Vol. LXXIV, No. 4351. 
NEW YORK, NOVEMBER 6, 1915. 
WEEKLY $1.00 PER YEAR. 
A Western Gold Mine in Poultry Manure. 
What Can Be Done With It? 
Knowing that our western farm paper editors are 
mere amateurs when it comes to answering questions 
and giving really valuable advice about fertilizers and 
manures, I come to headquarters with my questions. 
Here’s the situation. Another farmer and I have agreed 
to take turns of a week about at hauling chicken ma¬ 
nure from a large poultry packing plant. My haul is 
from 1 y -2 to three miles over a fair road. During their 
busy season (Fall and Winter) the manure will amount 
to from one to three tons per day, just as it comes 
from the coops, that is damp. Feathers and dead 
hens amount to perhaps from one. to two per cent. 
During the Summer and Spring there is not so much. 
Its only cost to us is the hauling. I want to know 
what to do with the product of this little gold mine. 
1 have young Alfalfa that I would like to put it on, 
but the field is too soft. The spreader would do lots 
of damage till ground freezes. Besides, everybody says: 
“Look out you don’t get it on too thick and burn your 
Alfalfa,” so I am also a bit afraid on that score. About 
all the remainder of my Alfalfa is on rich bottom land 
that does not really need manuring yet. 
I have 414 acres of upland that has had two coats of 
cow and horse manure in the last live years, but still 
needs more. There is a fine stand of volunteer Sweet 
clover and rye on it now that I expect to let stand. Be¬ 
sides this I have about two acres of stubble that needs 
a little manure, but I have plenty of stable manure to 
cover it heavily, also have an acre of orchard of ap¬ 
ple, peach, pear, and cherry, but will have an abund¬ 
ance of stable manure for that by Spring. Looks like 
I had too much of a good thing, don’t it? 
The thought struck me, is the stuff valuable enough 
to make it worth while to construct a drying plant, 
dry, grind, and put it on the market as fertilizer? 
What think you? I would have to construct a build¬ 
ing and hire most of the work done half of the year. 
I have little doubt that I could contract for the entire 
output of the packers for a term of years, Could also 
probably get the output of another similar plant nearly 
as large. Would it likely be worth while? I hate to 
see ton after ton of that rich fertilizer dumped into 
the Blue River every Summer, but my little farm would 
go crazy were I to put all on it that I could haul. 
Stable manure I know how to handle, but this stuff 
is so powerful in some elements that it puts me “up 
in the air” to know how to use it to get the maximum 
results. J. 11 . tubbs. 
Nebraska. 
NYWHERE near the Atlantic coast that would 
be considered a gold mine, with the gold in 
big nuggets to be picked up with the fingers. That 
fresh hen manure will contain at least 35 pounds of 
nitrogen to the ton and probably more. There are 
also at least 20 pounds of potash and phosphoric 
acid to the ton, which means a value of nearly $9 
in plant food. By mixing this into a fertilizer it 
could be sold for more than that. With your crops 
and manure supply you do not need all this hen 
manure on your farm. We have often wondered 
why some of the large poultry farms do not utilize 
dried hen manure as the basis of a mixed fertilizer. 
This manure contains organic nitrogen in an excel¬ 
lent form for all crops and if proper.y mixed with 
chemicals would make good fertilizer. 
The following suggestions are based on the meth¬ 
ods followed by a number of farmers who mix small 
quantities of hen manure and chemicals. First of 
all the manure must be made dry and fine. Damp 
hen manure left in a warm place will give off its 
ammonia, as anyone may notice on going where it 
is. Some drying material which will absorb the 
moisture and preserve the ammonia is needed. 
Farmers use land plaster, road dust, sawdust, 
ground phosphate rock or acid phosphate—anything 
which will absorb or drive off the moisture. On 
a large scale such as you propose land plaster would 
suit. Arrangements should he made, if possible, to 
have a supply of the land plaster at the chicken 
plant and have it scattered frequently over the ma¬ 
nure as it falls. This would make the manure 
easier to handle and keep the place sweeter. 
We should erect a building of proper size with 
a concrete floor and a system of strong racks like 
the trays in an evaporator, only strong enough to 
hold a good weight of manure. As the manure is 
hauled throw a layer about three inches thick on 
the floor, throwing in land plaster at the same time 
until it is thoroughly white. When this layer is 
complete put strong planks on the first rack and 
spread another layer of manure, using land plaster 
as before, and so on until the whole is filled. The 
air can circulate between the racks and there is 
room to rake off the manure. When fully dry, the 
manure will be left in hard chunks. They can be 
raked out, smashed with a heavy spade, and if need 
be dried again until they are ready to run through 
a bone mill. The manure is sifted and the coarse 
parts ground once more. 
On the farm this ground and sifted dry manure 
is mixed with chemicals—the farmer usually guess¬ 
ing at the analysis. If you expect to mix a fertil- 
Selecting the Seed Corn in the Field : A Serious Problem. Fig. 494. 
