MANURES FOU GARDENS AND ORCHARDS. 299 



peach trees, I have seen a wonderful difference in an orchard, half 

 of -which was cultivated with corn, and the other half sown with 

 wheat. The trees in the wheat were sickly-looking, and bore a 

 small crop of inferior fruit, while the trees in the corn, grew vigor- 

 ously and bore a fine crop of fruit. And the increased value of 

 the crop of peaches on the cultivated land was far more than we 

 can ever hope to get from a crop of wheat." 



"And yet," said the Doctor, " the crop of corn on the cultivated 

 half of the peach-orchard removed far more plant-food from the 

 soil, than the crop of wheat. And so it is evident that the differ- 

 ence is not due wholly to the supply of manure in the surface-soil. 

 It may well be that the cultivation which the corn received favored 

 the decomposition of organic matter in the soil, and the formation 

 of nitrates, and when the rain came, it would penetrate deeper into 

 the loose soil than on the adjoining land occupied with wheat. 

 The rain would carry the nitrogen down to the roots of the peach 

 trees, and this will account for the dark green color of the leaves 

 on the cultivated land, and the yellow, sickly-looking leaves on 

 the trees among the wheat. 



HEN-MANURE, AND WHAT TO DO WITH IT. 



A bushel of corn fed to a hen would give no more nitrogen, 

 phosphoric acid, and potash, in the shape of manure, than a bushel 

 of corn fed to a pig. The manure from the pig, however, taking 

 the urine and solid excrement together, contain 82 per cent of 

 water, while that from the hen contains only 56 per cent of water. 

 Moreover, hens pick up worms and insects, and their food in such 

 case would contain more nitrogen than the usual food of pigs, and 

 the manure would be correspondingly richer in nitrogen. Hence 

 it happens that 100 Ibs. of dry hen-manure would usually be richer 

 in nitrogen than 100 Ibs. of dry pig-manure. But feed pigs on 

 peas, and hens on corn, and the dry pig-manure would be much 

 richer in nitrogen than the dry hen-manure. The value of the 

 manure, other things being equal, depends on the food and not on 

 the animal. 



Let no man think he is going to make his farm any richer by 

 keeping hens, ducks, and geese, than he will by keeping sheep, 

 pigs, and horses. 



"Why is it, then," asked the Deacon, "that hen-dung proves 

 euch a valuable manure. I would rather have a hundred Ibs. of 

 hen-dung than half a ton of barnyard-manure ? " 



" And I presume you are right," said I, " but you must recollect 

 that your hen-manure is kept until it is almost chemically dry. Let 



