One Thousand Questions in California Agriculture Answered Part 51

It is said that ashes mixed with chicken manure is not good. I use ashes altogether on the drop boards because I can keep the boards cleaner. The refuse is then scattered around the fruit trees.

Wood ashes and lime should never be used as you propose, because they set free the nitrogen compounds which are the most valuable content of poultry manures. This action is conditioned largely upon the presence of moisture, and if the droppings are kept dry and hurried into the soil the loss is lessened. Coal ashes, on the other hand, are a thoroughly good absorbent when the coal burns to a fine ash or is sifted. They do not act as wood ashes do, because they do not contain soluble alkali.

They also have a good mellowing effect on heavy soil.

Caustic Lime Not a Good Absorbent.

Would air-slackened lime be suitable to sprinkle over the dropping boards in hen houses?

Gypsum is greatly superior to air-slacked lime for the hen houses, as it has every beneficial effect of the latter, while the air-slacked lime will set free much of the fertilizing value of the manure, which the gypsum will not do.

Too Much Chicken Manure for Young Trees.

I have peach trees and apple trees, 3 to 6 years old, that are very thrifty but grow only wood. The soil was poor when planting, and I have put on plenty of sweepings from the chicken-yards. I suppose that is the cause of the trouble.

Undoubtedly you have overmanured your soil with chicken manure, which is a very strong fertilizer and should only be used in limited quant.i.ties.

In order to counteract any acidity or ill effects which have been produced by its excessive application, it would be desirable for you to apply about 500 to 1000 pounds per acre of common builders' lime at the beginning of the rainy season, working it into the soil with the fall or early winter plowing. Do not cut back the tree during the dormant season, although, of course, you may have to remove surplus or interfering branches for the sake of shaping the tree. Winter pruning induces a greater wood growth during the following summer; therefore, it should be avoided under such conditions as you describe. Having adopted such a policy, there is nothing for you to do but to wait for the trees to slow down and a.s.sume a normal bearing habit proper for their ages.

Summer pruning is an offset for excessive wood growth.

Suburban Wastes.

We keep a cow and poultry and have a dry-earth toilet. We have been burying the manure in the little garden spot or along by the fences or spreading it out on the alfalfa before it is rotted, but do not get good results. How shall we apply it to get the best results ? We have a town ordinance against leaving it in piles to rot.

You can compost it in a tight bin made of planks, and using enough water to prevent too rapid fermentation and loss of valuable ingredients.

During the dry season you can probably use enough dry earth or road dust to render the material inoffensive, and you can also distribute it then without undesirable results.

Composting Garden Wastes.

You recommend making a compost of all sc.r.a.pings, garbage, weeds, etc. Is there any danger in having this in a pit near the house?

If you desire to put garden wastes, including manure, into a pit, the only objection would be the heavy work of digging it out again. If you allow waste water from the house to run into the pit, there would probably be not enough dry material to absorb it, and the pit would be not only objectionable on account of odors, but possibly dangerous to health. The water would also prevent decomposition, because of exclusion of air. At the same time, enough moisture to promote slow decomposition is essential. It is usually more convenient to compost garden wastes on the surface of the ground, enclosing them with a plank retainer, because moisture can easily be applied with a hose, as desirable, the material can be occasionally forked over to promote decay, and the heavy work of digging material out of a pit is avoided. Such a collection is neither offensive nor dangerous if handled right.

Composting Manure.

Will the dry barnyard manure, when heaped up and dampened with water, make a valuable fertilizer?

For garden use, dry manure in heaps should be dampened with water from time to time so as to prevent too active fermentation. Of course, water should not be supplied so freely as to cause a leaching of the pile. It is also desirable that the material should be forked over from time to time to distribute moisture and promote decay. When this is done a thoroughly first-cla.s.s fertilizer is produced.

Barnyard Manure and Alkali.

In spots my land is hard and has some black alkali. Will barnyard manure help the hard land if cultivated in?

Use stable manure because that would not only furnish nitrogen, if your plants need any more, but it would add coa.r.s.e material and ultimately humus which would overcome the tendency of your soil to become compact and thus concentrate alkali near the surface by evaporation. Mellow the soil, increase the humus, make water movement freer and good cultivation easier and alkali will become weaker by distribution through a greater ma.s.s of the soil and may be too weak at any point to be troublesome, unless you have too much to start with. Put on manure at the beginning of the rainy season and plow it under, with all the green stuff which grows upon it, during the winter or early spring.

Stable Manure and Bean Straw.

What are the approximate contents of common stable manure; also, how much of the above is contained in bean straw?

The composition of mixed stable manure is given as containing in one ton: Nitrogen, 10 pounds; phosphoric acid, 5 pounds; potash, 10 pounds.

The const.i.tuents of bean straw in one ton, are given as: Nitrogen, 28 pounds; phosphoric acid, 6 pounds; potash, 38 pounds; Of course, a large part of the difference in composition is due to the excessive amount of moisture which ordinary stable manure contains. Air dried stable manure, such as is found in a California corral, would have much higher fertilizing value than such moist manure as an Eastern chemist would be likely to handle.

Roofing a Manure Pit.

Is it necessary to roof a manure pit, if the pit is tight so that all rain on manure is caught in the liquid manure and nothing is lost?

To secure satisfactory composting of stable manures in a pit it is necessary to be able to regulate the moisture of the ma.s.s. If it becomes too dry, too rapid fermentation takes place and the material is destroyed by what is called fire-fanging. If too much liquid enters the pit, so that the material is submerged, the air is excluded and fermentation stops. For these reasons it is necessary that a pit in the region of large rainfall be covered, and water be used from a hose or other source of supply in just sufficient quant.i.ty to keep the material right for slow fermentation. How much water should be added to bring the moisture to a right condition depends upon how much liquid waste runs into the pit, and where water is used for cleaning a stable care has to be taken that the pit is not submerged. Success with a pit is, therefore, conditioned on the amount of moisture admitted, and this cannot be controlled unless the pit has a cover fit to shed rainfall. Of course, it may be adjustable so that some rainfall may be admitted as may be desirable.

Value of Animals in Manure.

In the operation of our fruit and dairy ranch we have the manure from some forty head of horses and cattle, which is distributed over the place. We cut our alfalfa and feed it and do very little pasturing. In order to give our dairy the proper credit, we would kindly ask what you consider a fair price for the manure of a cow for one year. Also what would the manure from a horse for one year be worth?

A compilation of a considerable number of weighings, a.n.a.lyses and valuations in Europe, cited by Prof. Roberts in his book on the "Fertility of the Land," gives an average value of the voidings of a cow for a year as $32.25 and of a horse at $24.06. This is based, of course, upon the collection and saving of all excrements which is never secured except in careful experimentation. The value of manure depends upon the quality of the feed. In two experiments, considered a safe subst.i.tute for the straw, apart from the fact that the gave a value in manure of $1 per ton of hay fed; cows fed on clover and bran gave value in manure of 3.80 per ton of mixed feed. Your alfalfa feeding would approach the higher value. You will have to make an estimate from the above data to serve your purpose and you can figure it either by the number of animals or by the tonnage of the feed.