March, 1910 
THE AUSTRALIAN GARDENER. 
— 
W. Girt, ] 
“patients who liave for any short period 
Tegarded the juicy pear and luscious 
grape as articles of diet to be carefully 
avoided. We are, therefore, strongly of 
the opinion that in making a change in 
the diet for the purpose of giving a place 
to fruit, it is advisable to proceed slowly. 
There can be no question whatever that 
liberal supplies of fresh cooked and 
uncooked fruit are highly ‘benefical, but 
extravagance in eating fruit, as of other 
articles of food, should be avoided, for 
excesses are not only likely to prove 
injurious to those who indulge in thein, 
but they bring the fruit into undeserved 
disrepute. 
1 
‘The Value of Fowl Manure. 
The droppings from domestic fowls are 
often undervalued, but properly treated 
they are of considerablo inpourtance to all 
those havinga garden. They are generally | 
View Looking West over Plantations E. and O., Bundaleer Forest. 
[PHOTO 
gathered in small quantities. hence they 
are not much thought of, but they con- 
stitute a manure rich in soluble constit- 
uents, corresponding somewhat to the 
guano of the second grades. 
In former times, says a writer in the 
‘Gardeners’ Chronicle,’ when fowl rear- 
ing was more common than at present, 
the value of their dung was better appre- 
ciated. The ancient Romans particularly 
praised their pigeon-dung; they gathe.ed 
it in large quantities, and utilised it, es- 
pecially for fruit-trees. 
As is the case in respect to other domes- . 
tic animals, the richness of poultry-man- 
ure as a-plant stimulant depends largely 
upon the character of the food the fowls 
consume. When they eat many insects 
and worms, or are fed with bonemeal and 
meat refuse, their voidings are much rich- 
er than if fed on grain or vegetable mat- 
ter exclusively. Like wise if pigeons are 
fed largely with peas. lentils, or vetches, 
their manure will be correspondingly rich 
Sates 
-in nitrogenous plant-food 
Dr. Goff, who has experimented with 
domestic fowls, advises feeding them 
with all the fresh ground bone they will 
eat, Theresuit will be that their drop- 
pings will not only be richer for minuria 
purposes, but the value and number o 
eggs will be greatly increased. An anal- 
ysis shows that the dung from bone-fed 
fowls .was about three times richer in 
phosphoric acid and six times richer in 
nitrogen than the dung from the ordinary 
fed fowls, Poultry manure is an exceed 
ingly valuable fertiliser. The richest 
manure comes from fowls and pigeons 
Geeso eat grass, and both ducks and geese 
drink large quantities of- water, ~~ 
Remarks have been made that poultry 
manure poisons plants to which it has 
been applied. This is simply because 
used in excess. It should‘be applied in 
moderate quantities only at a time, and 
for preference used in the spring, and not 
dug too deeply into the soil. It must be 
