The Portland daily press. [volume] (Portland, Me.) 1862-1921, 1874-06-16
Farm and Garden.
KEEPING POULTRY TO ENRICH LAND.

KEEPING POULTRY TO ENRICH LAND.
Col. Waring, in his elements of Agricul-
ture," says: Poultry dung is nearly equal in
value 70 Peruvian guano texcept that it con-
tains more water). Ii granted that hen
will consume OF the different kinds of grain.
meat and vegetables, during a year, the
equivalent OF two bushels of corn, which
weigh one hundred pounds, then it is certain
ly low enough to place the excrement-the
result OF the digestion of these two bushels
as equivalent to fifteen pounds of guano.
As the manure from one hundred fowls,
during year, would amount to one thousand,
five hundred pounds of guano, taking the
above supposition as, at least, safe; and as
three hundred pounds is ordinarily sufficient
for an acre of corn, it will be seen that the
manure from one hundred fowls will make
compost enough for five acres. The expert
ment has been tried by the writer of applying
to one acre OF corn in the hill, the manure of
twenty hens one year, mixed with swamp
muck, in the proportion of one part hen ma
nure and three parts muck, and the result
was better crop than iupon an adjoining
acre enriched, for the sake of experiment,
with good fair ordinary dressing of stable
manure.-Cor. Poultry World.
THE BEST MODE OF APPLYING LIME.
At the Solebury Farmers Club, held Feb.
Is, the above subject was under discussion,
elcitino the following opinions: We fully a.
gree with the plan recommended by Moses
Eastburn, who said, ''he thought as soon
after harvest as possible, was the right time
to apply lime, and thel place on the wheat
stubble. Applied in this way it helps the
grass crop, puts the ground in good condition
for corn, and does not make oats ripen un-
evenly. Hampton Rice had obtained the
most benefit from applying lime on the sod
the winter before the corn was planted
Samuel FL. Rice had applied from 7O0to 1900
bushels per year for forty years, on farm Of
eighty acres. 1t had almost made his farm,
but for few years past it had not been
much benefited by it. Wallace Paxson
thought the man hit it who said Get it on,
never mind where, but get it on" Henry
Wildman had applied handful of air-slacked
lime to the hill Of corn after it was up, with
marked benefit. He had also made mix
ture consisting Of fifty bushels of lime, ten
bushels of plaster, and six bushels of salt
dissolved the salt and Stacked the lime with
the brine. He sowed the mixture on twenty
acres Of grass in the spring, and had a fine
crop on land poorly set.
EFFECT OF MANURE ON WEEDS.
An exchange says that the application of
manures suited to particular kinds of culti-
vated plants appears to have an excellent eff
feet on checking the growth of Iweeds, which
would otherwise prove injurious. In regard
to ,clover, it was found that when the land
was wholly unmanured, the weeds formed
fifty-seven per cent of the entire yield; but
that the application Of gypsum reduced the
prorortion of weeds two per cent. Nitroge-
nous manures had very slight effect, and
phosphate manures but little more. We
must not from this however, consider gypsum
as an antidote to weeds in general, since it is
specific manure for clover, and it gives a
power to struggle successfully with the weeds,
and crowd them out.
SIMPLE TIMBER PREsERvATIvE.
To render posts or timber placed in the
ground practically impervious to moisture,
and tor long time prevent decay, the fol-
lowing simple recipe has been tried and
found to answer the purpose excellently.
For fence and gate posts it is particularly rec
commended: Take linseed oil, boil it, and mix
it with charcoal dust until the mixture has
the consistence of an ordinary paint. Give
the posts a single coat of the mixture or paint
before planting them, and no farmer, saws
one who has used it, living to the age of the
patriarchs of old will live long enough to see
the same posts rotten. The posts or timber
should be well seasoned and dry when the
paint is applied.
.A, GUANo WATER FOR PLANTS.
The Farmer and Gardener tells a corre-
spondent all guanos are not alike in soluble
proportions; hence pound of phospho-guano
will go as tar as two pounds of many other
brands. We use about one gallon of the for
mer to barrel of water. Let it remain
three or four days, stirring the mixture daily
When using, we add an equal quantity OF wa
ter, thus taking one gallon of phospho-guano
to two barrels of water. Your soiution IS
doubtless 30 strong, especially If applied when
plants are in partially ssagnans % stase oi
pled to plants when in full growth, and not
when tbev are at rest, as is the case during
| onr warmest portion of the summer.
Dors ADVERTISING PAY?-There Is no in
| ,.ance on record of well sustained system of
| se1:a,o,,s advartisinO failing of success