1858 
177 
THE CULTIVATOR. 
Guano, Hen Manure, and some other Things. 
Messrs. Editors —Within a few years past farmers 
generally have become much more economical in sav¬ 
ing the various waste materiafs about their premises, 
and applying them to their soils as fertilizers. A few 
years since, and but few farmers, comparatively, 
thought of looking beyond the limits of their barn¬ 
yards for manure. The vaults, the accumulations of 
the hen-house and dove cote, the soap-suds and sink- 
water, as well as the deposits of the muck swamps, 
were almost wholly neglected. 
Since the introduction of guano into this country 
thousands of farmers make account of saving and using 
the manure of their poultry houses, and they find it, 
like guano, a valuable concentrated manure, though 
much less valuable, ‘‘weight for weight.” In pre¬ 
paring the hen manure for use, we find the experi¬ 
menters frequently mix the manure with ashes or lime, 
but thi6 is a very wrong and wasteful practice, for it 
expels much of the ammonia, altogether the most es¬ 
sential portion of the manure. Gluano is considered, 
both by the chemist and the intelligent farmer, valu¬ 
able in exact proportion to the amount of ammonia it 
contains, or will yield upon its decomposition. A prime 
Peruvian guano will yield from IS to 18 per cent, of 
ammonia, and as it is this substance principally for 
which the farmer buys guano, the ammonia costs him 
some sixteen cents a pound, and this is cheaper than 
I he can buy it in any other form. Now if a farmer 
mixes ashes or lime with his guano, he is scattering 
his money to the “ four winds of heaven,” or rather 
j his ammonia, which amounts to the same thing. 
; In the Co. Gent, of April 15, a correspondent (A 
] Small Farmer) gives his way of preparing hen manure 
j for corn. He says—■“ I have been in the habit for 
1J several years of getting together all the clear manure 
from the hen roost that I could, and a few days before 
planting (say three to six) mix an equal quantity of 
wood ashes and about half as much plaster thoroughly 
together, wetting it enough to moisten the whole.” 
Now with all due respect to the feelings of this “ Small 
Farmer,” we beg to say that he could not take a more 
effectual method of expelling the ammonia from his 
hen manure, unless he was to burn it in the fire. But 
still the compost might possess considerable manurial 
value. 
Also in the next issue of the Co. Gent., J. E. S. of 
Maple Grove, at the request of H. Clayton, gives his 
“modus operandi” of composting hen manure. He 
says: 
“ As often as four or five times a year I gather the 
droppings of my fowls, thoroughly mixing with every 
three bushels of manure, two bushels of ashes, one 
bushel of plaster, and from two to four quarts of salt 
This compost is thrown into a large box or bin, where 
it can remain secure from the weather until wanted for 
use. In place of ashes, I have formerly used air- 
slaked lime, and with the best results .” 
Now we will suggest to J. E. S., that he take a ta¬ 
ble-spoonful of unloaehed wood ashes, and one of hen 
manure; moisten the mass if dry, and with the spoon 
rub the ashes and manure together for a short time; 
then apply the mixture to his nose, give a hearty sniff, 
_ and he will find the ammonia of the manure escaping 
v at the rate of 2,40. Then let him take the same amount 
of air-slaked lime and manure, and rub together, and 
he will find the ammonia flying off with still greater 
speed. 
Messrs. Editors, it affords us no pleasure to point out 
the mistakes of our brother farmers, and we do not do | 
it in a spirit of “captious criticism,” but solely for the 
good purpose of imparting correct agricultural know¬ 
ledge. From lack of knowledge pertaining to our 
business in times past, we have committed many mis¬ 
takes in our attempts at experimenting, to some of 
which we will refer before closing this article. 
Immediately following J. E. S.’s communication, you 
give us a “new way of preparing bones,” by Mr. Stew¬ 
art of Scotland. To his manner of preparing bones we 
have nothing to object, but we think he very much errs 
in his treatment of woolen rags for manure. 
Woolen rags contain about 17 per cent, of nitrogen, 
and 7 per cent, of hydrogen. If the rags were to be 
perfectly decomposed in a muck compost heap, they 
would yield more than 20 per cent, of ammonia, a lar¬ 
ger amount than good Peruvian guano yields, and as 
far, then, as the nitrogen is concerned, rags are worth 
more, “pound for pound,” than guano. Fresh lean 
beef contains 77 per cent, of water, and 23 per cent, of 
dry animal matter, or, in other words, 100 lbs. of lean 
beef will only give 23 lbs. of dry or jerked beef. The 
dry beef contains 15 per cent, of nitrogen, consequently 
one pound of woolen rags contains about as much ni¬ 
trogen as five pounds of clear beef steak. 
If lean beef is boiled in a strong lye, it will be de¬ 
composed, (eaten up) By this process, the nitrogen 
would be principally driven off, in unison with a portion 
of the hydrogen, as free ammonia; and nearly the 
same results would follow in boiling woolen rags to a 
pulp in strong lye. 
About one-half the weight of the fresh bones of an 
animal, is composed of cartilage, gelatine, and oil—the 
balance of phosphoric acid, lime, magnesia, &c. The 
gelatine contains nitrogen, hydrogen, &c. Some years 
ago, we filled a forty-gallon boiler with broken horn 
piths and strong caustic lye, for the purpose of dissolv¬ 
ing the bone. Soon after the boiling commenced, there 
was a great evolution of ammonia. Several doors in the 
house were carelessly left open, and the pungent odor 
of ammonia filled the house from “ cellar to garret,” 
and in some of the rooms almost to suffocation. The 
result of this experiment was, we disintegrated the 
bones, converting them into a fine white powder, but it 
was at the expense of the nitrogen of the organic por¬ 
tion of the bones. On that score they might about as 
well have been burfied. So we think, in boiling woolen 
rags in strong lye. Wool, of course, is nearly identical 
with woolen rags. Some years ago, for several years, 
we obtained a quantity of the waste wool from a card¬ 
ing machine. This is usually much saturated with a 
gummy oil, which very much retards its decomposition 
if plowed into the soil in that state. To cleanse this 
wool, we have sometimes boiled it for a short time in a 
tolerably strong lye; a few minutes’ boiling will be 
sufficient to remove the oil. The wool should then be 
composted, as it is slow in decomposing. The oil and 
lye forms a kind of soap, a valuable material for mix¬ 
ing with peat or swamp muck. One hundred pounds 
of wool contain over 17 pounds of nitrogen, as much 
as there is in 3,400 pounds of fresh cow manure. 
Great quantities of woolen waste and rags are used 
in England, as manure for the hop plant, the price 
