Yorkville enquirer. [volume] (Yorkville, S.C.) 1855-2006, 1878-12-19
The fartl1 aud fireside,
THE VALUE OF HEN MANURE.

There is hardly subject upon which more
is written by the correspondents of the agri'
cultural press than this. Every novice in
gardening and farming especially, is enrap.
tured by the fertilizing vigor of this kind of
dressing for the soil. And they are right
the dung of fowls is q valuable manure. We
want to say here, briefly, just how and why
it is valuable, and draw little moral at the
end.
A great many, but not ALL know that the
urinary secretions of birds is discharged, not
externally, as in animals, but into the bowels
in semi.solid form, and passes off mixed with
the dung. There is, therefore, no loss of what
we call the "liquid manure" in the case of
fowls. All the valuable fertilizing salts, the
potash, the phosphoric acid and the ammonia,
which the kidneys excrete from the blood, are
contained in the dung of fowls. They are
there in very concentrated and yet very solu-
bic form, ready to yield potent nourishment
to the young plant-too potent, without con-
siderable dilution. Then again, our fowls live
mostly upon concentrated diet, chiefly seeds
and insects in the summer, grain and meat in
the winter; and the result of the digestion of
this strong, rich food, is strong, rich manure.
Fowls fed upon potatoes do not yield rich
excrement.
And, finally, our hen manure is made and
preserved under cover, suffering no loss from
the leaking or fermentation which always oc-
ours when more or less water has access to any
fertilizing substance Of animal or vegetable
origin.
"This fable teaches" the Importance of pre-
serving the urinary excretions of all domestic
animals, as we'll ss the solid manure, and of
protecting both from loss by teaching or fer
mentation. Were this attended to, the ma.
nure of all granted animals would be nearly
as strong as that of fowls, and as valuable for
fertilizing purposes. At the present price of
commercial fertilizers, the like ingredients in
a cows urine are worth at least twelve dollars
year. 1t is great loss on stableful of
animals. when all, or most Of goes to waste,
as is too commonly the case.
EGG EAT1NG.-I wish to give your readers
a little of my experience regarding egg eating.
I once had a very large lot of B. B. r. Games
and thought good deal of them, but after
all the care I gave them they were mean
enough to eat their eggs as soon as laid. Day
after day went to my coop for eggs, but in
vain / did not get so much as the sight of
one. tried almost everything could think
Of but still in vain. At last, I thought I
would play trick on them, so got an egg
and broke the butt open large enough to let
out the inside Then I mixed up some good
strong mustard and filled it full, putting
piece of she'll over the part broken. / went
to my coop and put the egg in the nest l
had no sooner dropped the egg than one Of
my hens bounced on it like cat on a mouse.
She stuck her bill in it and dropped the egg
on the floor (not waiting for me to retire.)
No sooner did it touch the floor than the rest
of the fowls went for their share; they got it.
all of them. They soon walked off wiping
their beaks against everything they came
across. They left little for manners sake.
1t resulted (the joke) in my gathering my
eggs the next day, and I have not had any
occasion to repeat the experiment until last
week, when I tried it with the same result,
and since then gather eggs every day
Poultry Yard.