Show ahe FAM PM W 99 I 1 farm er dean of th iowa agricultural by PROF P 0 HOLDEN college 0 x P aft A proper way to apply manure to the land WASTING MANURE tito former farmer who sells 1000 pounds of red clover hoy hay worth from 1 to 7 sells from ills his farm ns as much soil oil fertility ns as lie ho would if lie ho sold a 1000 pound steer or two fat hogs weighing ing WO rounds pounds apiece aind the bogs or tile steer would bring him from 75 to in 00 60 bushels of corn there la Is about lu 15 worth of soil fertility j in pounds of butter about 4 cents worth of fertility or in other words from 70 to 85 per cent of the fertilizing elements such ns as nitrogen phosphorus A and ad potash taken front from the soil by crops tire ore returned return sl to tho the soil if tho crops are arc fed to animals and the manure put back on the land it Is well to remember that manure represents fertility which has been taken front from tile soil by crops and roust must bo be returned to it if productiveness Is to be maintained it not only adds to tile store of plant food in the soil by returning ft a largo large per cent of the lie nitrogen phosphorus nail and potash removed by crops but it also renders tho the native plant food of tho the soil more aval available lable jt it improves Us its physical condition makes it warm and enables it to receive and retain more moisture lets stir into tho the soli soil aids in tile development of 0 bacteria and helps to prevent washing no substitute found no substitute at present known Is capable of completely filling tile the place of farm manure notwithstanding its great value there Is probably no material on tho oie farm in which so BO great ani needless waste occurs if als is a common sight in almost any section to see stables and feed lots lota situated upon the bank of a stream or ditch where tho the most valuable portion of the manure will pass into the stream there la Is no soil so BO fertile that its producing power cannot bo be eventually exhausted by continued cropping which takes away fertility and returns nothing pg wo we must not forget that tho the manuro crop does docs not belong to the farmer but to the soil and must be returned to the soll soli manures are carelessly thrown out where they are washed into the alio streams or the fine particles beached leached away or burned by self belt generated heat and robbed of a largo large portion of their nitrogen carl can you expect mat manures tures to bo be worth much after they have been washed by rains dried by winds burned by combustion rooted over by hogs hoga and tramped into tho the ground by stock interesting experiment A very interesting experiment was conducted at cornell university to show the effect of weathering and leaching upon the value of manure four thousand pounds of manure from tile tho I 1 horse torso stable compo composed ped of of 0 excrement and pounds of straw were placed out of doors in a pile and left exposed for six months april 25 to september 22 at tile pad ot of tills period out of pounds only 1730 pounds remal remained ned a loss of 57 per cent of the gross grosi weight and 65 per cent loss losi in fertilizing value during tile tho same period pounds ot of manure from the cow stables were ero exposed for six months tito the cow manure showed a loss kossof of pounds or 40 19 per cent of tile tho biross gross w weight eight and 32 per cent of Us its value A 1000 pound horse will produce about nine tons of manure a year without litter valued in plant food nt at about 15 A 1000 pound dalry dairy cow will produce 12 32 tons of manure a year worth approximately one hundred dairy cows weighing 1000 pounds each will mill produce in one year about pounds of manure worth over 2000 dont you think that 2000 la Is worth looking after tito tho ohio experiment station found that 48 43 grade polled angus steers calves weighing on tin an average pounds fich each at tho the timo they were stabled produced la in 13 months pounds of manure nearly tons including bedding this amount of manure manura Is worth in plant food clement nearly value of shime manure tho the money value of the stable ma ina nuro produced on wisconsin farms for example amounts to millions each bear 5 ear tito tho fertilizer Ingred ingredients lents contained in tho the manure produced la in onu one year by the tha different classes of farm are approximately tho the following amounts per head bead dairy cows 20 other cattle and horses 10 15 sheep 2 aad swine 4 the total value alue of tho the fertilizer elements contained in the manure produced by these animals during the lie year Is us its follows milk cows fertilizer value ol of marure produced other cattle for tullyer value ot of manure produced horses r value of manure pro deuced sheep fertilizer value ot of manure produced I 1 swine fertilizer value of manure produced total value of the manuro manure produced annually by the farm ani nials in ali state li Is worth twice its as mah ns as that that annually rc removed moved from the soil by crops it nil all the fertilizer elements contained in the manure produced on wisconsin farms farma could bo be saved and properly utilized the fertility ot of the soil in the state might bo be maintained cd rind and even improved since the fertility in purchased k vj k V 0 A 17 pr 7 axx 1 1 V wasteful method of handling manure feeds brought into the state more than covers that in agricultural products sold by wisconsin farmers fan ners I 1 enormous waste of manure tito tho united states department of agriculture ri culture estimated the number of cattle in the united states on january 1 1010 nt at sheep swine it if wo we assume that ten sheep or hogs are equivalent ta t one cow or steer in manure production wo we shall have a total ot of over cattle they are no doubt equiha lent to 1000 pound cattle if those these are yarded four months each winter there should be a total manure production during that period of tons having a crop producing value ot of nt at least above all cost ot of handling it Is a very conservative estimate to place tile the waste of this manure under the present system of handling nt at 25 per cent or annually it Is no doubt twice that amount manure Is lost by weathering leaching heating rotting by piling in hoaja in the held field and letting stand before spreading if you cannot spread it soon after it Is produced store it in a pit or manure shed of nil all tile tho ways in which manure Is handled hantI ted piling it in heaps in the field Is the most wasteful it Is worse than leaving it under the burn barn eaves caves and letting it leach out there because of the of labor involved in hauling it to tho the field to be thrown away tito tho overgrowth of lodged and halt hilla filled grata grain over such spots ought to bo be to convince tiny any man of the mistake ot of such a method yet there ere are thousands of farmers who are arc still piling manure in the fields value of liquid manure A greater portion of tile the fertilizing value of the Is found in the liquid portion the full effect of neither the solid nor tile the liquid portion con can bo be obtained except when used to in connection with the other it if the liquid Is permitted to flow away or become leached beached out by rain and separated from the solid portion whether in yard or field it carries with it tho the plant food the only right way to handle manure la is to collect tho the liquid by abundant absorbents ns as straw get it promptly to tite tho field spread it there hero at once and let sunshine and ruin rain do their work the sunshine will orate the water and the rain which follows will dissolve the salts and wash them into the soil where tha are needed |