Sacramento daily record-union. [volume] (Sacramento [Calif.]) 1875-1891, 1888-02-25
THE FARM.
MATTERS PERTAINING TO AGRI.
CULTURE AND HORTICULTURE.
The Value of Hen Manure-Salt as
Fertilizer-Other Topics
OF Interest.

the Prdirie Farmer has the following con-
| corning the value Of roost-droppings from
hens as a fertilizer:
Director Goessman, under the head of
"Carc Of Hen Manure" says that the
value of hen manure depends not less on
the care which is bestowed on its keeping
than on the kind of food the fowls CON
sumo. The excretion of birds, on account
of their peculiar character, undergoes a
rapid change, large amount of ammonia
is soon formed, which reduces materially
its u:anurial value in case it is allowed to
escape. A liberal use of plaster, kieserite,
or good loan, is highly recommendable for
the absorption of the ammonia. The
safest way to secure the full benefit of the
droppings is to gather them quite frequent
iy, and to add directly any of the pre-
viously-mentioned materials. \ sandy
soil Is of little use as an absorbent.
\ New York farmer gives his opinion
in the Ne,r England Homestead. He saws !:
Years ago | came to the conclusion that
the droppings of hen for a year, saved
and mixed with an equal quantity of
plaster or gypsum, and put into the hills
OF corn, would increase the yield of that
corn as much as hen would eat during
the year" Next comes the letter from an
Ohio farmer, who says he allows that the
droppings of poultry will, when taken care
of so as to preserve their full manurial
value pay for all the time devoted to the
care of the fowls, and the rent of the fowl
house and yards.
DR.. Dickies evidence comes next, and
it reads thus: "The most fertile part of
many farms is that largely occupied by
poultry. 1t is true that these portions are
usually near buildings, and seldom utilized
for growing crops, but when they are so
used the effects of the poultry droppings
are plainly observable" The doctor also
said that he had grown six good crops of
corn in six years in his poultry yard, the
only fertilizer used being that deposited
by the fowls themselves The next piece
of information comes from a Massachu-
sets farmer. He says that he keeps 50
hens on his farm, and they make two bar
rels of manure in the same time that eight
head of cattle are making one cord, and
the two barrels will grow Just as much
corn as the cord of manure. Figuring on
that basis 1t appears that the manure from
eight hens in one year would be as valu-
able as that from one COW during the same
time.
Finally, | came to the record of an ex-
pertinent that was made on our farm sew
eral years ago. The manure saved in one
year from the houses where $50 fowls
roasted was mixed with nearly a ton each
OF plaster and road dust; this mixture was
used for the corn and potato crops, and
| the result was such that neighboring farm
ers declared our homemade fertilizer was
quite as valuable as the commercial which
cost, delivered at our station, about $40
| per ton. There! that is all have TO say
| about hen manure this time, except to re-
mark that while ! do not believe the
poultry droppings will pay the whole cost
| OF keeping the fowls, | do think they will
at least pay for the time given to tie care
OF poultry. Anyway it will certainly pay
any farmer in the East or West to save and
use the poultry manure.
SALT IN THE GARDEN.
Thirty years successful use of salt upon
all kinds of crops have proved It's value to
| me. 1t should not be used on cold, heavy
or moist soils, and if anyone does he will
be disappointed in the result, as its tend
ency IS to keep the ground cool and moist.
Ii VIII do such soil more harm than good.
1t should not be cast upon very young and
tender plants of any kind, as it will be
very sure to kill them. Judgment should
be employed in using 50 strong an agent.
L had friend who heard me recommend
salt on onion beds, when | strictly urged
that IT should be dragged or worked in be-
fore the seed was sown; but forgetting
what | said, he did not salt until the on
ions were about two inches high, and it
killed them all but sowing another crop
properly it turned out splendidly. Had
he waited until the tops were as big as a
large pipe-stem, he might have covered
the ground an inch deep and his onions
would have done finely. Onions should be
sown on the same ground year after year
as they continue to improve. There are
yards hundred years old, and their yield
would astonish the common grower. The
tops when cut off should be scattered over
the ground do not leave them in Jumps
as they make the best food for the growing
onions; then SOW salt, and then put on
coat of manure. Salt is not much of a
fertilizer in itself, though plants take up
as you can tell by tasting, and by the stiff
ening and glazing of straw of plant
grown in sailed ground. [ think it acts
upon and aSsimilates the gross matter in
the soil, so as TO make it available food.
1t should be in every garden.-Cor. Lon
don Horticultural Times
RAISING CALVES WITHOUT MILK.
L. a s., st. Jacobs, ILL.,, writes: ain
Prairie Farmer of February 4th. | see an
article on feeding calves by hand on
skinned milk. | ship all my milk to St.
| nd 9th Nf i
less do the same. We have no skinned
milk, but would like to raise our calves.
The past two years raised mine as follows
and they are nice and sleek: At three
days old | take them away from the COW.
tie them up in box stall well bedded.
and give them three quarts newly drawn
milk with one tablespoonful of oil-cake
meal boiled in one pint of water. At two
weeks old double the meal and water, add
one-half-pint shorts or corn meal. At
three weeks gradu ally doublethe oil meal
until you have three quarters of pint of
meal, one pint Of shorts, boiled in one gallon
of water, but need no milk Be careful to
have temperature lukewarm. All'changes
should be gradual At one month old
calves will lick some bran Fed this way
they will all be gentle and pleasure to
handle, and will come at your call"
GRATING GRAPE VINES.
A grapegrower of Atlantic, Iowa, ac-
cording to the Prairie Farmer, in propagat-
ing hard wood varieties of grapes, like the |
Delawares, makes cutting with two or
three buds, and fastens them with thread
and wax to two-inch pieces of the roots of |
hardy varieties. like Concord or Ives. The |
roots are taken from the young, thrifty !
vines. These grated cuttings are packed |
in the cellar until spring, and are then |
set out. The roots start from the callused |
portion. He made his cuttings in Decem-
Der. Those from ordinary vines are tied |
in bundles of 100, with the butts all one !
way. These bundles are inverted, put in a /
trench and covered with four inches of |!
mellow soil, and the whole covered with a |
mulch of manure. In the spring they are |
taken up, soaked twenty-four hours in
water and stuck in the ground three inches
apart, in rows three feet apart
Two Kinds of Pride.
\ young man employed as teller in |
bank in one of our seaboard cities, at a |
moderate salary, after year or two estab-