF solidly packed
manure has accumulated under the
shed. It has been shown that manure
suffers little from heating and leach-
ing when handled in this way.
THE feeding shed serves the plr-
pose OF giving the general farm, or
the beef cattle farm. something OF
the advantage in the matter OF man
ure saving. held by the intensive
dairy farm. It has been shown py
farm management surveys that the
manure saved on the American farm
under present conditions is almosk
exactly proportional to the number
Of animals stabilized on the farm, and
that the manure of animals not
stabbed has very little effect on yields
except in cases where field crops are
'hogged-off or otherwise pastured
down or where pasture is used in a
rotation.
This great war has brought home
to us Americans, as 1t has never
been emphasized before, the fact
we are the worlds champion MASTERS.
Without making any comparisons,
and subject to correction if ii can
be shown that the facts are other-
wise. dare aver that our billion
dollar manure waste is the worlds
greatest single economic leak-the
prize waste of the champion wastrels.
With commercial fertilizers scaree
and some of them almost unobtain-
able, 1t would seem well worth cur
while, in this juncture. even without
any reference to war conditions. to
do everything within our power to
stem this tide of loss, especially in
consideration of the fact that stable
manure Is the best form Of fertilizer
known. And when we consider fur
Their the possible effect of billion
dollars worth OF manure upon world
production at this time when the
solemn duty Of saving the world FROM
famine devolves directly upon U.S.
well, the vital need for manure pit9
and feeding lots in this broad land
Of ours becomes pretty clearly apr
naranf