142 MAINE AGRICULTURAL EXPERIMENT STATION. I9T3. 



They contain .8 pound of organic nitrogen. .5 pound of 

 phosphoric acid and .25 pound of potash. At the present price 

 of fertiHzers this material would be worth about 20 cents. No 

 data are available on the amount of day-voided dung. Since 

 the hens spend less than one-half their time on the roosts, and 

 since more dung is voided while the birds are exercising than 

 when at roost, the authors estimate that during a year probably 

 45 pounds of dung are voided by each bird while off the roost. 

 Allowing that more than one-half of the fertilizing elements 

 of the day dung are necessarily lost, the value of the total 

 droppings, if properly cared for, should be at least 30 cents 

 per bird per year 



The poultryman or farmer who properly cares for the drop- 

 pings can add a neat further profit to his business. For exam- 

 ple the droppings from 1000 birds, if preserved without need- 

 less loss, will be worth at least $300. 



Poultry manure contains more nitrogen than other farm 

 manure, because in birds the excretion of the kidneys is voided 

 in solid form furic acid), Avith the undigested portions of the 

 food. This form of nitrogen is easily available to plants. Un- 

 fortunately, however, it is not stable. Putrifactive processes 

 easily change it to ammonia compounds, and unless special 

 care is taken of the droppings one-third to one-half of the 

 nitrogen passes off as ammonia gas. 



The mechanical condition of poultry manure is poor. As 

 Storer* says: "It is apt to be sticky when fresh and lumpy 

 when dry.'-" On this account, if used untreated, it can only be 

 successfully applied to the land by hand, as it does not work 

 well in drills or spreaders. Hen manure used alone is very 

 wasteful of nitrogen as it carries this element in too large a 

 proportion to its phosphorus and potassium.. 



In the experiments referred to above the problem undertaken 

 by Woods and Bartlett was the determination of a method of 

 treatment of hen manure which would first prevent the loss of 

 nitrogen; second, add sufficient phosphorus and potassium in 

 forms available for plant food to make a balanced fertilizer; 

 and third, so improve the mechanical condition of the dung that 

 it can be applied to the land with a manure spreader. Seven 



*Storer, F. H. Agriculture in Some of its Relations with Chemistry. 

 Chas. Scribner's Sons, New York, 1899, Vol. i. 



