The Crittenden press., 1920-02-27

/ we hlHeilCdilS dr. Il WdSJelul
people as this big loss of plant
food. due to poor care and use
of farm manure goes to show.
The amount of manure pro-
duced on the farm depends upon
the kind of animals and also the
kinds of feed. The average
horse produces about II tons.
the COW about l3 tons, sheep
1.2 tons and the hog about two
tops annually. This means
if on your farm you had five
horses, six head of cattle and IL
hogs, the value of the manure
would be $3.50.
The value of the manure is
both in the liquid and solid ex-
crements. Nitrogen is contained
one half in solid excrements and
one half in the liQuid; phosphor-
Gus, practically all in the solid;
and potassium, two thirds in
solid and three ffths in the liq-
uid. In a general way the plant
food Of the manure is about one
half in the liquid and one half
in the solid excrements.
Manure not only adds these
essential elements which are
often lacking in the soil, but
furnishes and abundance of hu
mus.
The loss in value in farm ma
nure comes about in a number
Of ways. Usually the largest
loss comes through not saving
the liquid manure, either
through not using enough bed
ding to absorb it or else even
more by throwing the manure
out into the barnyard and ex-
posing it to the rain. The ma
nure exposed in this way soon
loses the larger part of it's
value.
The changes brought about |
in the manure are due mainly |
to the heating and bleaching.
Have you not noticed the pc
culiar odor prevalent about .
horse stables in warm weather? |
This odor sometimes comes
fairly sitting when one forks a
manure pile open, It is due to
the escaping of ammonia. This
is the form of gas containing a
large amount of nitrogen, which
cannot be recovered when lost
in this manner. 1t has been
found that two tons of horse
manure exposed in the open
barn lot for six months was re-
duced to less than one ton.
Even when not exposed to rains
but simply thrown out loose
under a shed there is consider
able loss in the manure.
The Maryland Experiment
Station allowed 80 tons of ma
nure to lie in an uncovered pile
exposed to the weather for one
year. during which time the
amount was reduced to 81 tons.
From these examples you can
see how important it is to pro-
tect manure from the weather.
The factors influencing the
vaue of manure are as follows,
LIST. Food of the animals,
2nd. Age of the animal,
3rd. The kind of animal,
lth. Care of the manure.
The manure from an old ma
ture animal is a little more
valuable than that from young
growing animals. since the
young animals withdraw more
of the plant food for perma-
nent use in their bodies.
The kind of food is the great
est factor influencing its value.
Manure made when rich feeds
are given are much more valu-
able than that from animals
being fed mainly on roughages.
The manure from chickens and
sheep is more concentrated
in plant food contents than that
from other animals because it
is drier than other manure and
these animals do not retain
quite so much of the plant food
as is retained by the horse or
cow. The loss due to improper
care Is the greatest and least
excusable. Our next article
will be on the care of manure.
| own 1875 acres of land near
Marion all in grass at present
except what was cultivated
last year, My plan is as fol-
lows: plow grass land this
spring, plant in corn using
acid phosphate. After the
corn is cut, the land is seeded |
to rye and pastured in the
early sring after which the
stock is removed and a growth