_these compounds are of more value per unit than are those contained in thé 
_ 
24 QUEENSLAND AGRICULTURAL JOURNAL. [1 Jan., 1900: 
per cent. of phosphoric acid, and a little over 1 per cent. of potash. The d 
of poultry is just about as poor, fowl dung containing from °8 to 2 per cent. 
nitrogen, 13 to 2 per cent. of phosphoric acid, and a little under 1 per cent. 
potash ; while that of ducks aud geese is even poorer.” 
On the same subject, Professor EH. B. Voorhees, M.A., director of the Ne 
Jersey Agricultural Experiment Station, in his recent work on fertilisers, says: 
“Tt is argued that because of the very great value of guanos, which consist ve 
largely of the excrement of wild fowl, that droppings of pigeons particularly, 
and of domestic fowls, should also possess a high value, and for this reason i 
¢ 
nT 
ew Oe 
rather fictitious value has been fixed upon these products. These differ ve 
materially from natural guanos, and it is due probably both to the character 
the food eaten by the domestic fowl and to the different methods by which the 
material is obtained. The birds producing the guanos feed largely upon fish= 
a highly nitrogenous food, resulting in an excrement richer in this element thal 
that from the domestic bird, fed largely upon vegetable matter; and, besides 
the former were accumulated in a hot, dry climate which quickly absorbs thé 
moisture contained in the fresh droppings, thus leaving it in a much dryer sta 
than is the case with the domestic product.’ Ft 
Professor Roberts, in his most excellent work, ‘‘The Fertility of the oa 
eee ai ST I en ENE 
=. 
| 
after giving the results of 19 test analyses of hen manures from pens 
fowls fed on various foods at the different experimental stations, says :—‘t Fres! 
hen manure appears to be worth nearly twice as much as cattle manure (fresh 
and free from litter). This is due in a large measure to less moisture cont 
| 
while the latter (cattle manure) has 74 per cent., the former has but 51°59 p | 
cent. of moisture on an average. Computed at the same moisture content, th 
hen manure would be worth 9s. 6d. per ton (of 2,000 Ib.), against 10s. 1d. fot 
cattle manure. di 
Usually hen houses are kept clean by sprinkling chaff, dust, or Bypsum 0 | 
| 
i 
the floors and roosts. In such cases it may easily happen that the latter ma, 
be so abundant that the value of the manure is reduced to nearly that of cattl 
manure. On the other hand, unmixed hen manure, air-dried, may be wort 
four times as much as an equal weight of cattle manure. 
Such concentrated manures may be, and usually are, worth more per unit 0» 
fertilising material than unconcentrated ones, if judiciously used, since the value 
of manures and fertilisers is dependent, in part, on their immediate availabilityy 
especially of their nitrogenous compounds. i 
If the nitrogen ina manure is only available in the advanced stages of th) 
plant’s growth, and is present in abundance, it may produce a positive injuryr 
while, if available in the earlier stages, it is likely to be very beneficial. | 
Since hen manure, especially that which is unmixed with litter, and is aise 
| 
i 
dried, contains a high percentage of readily available nitrogenous compoun ‘| 
' 
slower acting cattle manure, provided always that they are used with judgmenh 
Difference Made by Food.—The experiments made at Cornell and othel 
experimental stations show that the composition may be changed, and the valu 
elgi manure very greatly increased, by the character of the food given. Fresh 
manure from a pen of hens fed on maize was worth 16s. 2d., while that from # 
en fed on two parts wheat to one of cracked peas was worth 17s. 7d., and that 
eon one fed on equal parts corn and oats was worth 21s. 8d. per ton. | 
The difference in value between fresh, sun-dried, and air-dried hen manul® 
appears to vary a good deal, } 
Fresh Hen Manure is valued at from 10s. 4d. to 21s. 8d. per ton of 2,000 
Ib., according to the food fed to the fowls. 
Sun-dried is valued at 28s. 11d. 
