2'.»6 POULTRY PRODUCTION 



chemicals of more or less fertilizing value in themselves, 

 may be added to the droppings from time to time with good 

 effect, both in stopping the waste and in making the air of 

 the hen-house more wholesome. The best materials for this 

 purpose are gypsum or land plaster, acid phosphate, and 

 kainit, a cheap potash salt. Each of the compounds has the 

 power of forming new compounds with the ammonia as fast 

 as it is set free from the original combination. Wood ashes 

 or slaked lime should never be used, because neither com- 

 bines with ammonia, but forces it out of the compounds and 

 takes its place. \V. P. Wheeler' states that over 40 per cent 

 of the nitrogen in poultry manure is normally lost in drying. 

 Philips^ reports that Leghorn pullets ])roduce about 1*1 

 pounds of manure a year while on the jxTch. 



Hoskins and Walker^ report the average analysis of poultry 

 manure as showing 1.44 per cent nitrogen, 0.39 per cent 

 potash, and 0.99 per cent phosphoric acid. At current 

 prices for fertilizers the value of a ton of fresh poultry manure 

 is .10.28. On the basis of the average night droppings from 

 the medium breeds, reported Ijy the Massachusetts Experi- 

 ment Station,'' the droppings per fowl amount to eighty 

 pounds annually. 



' Twenty-sixth Annual Report, New York Experiment Station. 



' Purdue Bulletin, 82. 



' Ma3saf|]usett3 Circular No. 35. 



> Ibid. 



