248 MASSACHUSETTS AGRICULTURE. 



experiments actually tried by themselves, are unanimous in the 

 opinion that the article in question is fully equal in value, pound 

 for pound, to the best Peruvian guano. We grant it may not 

 be quite so rich in ammonia as that made from birds fed mostly 

 on fish, but believe it possesses other qualities in a greater de- 

 gree, which render it more durable in the soil, and less liable to 

 injure seeds and plants by burning, &c., and which, therefore, 

 fully oiTset the deficiency in ammonia. 



Your committee have waited long for written statements from 

 some of our members who have been experimenting with fowls 

 the present season, but have thus far received only one, and 

 even that one we are not permitted to enter entire. We there- 

 fore quote from it, and also from some verbal statements made 

 to us. 



A prominent member of our society has kept, from January 

 1st to July 1st, 100 fowls, 10 roosters, and an average number 

 of 90 laying hens. He has obtained in that time 408 dozen 

 of eggs, worth 20 cents per dozen, or $81.60. He estimates 

 the value of manure saved, $10 ; dropped in the field, $8 — 

 total, $99.60. The sole feed has been yellow corn, 46 bushels, 

 costing $52.90. 



In August the lot was sold at about 14 cents per pound, and 

 a new lot bought for about half what the old brought. He 

 estimates the expense of keeping from July to January at $30, 

 value of eggs, $25, of manure saved and dropped, $14 ; thus 

 the cost of keeping for the year is, in corn, $82.90, the product 

 in eggs, $106.60, in manure, $32 ; total, $138.60— profit, 

 $55.70. He estimates the difference between the amount real- 

 ized for the old lot and the cost of the new, together with the 

 benefit to his orchard by their destroying bugs, &c., to equal the 

 rent of the poultry house and the care of the fowls. He gives 

 his fowls a large range in a young orchard. It will be seen 

 that the latter part of the estimate must be guess-work, "judg- 

 ing of the future by the past." 



Another member stated that he " keeps eight hens, black 

 Spanish, which afford more profit, in proportion to the expense, 

 than any thing else on his farm, as they produce usually about 

 four dozen eggs per week, and get their own living through the 

 summer season." 



Another, living in the village, keeps two hens, a cross be- 



