the: preservation of hen manure. i6i 



These estimates were based on the analysis of the ordinary air 

 dried manure kept without the addition of preservatives. Accord- 

 ing to the analysis here reported, the fertilizing constituents of 

 100 pounds of fresh hen manure would be worth about 55 cents, 

 and these can be stored without loss by the addition of a suffi- 

 cient amount of land plaster, or better, acid phosphate or kainit. 



The N. Y. Station (See table on page 158) found the year's 

 night droppings per hen in one pen to be 29 pounds and in 

 another 33 pounds. Based on these trials, the night droppings 

 of the 180 hens gave about 30 pounds per hen per year, which 

 would carry about .8 pound of nitrogen, .5 pound of phosphoric 

 acid and .25 pound of potash, worth at the usual valuation of 

 commercial fertilizers, about 14 cents. 



No data upon the weight of hen dung voided when the birds 

 are on the roosts have been collected by this Station nor to the 

 writer's knowledge have any been published. The hens are 

 upon the roosts much less than half of the time. Because of 

 this and that probably less dung is voided when at roost than 

 when taking exercise, the total droppings of a hen for a year may 

 likely be as much as 75 pounds. Even when the floors are cov- 

 ered with sand and this in turn covered with straw, there would 

 likely be considerable mechanical loss in the form of dust and 

 otherwise. The readily decomposable urates would probably 

 break up faster even than in the case of dung stored without 

 chemicals, so that a very considerable part of the nitrogen of day- 

 voided dung is probably lost for agricultural purposes. Hence 

 while the total droppings probably carry more than twice the 

 amounts noted in the preceding paragraphs, the fertilizing con- 

 stituents actually conserved from the day droppings to be used 

 on the land are probably not more than one-half of those con- 

 tained in the night droppings. 



Hen manure should be applied to the land in comparatively 

 small quantities as it carries much more plant food than ordinary 

 farm manures. Because of the high availability of its nitrogen, 

 it is used by gardeners as dressing for strawberry beds and simi- 

 lar crops. It also has been long used as an excitant for Indian 

 corn, to be sure that the crop shall be well started. For these 

 uses as an excitant, Storer makes the following recommenda- 

 tions : "An approved method of procedure is to mix the hen- 



II 



