“And yet,” said the Doctor, “the crop of corn on the cultivated half of the peach-orchard removed far more plant-food from the soil, than the crop of wheat. And so it is evident that the difference is not due wholly to the supply of manure in the surface-soil. It may well be that the cultivation which the corn received favored the decomposition of organic matter in the soil, and the formation of nitrates, and when the rain came, it would penetrate deeper into the loose soil than on the adjoining land occupied with wheat. The rain would carry the nitrogen down to the roots of the peach trees, and this will account for the dark green color of the leaves on the cultivated land, and the yellow, sickly-looking leaves on the trees among the wheat.”
HEN-MANURE, AND WHAT TO DO WITH IT.
A bushel of corn fed to a hen would give no more nitrogen, phosphoric acid, and potash, in the shape of manure, than a bushel of corn fed to a pig. The manure from the pig, however, taking the urine and solid excrement together, contain 82 per cent of water, while that from the hen contains only 56 per cent of water. Moreover, hens pick up worms and insects, and their food in such case would contain more nitrogen than the usual food of pigs, and the manure would be correspondingly richer in nitrogen. Hence it happens that 100 lbs. of dry hen-manure would usually be richer in nitrogen than 100 lbs. of dry pig-manure. But feed pigs on peas, and hens on corn, and the dry pig-manure would be much richer in nitrogen than the dry hen-manure. The value of the manure, other things being equal, depends on the food and not on the animal.
Let no man think he is going to make his farm any richer by keeping hens, ducks, and geese, than he will by keeping sheep, pigs, and horses.
“Why is it, then,” asked the Deacon, “that hen-dung proves such a valuable manure. I would rather have a hundred lbs. of hen-dung than half a ton of barnyard-manure?”
“And I presume you are right,” said I, “but you must recollect that your hen-manure is kept until it is almost chemically dry. Let us figure up what the half ton of manure and the 100 lbs. of hen-manure would contain. Here are the figures, side by side:
| 100 lbs. dry Hen-Manure. | Half ton Cow-Dung with straw. | |
|---|---|---|
| Water (estimated) | 12 lbs. | 775 lbs. |
| Organic Matter | 51 ” | 203 ” |
| Ash | 37 ” | 22 ” |
| Nitrogen | 3¼ ” | 3⅖ ” |
| Potash | 1¾ ” | 4 ” |
| Lime | 4¾ ” | 3 ” |
| Phosphoric acid | 3 ” | 1½ ” |
I would, myself, far rather have 100 lbs. of your dry hen-manure than half a ton of your farmyard-manure. Your hens are fed on richer food than your cows. The 100 lbs. of hen-manure, too, would act much more rapidly than the half ton of cow-manure. It would probably do twice as much good—possibly three or four times as much good, on the first crop, as the cow-manure. The nitrogen, being obtained from richer and more digestible food, is in a much more active and available condition than the nitrogen in the cow-dung.
“If you go on,” said the Deacon, “I think you will prove that I am right.”
“I have never doubted,” said I, “the great value of hen-dung, as compared with barnyard-manure. And all I wish to show is, that, notwithstanding its acknowledged value, the fact remains that a given quantity of the same kind of food will give no greater amount of fertilizing matter when fed to a hen than if fed to a pig.”