Mr. J. has great faith in
manure--and it is a faith resting on good evidence and long experience.
If he had not fed out so much oil-cake and clover-hay, he would not have
found his manure so valuable.

"How much oil-cake does he use?" asked the Deacon.

"He gives his sheep, on the average, about 1 lb. each per day."

If he feeds out a ton of clover-hay, two tons of straw, (for feed and
bedding,) and one ton of oil-cake, the manure obtained from this
quantity of food and litter, would be worth, according to Mr. Lawes'
table, given on page 45, $34.72.

On the other hand, if he fed out one ton of corn, one ton of clover-hay,
and two tons of straw, for feed and bedding, the manure would be worth
$21.65.

If he fed one ton of corn, and three tons of straw, the manure would be
worth only $14.69.

He would get _as much manure_ from the three tons of straw and one ton
of corn, as from the two tons of straw, one ton of clover-hay, and one
ton of oil-cake, while, as before said, the manure in the one case would
be worth $14.69, and in the other $34.72.

In other words, a load of the good manure would be worth, when spread
out on the land in the field or garden, more than two loads of the straw
and corn manure.

To get the same amount of nitrogen, phosphoric acid, and potash, you
have to spend more than twice the labor in cleaning out the stables or
yards, more than twice the labor of throwing or wheeling it to the
manure pile, more than twice the labor of turning the manure in the
pile, more than twice the labor of loading it on the carts or wagons,
more than twice the labor of drawing it to the field, more than twice
the labor of unloading it into heaps, and more than twice the labor of
spreading it in the one case than in the other, and, after all, twenty
tons of this poor manure would not produce as good an effect the first
season as ten tons of the richer manure.

"Why so?" asked the Deacon.

"Simply because the poor manure is not so active as the richer manure.
It will not decompose so readily. Its nitrogen, phosphoric acid, and
potash, are not so available. The twenty tons, _may_, in the long run,
do as much good as the ten tons, but I very much doubt it. At any rate,
I would greatly prefer the ten tons of the good manure to twenty tons of
the poor--even when spread out on the land, ready to plow under. What
the difference would be in the value of the manure _in the yard_, you
can figure for yourself. It would