182 MASSACHTSETTS HORTICULTUEAL SOCLETT. 



conjunction with a less supply from the stable. Now it is the nitrates 

 that start the plants of the market gardener, and these the guano 

 contributes ; while the development of nitrates in stable manure 

 requires a degree of heat which the soil does not receive until the 

 season is somewhat advanced. TTithout knowing it, gardeners 

 are using this vast amount of barn manure to get a small stock of 

 plant food which they might easily procure in the fertilizer market, 

 readv made and directly available, in the form of guano, or nitrate 

 of soda. It would be wiser to dispense with three-quarters of the 

 heavy manuring, and use one-half the saving in purchasing nitrate 

 of so<^la : the balance might go into their pockets as clear saving. 



Hex Masube has by some been compared in value to guano ; but 

 I regard this as an over-estimate, though it contains three times as 

 much nitrogen as barn manure. It is a grand principle that no more 

 nitrogen, phosphoric acid, or potash, can be obtained from the 

 manure of any animal than is fed to it in its food. An ordinary 

 hen will eat about two bushels of corn a year, and the larger 

 breeds about one-half more. From this they must take the ma- 

 terial for about one hundred and twenty-five eggs annually, a 

 chansre of feathers, keep up the animal heat, and make up the 

 orrowth of the body, besides performing the various functions on 

 which life depends. Xow, subtracting what is required for these 

 purposes, the waste element in our two bushels of corn shrinks to 

 very small proportions. We must also take into account the fact 

 that the droppings which we save are confined almost wholly to 

 those made during half of the twenty-four hours. By analysis two 

 bushels of corn contains, in nitrogen, potash, and phosphates, 

 forty-six cents in value. From this stand-point it will be seen 

 that the droppings of a hen for a year cannot contain nearly the 

 value sometimes claimed for them. I estimate its value at from 

 fifteen to twent}' cents. For many years I collected hen manure 

 at a cost of a dollar per barrel, but afterwards reduced its price 

 to seventy-five cents, and thought it, at the latter price, a cheap 

 manure until I tested it side by side with an equal value of guano. 

 Moreover it is a sticky mass, difficult to handle ; and it is worth 

 any one's while to experiment, if it were only to realize the advan- 

 tage in the handling of any commercial fertilizer over hen manure, 

 even in its finest state. It is generall}* composted with muck or 

 dryish soil, — three parts of muck to one of manure, — and the 

 com[X)st should be made as fine as possible. A rake is the best 

 tool to do this with, if it is sticky. It should be turned over in 



