ON MANURES. 



1 129 



Poultry Manure for the Garden. 



Fresh poultry manure from hens and pigeons is decidedly 

 richer in plant-food than the dung of other annuals, because it 

 contains both the solid and liquid excrements combined, and is 

 somewhat analogous to guano in character, though far less ' 

 valuable than guano weight for weight. To begin with, the food 

 of hens, of pigeons, and even of turkeys, except in grasshopper 

 season, is of vegetable rather than of animal origin, while the 

 sea-fowl that produced the guano lived upon fish, and conse- 

 quently voided a more highly - nitrogenised excrement ; and, 

 moreover, the guano has become exceedingly concentrated by 

 the peculiar processes of slow decay to which it has long been 

 subjected. 



The Table giving the analysis of animal manures shows that 

 poultry manure is exceedingly rich in all the constituents or 

 plant - food, especially in nitrogen, lime, and phosphoric acid. 

 Like the excrements of other animals, its value as a fertiliser 

 depends largely upon the food consumed. If the fowls eat a 

 good many worms, insects, and other animal food, their drop- 

 pings will be much more valuable than if they were fed on grain 

 and other vegetable products exclusively. 



Dr. G. G. Groff has recently made some investigations upon 

 the fertilising value of fowl manure, and he finds a considerable 

 increase in value when the fowls are well fed and their droppings 

 properly cared for. Dr. Groff advises feeding the fowls with all 

 the fresh bone they will eat, giving it in a pulverised condition. 

 By this practice their droppings are made much richer, while the 

 number of eggs is greatly increased. The bone has been found 

 to be of nearly as much value for manurial purposes as before 

 being used as food by the fowls. 



The following data gives the analysis of fowl manure, the 

 animals being differently fed, in quantities of loolb. of each : 



HEN MANURE. SELECTED CONSTITUENTS IN AIR-DRIED 

 DUNG. PERCENTAGE QUANTITIES. 



Chief Diet. 



Water. 



. , 



Nitrogen. 



Phosphoric 

 Acid. 



Potash. 





Per Cent. 



Per Cent. 



Per Cent. 



Per Cent. 





7.5 



3-55 



I . 1 1 



1.30 





6.5 



1.03 



I .60 



1.85 





7-1 



1-53 



I .92 



I .01 



