Farm and Garden.

Alexandra Herald and Central Otago Gazette, Issue 440, 8 September 1904, Page 2

Farm and Garden.

- —— % "" j . ' ORIGINAL ARTICLES. POULTRY MANURE FOF GARDEN CHOPS. PQULTEY manure when properly saved and applied to growing plants is equal to any chemical or commercial fertiliser for forcing the growth of early crops. It contains a large percentage of nitrogen and of phosphoric acid. ' Potash is not present in large quantities ', but' by applying wood ashes or sulphate of potash at the time of planting a well balanced fertiliser is the result. Care should be taken, however, not to use the substances under the roots, as chemical action is liable to have taken place resulting in the lo'sfe of

nitrogen, the most valuable element of all. manurss and fertilisers. To obtain the [ best results from the use of poultry manure it must be well looked after and carefully saved. A quantity of lime, dry road dust, or air dried muck should be procured, and a shoveful spread under the roosts every day or two. That will absorb moisture, keep down bad odours, and give the fowlhouse a clean appearance ; and—most important of all—by the addition of a little sulphate of lime, commonly known as land plaster, the ammonia in the poultry manure is fixed and prevented from escaping and being lost before being applied to the soil. This compound under the roosts should be gathered every week or so and ,put in a covered bin or barrel. Pine dry sifted hen manure is the best fertiliser for hotbeds or to force along a backward crop, when spread along the rows before rain occurs and worked under. Sulphate of lime, commonly known as land plaster, is excellent to mix with it before applying ; if it has not been previously added, a little sulphate of lime, or gypsum, which is the same thing, should be sprinkled about under the roosts, as it prevents the escape of ammonia or nitrogen until it is applied to the soil where needed. It is found by experience that sprinkled by means of the drill, and well mixed with the soil, gives the best results on cucumbers, squash, and root crops. For cabbage, corn, tomatoes and like crops a sprinkling of it around the plant and hoed in proves most satisfactory, but care should be taken that it is fine and well mixed through ths soil.

RAISING BROODER CHICKS. The temperature under the hover in the brooder should be kept as near ninety degrees as possible for the first week. The chicks should be left in the incubator till they are forty-eight hours old, then taken to the brooder. There they should have plenty of slightly warmed water in a chick fountain, so that they cannot get wet. Sprinkle a handful of dry chick feed in the litter and let them hunt for it. After the first week the temperature may be gradually lowered at the rate of about one degree every two days till it is lowered to seventy degrees, and there it should be kept as long as the chicks remain in the brooder. After the chicks are a week old they may be allowed to run. on the floor of the house, which.should have a covering of sand and about one inch of chaff. If the weather is very cold care should be taken for the first two or three days that they do not remain out of the brooder so long as to get chilled. After two days they will learn to return to the brooder themselves. If the weather is warm they may be let out on the ground for a short time in the middle of the day. After they are eight weeks old, if provided with a box to run under, the brooders may bo removed to some other location. If the floor is kept well covered with chaff or fine straw they will be comfortable. When four months old they should have either roost poles placed in the house for them or be removed to winter quarters. The cockerels and pullets should be separated at three months, as both will grow faster and do better than they would ■ running together. It is advisable to change the feed mixture when the chicks are three weeks old and substitute hulled oats in place of rolled oats, also use whole wheat. When five weeks old the millet seed, broken rice, and rape seed may be omitted, and if the chicks have full liberty, feed but three times a day. Always keep plenty of fresh water handy for them. A mash feed, well scalded, may be fed at noon. A good mixture is twenty pounds of corn meal, fifteen pounds of ground oats, ten pounds ground barley, ten pounds wheat bran, and ten pounds beef scrap. Always be sure to feed no more than they will eat up clean in twenty minutes; if. any is left, clear it up in a pail and save for the hogs. If well fed and cared for the pullets will begin to lay at five months old.

FERTILIZER FOR FLOWERS

One of the best chemical fertilizers for flowers is made by mixing together bone meal and muriate of .potash. This is very inexpensive, costing only 2 or 3 pence a pound, but it is very effective. It furnishes just what the plant needs, viz., nitrogen, phosphoric acid and potash. Use one pound muriate of potash to four pounds bone meal and stir into the soil when planting at the rate of two to four pounds to the square rod. It is also very satisfactory to use for pot plants, one heaping tablespoonful being about sufficient for a 5inch pot.

Fertilizers containing chlorides may be applied to land intended for corn, cowpeas, wheat hay, etc., three or four months in advance. This method seems to give better results than applying just before planting..