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Show MAKING MAM M By PROF. P. G. HOLDEN, Former Dean 0,cXTa AariclJltural I SSjaiiLSgSf - s- -- ' -i V Proper Way to Apply Manure to the Land. WASTING THE FARM MANURE The farmer who sells 1,000 pounds of red clover hay worth from $4 to $7, sells from his farm as much soil fertility. as he would If he sold a 1,000-pound 1,000-pound steer or two fat hogs weighing 500 pounds apiece ; and. the hogs or the steer would bring hlra from $75 to $100. In 50 bushels of corn there is about $15 worth of soil fertility; in 100 pounds of butter about 4 cents worth of fertility ; or in other words from 70 to 85 per cent of the fertilizing elements, such as nitrogen, phosphorus and potash taken from the soil by crops are returned to the soil if the crops are fed to animals and the manure ma-nure put back on the land. It is well to remember that manure represents fertility which has been taken from the soil by crops antl must be returned to it if productiveness is to be maintained. It not- only adds to the store of plant food in the soil by returning a large per cent of the nitrogen, phosphorus and potash removed by crops, but it also renders the native plant food of the soil more available. It improves its physical condition, makes it warm and enables it to receive and retain more moisture; lets air into the soil, aids in the development of bacteria and helps to prevent washing. No Substitute Found. No substitute at present known Is capable of completely filling the place of farm manure. Notwithstanding its great value, there is probably no material mate-rial on the farm in which so great and needless waste occurs. It is a common sight in almost any section to see stables and feed lots situated upon the bank of a stream or ditch where the most valuable portion of the manure will pass into the stream. There is no soil so fertile that its producing power cannot be eventually exhausted by continued cropping which takes away fertility and returns nothing. noth-ing. We must not forget that the manure ma-nure crop does not belong to the farmer, farm-er, but to the soil, and must be returned re-turned to the soil. Manures are carelessly thrown out where they are washed Into the streams or the fine particles leached away or burned by self-generated heat and robbed of a large portion of their nitrogen. Can you expect manures to be worth much after they have been washed bj rains, dried by winds, burned by combustion, com-bustion, rooted over by hogs anc tramped into the ground by stock? Interesting Experiment. A very Interesting experiment was conducted at Cornell university te show the effect of weathering ant leaching upon the value of manure. Four thousand pounds of manure from the horse stable composed of 3, 319 of excrement and 6S1 pounds ol straw were placed out of doors in t pile and left exposed for six months (April 25 to September 22.) At the end of this period out of 4,000 pounds only 1,730 pounds remained a loss ol 57 per cent of the gross weight and Gi per cent loss in fertilizing value. During the same period lO.OCC pounds of manure from the cow stables were exposed for six months. The cow manure showed a loss of 5,125 pounds or 49 per cent of the gross weight anc 32 per cent of its value. A 1,000-pount horse will produce about nine tons ol manure a year (without litter) valuec In plant food at about $15. A 1,000-pound dairy cow will produce 12 tons of manure a year worth ap proximately $20. One hundred dairy cows weighing 1,000 pounds each will produce in one year about 2.400,000 pounds of manure worth over $2,000. Don't you think that $2,000 is wortt looking after? The Ohio experimenl station found that 48 grade polled An gus steer calves weighing on an aver age 448 pounds each at the time thej were stabled, produced in 13 months 699,504 pounds of manure, nearly 35( tons including bedding. This amounl of manure is worth in plant fpod ele ment nearly $700. Value of Stable Manure. The money value of the stable ma mire produced on Wisconsin farms fen example amounts to millions each year The fertilizer ingredients contained h the manure protlueed in one year bj . the different classes of farm animals are approximately the following I amounts per head dairy cows $20 other cattle and horses $15. sheep $: (Uid swiae J !. The total value of the fertilizer elements contained In the manure ma-nure produced by these animals during the year is as follows : 1,504,000 milk cows, fertilizer fer-tilizer value of manure produced $30,OSO,000 1,146,000 other cattle, fertilizer fer-tilizer value of manure produced 22,920,000 652,000 horses, fertilizer value of manure pro- - duced 9,780,000 822,000 sheep, fertilizer value of manure produced 1,644,000 2,030,000 ' swine, fertilizer value of manure produced 8,120,000 Total value of the manure produced annually $72,544,000 by the farm animals in the state is worth twice as much as that .annually removed from the soil by crops. If all the fertilizer elements contained in the manure proeluced on Wisconsin farms could be saved and properly utilized, the fertility of the soil in the state might be maintained and even improved, im-proved, since the fertility In purchased if ff rL - it tTi Wasteful Method of Handling Manure. feeds brought into the state more than . covers that in agricultural products , sold by Wisconsin farmers. Enormous Waste of Manure. The United States department of ag-. ag-. riculture estimated the number of cattle cat-tle in the United States on January 1, 1910, at 70,000,000; sheep, 57,216,000.; ' swine, 47,782,000. If we assume that ten sheep or hogs are equivalent to I one cow or steer in manure production, we shall have a total of over 80,000,-000 80,000,-000 cattle. They are no doubt equivalent equiva-lent to 60,000,000 1,000-pound cattle. II ! these are yarded four months each ' winter, there should be a total manure ' production during that period of 150,-000,000 150,-000,000 tons, having a crop-producing value of at least $200,000,000 above all ; cost of hanelliug. It is a very conserva- tive estimate to place the waste ol 1 this manure under the present system of handling at 25 per cent, or $50,-' $50,-' 000,000 annually. It is no doubt twice ' that amount. Manure is lost by weathering, leach-' leach-' ing, heating, rotting, by piling in heaps in the field and letting stand before spreading. If you cannot spread it i soon after it is produced, store it in a ' pit or manure shed. Of all the ways in which manure is 1 handled, piling it in heaps in the field I is the most wasteful. It is worse than leaving it under the barn eaves and letting It leach out there, because ol the waste of labor Involved in hauling ' it to the field to be thrown away. The overgrowth of lodged and half-filled half-filled grain over such spots ought tc ! be sufficient to convince any man o ' the mistake of such a method ; yel there are thousands of farmers whe are still piling manure in the fields. i Value of Liquid Manure. : A greater portion of the fertilizing ' value of the manure is found In the " liquid portion. The full effect ol ' neither the solid nor the liquid portion ' can be obtained except when used In 1 connection with the other. If the : liquid is permitted to flow away ol " become leached out by rain and separated sepa-rated from the solid portion, whether in yard or field, it carries with it the plant food. The only right way to - handle manure is to collect the liquid . by abundant absorbents as straw, get i it promptly to the fit-Id. spread it there ' at once and let sunshine and rain do ; their work. The sunshine will evap-; evap-; orate the water and the rain which fol-. fol-. lows will dissolve the salts and wash ; j them into the soil where thry are ; I needed. |
