Odds and Ends. 123 



POULTRY MANURE.— Some people have extravagant ideas about the 

 value of hen manure, calling it worth as much as Peruvian guano. It has 

 no such value, as a little thought will show. The manure which forms 

 the guano comes from birds that live mostly on fish and meat. The bodies 

 of dead birds are also mixed with it. The hen lives mostly on grain or 

 food that other farm stock eat, and we can easily see there can be no fer- 

 tilizing value to the manure except what comes from the food. An average 

 sample of hen manure without too much litter or sand in it is worth about 

 four times as much as an equal weight of cow manure. This is because 

 the excrement from the kidneys is passed with the solids, while with 

 other farm animals it is separated and largely lost. Hen manure contains 

 a large proportion of nitrogen, and, if used alone, gives best satisfaction on 

 crops that make most of their growth above ground, like corn, cabbage or 

 vegetables. Where there is but a small quantity it can be kept in barrels, 

 spread in the Spring and worked into the garden soil. On large poultry 

 farms it is often successfully used for mixing with chemicals to make a fer- 

 tilizer. Plaster or acid phosphate alone or mixed with sawdust is sprinkled 

 under the perches so as to keep the manure dry and free from fermentation. 

 .\s often as need be it is raked off the platform and stored in a dry 

 shed. In the Spring it will be found in dry hard lumps, which are crushed 

 as fine as possible, usually by beating them on a hard floor with heavy 

 shovels. The following mixture gives good results for many crops : 1,000 

 pounds sifted hen manure, 500 pounds acid phosphate, 200 pounds muriate 

 of potash and 300 pounds of fine ground bone. Do not use lime under the 

 roosts nor mix it with the manure long before it is put into the soil, for 

 the lime starts a chemical action which sets free the ammonia. The plaster 

 or the acid phosphate may be used under the roosts, because they stop 

 this escape of ammonia. Hen manure and wood ashes may be put to- 

 gether in the soil, but should not be mixed and left above ground. The 

 custom followed by many farmers of putting a handful of pure hen 

 manure in and around each hill of corn is a good one, for such manure is 

 especially useful for corn. 



PRESERVING EGGS.— It is often desirable to carry eggs through 

 several months or a year. Most hens persist in laying most of their eggs 

 through Spring and early Summ.er. In late Summer and Winter eggs 

 are scarce and high in price. If one can take eggs worth 15 cents a dozen 

 and hold them so that they will be fresh and good when the price is 

 40 cents he has a good business proposition. In the large cities this is 

 done by putting the eggs in cold storage, but this is impossible on the 

 farm. Formerly such eggs were kept fairly well in lime water, but this 

 gave a brittle shell and many of the eggs were "musty." The most 

 practical way of preserving eggs is to keep them dipped in a solution of 

 water glass or silicate of soda. This water glass can be bought at mo^t 



