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diff --git a/20168-h/20168-h.htm b/20168-h/20168-h.htm new file mode 100644 index 0000000..46ba52f --- /dev/null +++ b/20168-h/20168-h.htm @@ -0,0 +1,4995 @@ +<!DOCTYPE html PUBLIC "-//W3C//DTD XHTML 1.0 Strict//EN" + "http://www.w3.org/TR/xhtml1/DTD/xhtml1-strict.dtd"> + +<html xmlns="http://www.w3.org/1999/xhtml"> + <head> + <meta http-equiv="Content-Type" content="text/html;charset=iso-8859-1" /> + <title> + The Project Gutenberg eBook of Guano, by Solon Robinson. + </title> + <style type="text/css"> +/*<![CDATA[ XML blockout */ +<!-- + p { margin-top: .75em; + text-align: justify; + margin-bottom: .75em; + } + h1,h2,h3,h4,h5,h6 { + text-align: center; /* all headings centered */ + clear: both; + } + hr { width: 33%; + margin-top: 2em; + margin-bottom: 2em; + margin-left: auto; + margin-right: auto; + clear: both; + } + + + div.centered {text-align: center;} /* work around for IE centering with CSS problem part 1 */ + div.centered table {margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: left;} /* work around for IE centering with CSS problem part 2 */ + + + body{margin-left: 10%; + margin-right: 10%; + } + + .pagenum { /* uncomment the next line for invisible page numbers */ + visibility: hidden; + position: absolute; + left: 92%; + font-size: smaller; + text-align: right; + } /* page numbers */ + + .author {text-align: right; margin-right: 5%;} + + .linenum {position: absolute; top: auto; left: 4%;} /* poetry number */ + .blockquot{margin-left: 5%; margin-right: 10%;} + + .bb {border-bottom: solid 2px;} + .bl {border-left: solid 2px;} + .bt {border-top: solid 2px;} + .br {border-right: solid 2px;} + .bbox {border: solid 2px;} + + .center {text-align: center;} + .smcap {font-variant: small-caps;} + .u {text-decoration: underline;} + + .caption {font-weight: bold;} + + .figcenter {margin: auto; text-align: center;} + + .footnotes {border: dashed 1px;} + .footnote {margin-left: 10%; margin-right: 10%; font-size: 0.9em;} + .footnote .label {position: absolute; right: 84%; text-align: right;} + .fnanchor {vertical-align: super; font-size: .8em; text-decoration: none;} + + // --> + /* XML end ]]>*/ + </style> + </head> +<body> + + +<pre> + +The Project Gutenberg EBook of Guano, by Solon Robinson + +This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with +almost no restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or +re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included +with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org + + +Title: Guano + A Treatise of Practical Information for Farmers + +Author: Solon Robinson + +Release Date: December 23, 2006 [EBook #20168] + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: ISO-8859-1 + +*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK GUANO *** + + + + +Produced by Steven Giacomelli, Janet Blenkinship and the Online +Distributed Proofreading Team at https://www.pgdp.net (This file was +produced from images produced by Core Historical Literature in +Agriculture (CHLA), Cornell University) + + + + + + +</pre> + + + + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_1" id="Page_1">[Pg 1]</a></span></p> + + + <h1>GUANO:</h1> + + <h2>A Treatise of Practical Information for Farmers;</h2> + + <h4>CONTAINING</h4> + + <h3>PLAIN DIRECTIONS HOW TO APPLY PERUVIAN GUANO</h3> + + <h4>TO THE VARIOUS</h4> + + <h3>CROPS AND SOILS OF AMERICA,</h3> + + <h4>WITH A</h4> + + <h4>BRIEF SYNOPSIS OF ITS HISTORY, LOCALITY, QUANTITY, METHOD OF PROCURING,<br /> + PROSPECT OF CONTINUED SUPPLY, AND PRICE; ANALYSIS OF<br /> + ITS COMPOSITION, AND VALUE AS A FERTILIZER,<br /> + OVER ALL OTHER MANURES.</h4> + + <p class='center'>"If the experience of the last few years has taught us one thing<br /> + more certainly than another, it is the unfailing excellence of Guano<br /> + for every kind of crop which requires manure."</p> + + <p class='center'>PREPARED AND PUBLISHED<br /><br /> + + BY SOLON ROBINSON,<br /><br /> + + FOR<br /> + + MESSRS. F. BARREDA & BROTHER,<br /> + + AGENTS FOR THE PERUVIAN GOVERNMENT AT BALTIMORE;<br /><br /> + + AND<br /><br /> + + THEODORE W. RILEY, Esq., THEIR AGENT IN NEW YORK.<br /> + + NEW YORK:<br /> + 1853.</p> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_2" id="Page_2">[Pg 2]</a></span></p> + + + + +<p class='center'> + Entered according to Act of Congress, in the year 1852, by<br /><br /> + + SOLON ROBINSON,<br /><br /> + + in the Clerks Office of the District Court of the United States for + the Southern District of New York.</p> +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_3" id="Page_3">[Pg 3]</a></span></p> + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h2><br /><br />CONTENTS</h2> + +<div class='centered'> +<table border="0" cellpadding="2" cellspacing="0" summary="Contents"> +<tr><td align='left'><a href="#INTRODUCTION">INTRODUCTION</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'><a href="#PERUVIAN_GUANO_ITS_USES_AND_BENEFITS">PERUVIAN GUANO—ITS USES AND BENEFITS.</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'><a href="#EFFECTS_PRODUCED_BY_THE_USE_OF_GUANO_IN_VIRGINIA">EFFECTS PRODUCED BY THE USE OF GUANO IN VIRGINIA.</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'><a href="#DR_FAIRFAXS_EXPERIMENTS_WITH_GUANO">DR. FAIRFAX'S EXPERIMENTS WITH GUANO.</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'><a href="#MR_NEWTONS_EXPERIMENTS">MR. NEWTON'S EXPERIMENTS.</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'><a href="#GUANO_vs_MANURE_EFFECTS_UPON_HEAVY_LAND">GUANO vs. MANURE—EFFECTS UPON HEAVY LAND.</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'><a href="#OTHER_WITNESSES_IN_VIRGINIA_IN_FAVOR_OF_GUANO">OTHER WITNESSES IN VIRGINIA IN FAVOR OF GUANO.</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'><a href="#GUANO_IN_NORTH_CAROLINA">GUANO IN NORTH CAROLINA.</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'><a href="#EXPERIMENTS_IN_MARYLAND">EXPERIMENTS IN MARYLAND.</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'><a href="#EVIDENCE_OF_THE_DURABLE_EFFECTS_OF_GUANO">EVIDENCE OF THE DURABLE EFFECTS OF GUANO.</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'><a href="#THE_FIVE_FIELD_SYSTEM_AND_GUANO">THE FIVE FIELD SYSTEM AND GUANO.</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'><a href="#ED_REYNOLDS_ESQ_OF_BALTIMORE_ON_THE_VALUE_OF_GUANO">ED. REYNOLDS ESQ., OF BALTIMORE, ON THE VALUE OF GUANO.</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'><a href="#GUANO_IN_DELAWARE">GUANO IN DELAWARE.</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'><a href="#GUANO_IN_PENSYLVANIA">GUANO IN PENSYLVANIA.</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'><a href="#GUANO_IN_NEW_JERSEY">GUANO IN NEW JERSEY.</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'><a href="#GUANO_ON_LONG_ISLAND1">GUANO ON LONG ISLAND.</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'><a href="#GUANO_IN_MASSACHUSETTS">GUANO IN MASSACHUSETTS.</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'><a href="#EXPERIMENTS_BY_MR_TESCHEMACHER">EXPERIMENTS BY MR. TESCHEMACHER.</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'><a href="#DIRECTIONS_AS_TO_QUANTITY_AND_MANNER_OF_APPLYING_GUANO_TO_VARIOUS_CROPS">DIRECTIONS AS TO QUANTITY AND MANNER OF APPLYING GUANO TO VARIOUS CROPS AND SOILS.</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'><a href="#PLASTER_WITH_GUANO">PLASTER WITH GUANO.</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'><a href="#WHAT_IS_GUANO_ITS_HISTORY_AND_LOCALITYmdashAMOUNT_AND_VALUE">WHAT IS GUANO?—ITS HISTORY AND LOCALITY.—AMOUNT AND VALUE.</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'><a href="#PERUVIAN_GUANO_ITS_LOCATIONmdashOWNERSHIPmdashQUANTITYmdashVALUEmdashHOW_PROCURED">PERUVIAN GUANO—ITS LOCATION—OWNERSHIP—QUANTITY—VALUE—HOW PROCURED.</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'><a href="#DOES_GUANO_PAY">DOES GUANO PAY?</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'><a href="#APPENDIX">APPENDIX.</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'><a href="#SUCCESSFUL_EXPERIMENTS_WITH_GUANO_ON_LONG_ISLAND">SUCCESSFUL EXPERIMENTS WITH GUANO ON LONG ISLAND.</a></td></tr> +</table></div> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h2><a name="INTRODUCTION" id="INTRODUCTION"></a>INTRODUCTION</h2> + + +<p>The rapidly increasing use of guano, in the United States, and the +growing conviction upon the public mind, that it is the cheapest and +best purchasable manure in the world, together with the fact of a great +want of information among American farmers, as to the best mode of +applying it to the soil, has induced the agents of the Peruvian +Government for the sale of guano in the United States, to employ the +author of this pamphlet to collect and publish such information.</p> + +<p>It is hoped the favorably and well known name of the author, as an +agricultural writer and traveller, together with his extended +opportunities of witnessing the application and effect of guano upon the +various soils and climates of this country, will give this work such a +character, as to induce every improving farmer, gardener, or +horticulturist, in America to give it a careful perusal. The author +believes it will be found to contain all and much more than its title +imports, and be of great value to every person using or dealing in +guano; as the analysis, not only of the pure article is given, but that +of several specimens of adulterated samples, so as to enable the farmer +to avoid being cheated by base counterfeits.</p> + +<p>The author will be much obliged to any gentleman who will furnish him +for publication in future editions of this work, or in the columns of +<span class="smcap">The Agricultor</span>, any details of experiments in the use of +Peruvian guano, which will be useful to the farmers of this country, as +it is his desire, as well as the guano agents, to give them useful +facts; not only to increase the sale, but the fertility of the land, and +wealth of the owners.</p> + +<p>With assurances to my friends that I have no other interest in the +increased consumption of guano, I am most sincerely and respectfully</p> + +<p class='center'> +Your old Friend,</p> +<p class='author'> +<span class="smcap">Solon Robinson</span>.</p> +<p> +<span style="margin-left: 2em;"><i>New York, October 1852.</i></span><br /> +<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_5" id="Page_5">[Pg 5]</a></span><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_4" id="Page_4">[Pg 4]</a></span></p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h2><br /><br /><a name="A_TREATISE_ON_GUANO" id="A_TREATISE_ON_GUANO"></a>A TREATISE ON GUANO.<br /><br /></h2> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h2><a name="PERUVIAN_GUANO_ITS_USES_AND_BENEFITS" id="PERUVIAN_GUANO_ITS_USES_AND_BENEFITS"></a>PERUVIAN GUANO—ITS USES AND BENEFITS.</h2> + + +<p>Of all manures procurable by the American Farmer, guano from the +rainless islands of Peru, is perhaps not only the most concentrated—the +most economical to the purchaser—but by its composition, as we will +show by analysis, the best adapted to all the crops cultivated in this +country requiring manure. For wheat, especially, it is the one thing +needful. The mineral constituents of cultivated plants, as will also be +shown by analysis, are chiefly lime, magnesia, potash, soda, chlorine, +sulphuric and phosphoric acid; all of which will be found in Peruvian +guano. Nitrogen, the most valuable constituent of stable or compost +manures, exists in great abundance in guano, in the exact condition +required by plants to promote rapid vegetation. The concentration of all +these valuable properties in the small bulk of guano, renders it +particularly valuable to farms situated in districts unprovided with +facilities of cheap transportation. In some hilly regions, it would be +utterly impossible to make any ordinary manure pay for transportation. +With guano the case is very different—one wagon will carry enough with +a single pair of horses to dress 12 or 16 acres; while of stable manure +it would require as many or more loads to each acre to produce the same +effect.</p> + +<p>But this is not the greatest advantage in the use of this fertilizer; +the first application puts the land in such condition, that judicious +after cultivation renders it continuously fertile by its own action of +productiveness and reproductiveness of wheat, clover and wheat, by +turning in the clover of one year for the wheat of the next, and by +returning the straw back to the ground where it grew, spread open the +surface to shade the plants of clover and manure its roots, which in +turn manure the corn or wheat.</p> + +<p>As a source of profit alone, we should recommend the continuous +application of Guano; knowing as we do, from our extensive means of +observation, that no outlay of capital ever made by the farmer, is so<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_6" id="Page_6">[Pg 6]</a></span> +sure and certain to bring him back good returns for his money, as when +he invests it in this invaluable fertilizer for his impoverished soil. +In proof of this, we shall give the reader of this little work a number +of experiments made by some of the most improving farmers in Virginia +and other States.</p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h2><a name="EFFECTS_PRODUCED_BY_THE_USE_OF_GUANO_IN_VIRGINIA" id="EFFECTS_PRODUCED_BY_THE_USE_OF_GUANO_IN_VIRGINIA"></a>EFFECTS PRODUCED BY THE USE OF GUANO IN VIRGINIA.</h2> + + +<p>In no other part of the world, perhaps, can the beneficial effects of +Guano be more plainly seen than in the tide-water region of Virginia. In +the counties of King George, Westmoreland, Richmond, Northumberland, +Lancaster, in the northern neck, as the peninsula between the Potomac +and Rappahanock is termed; thousands of acres of land so poor and +worthless a few years ago, it was barely rated as property, are now +annually producing beautiful crops of wheat, corn and clover, solely by +the application of Guano. In the meantime, the discovery of such an easy +means of improving a worn out and barren soil, has increased the money +value of land three or four hundred per cent. This is not all. +Heretofore, the only part of this district considered worth cultivation +was the bottom land bordering the rivers and creeks; the forest land +yielding scanty crops for two or three years after being cleared, +scarcely paying for the labor, while its value was rated at from $1 to +$4 per acre, and unsaleable at that. Since the introduction of Guano, it +is found these forest lands, which are of a sandy, loamy character, and +much more pleasant than the bottom lands to till, can be cultivated with +equal or greater profit than the stiff lands upon the bottoms. The +writer has seen repeatedly in the counties mentioned, luxuriant fields +of wheat, corn and clover, while directly alongside of such crops, the +ground was almost as bare of vegetation as the sea-shore sands, too +poor, as the common expression is there, to bear poverty grass. And what +produced this change? Simply a dressing of 200 lbs. of Guano to the +acre.</p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h2><a name="DR_FAIRFAXS_EXPERIMENTS_WITH_GUANO" id="DR_FAIRFAXS_EXPERIMENTS_WITH_GUANO"></a>DR. FAIRFAX'S EXPERIMENTS WITH GUANO.</h2> + + +<p>In April 1850 the writer was on the farm of Dr. Fairfax of King George +county, who was one of the first, if not quite the first person in that +part of the State who ever made use of this substance as a manure; and +his wheat was then so large that a good sized dog was hidden from view +in running through the field; while upon a neighboring piece of land of +exactly the same quality, sowed at the same time, the ground scarcely +looked green; in fact, it was remarked at the time by way of contrast to +the one field hiding a dog, that the other would not hide a +chicken—indeed, an egg might have been seen as far as though no wheat +was<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_7" id="Page_7">[Pg 7]</a></span> growing upon the ground. Both fields were just alike, both plowed +and sowed alike, without manure, except 200 lbs of Peruvian guano upon +one, and that sure to bring fifteen or twenty bushels to the acre, while +the other would not exceed three bushels.</p> + +<p>One of his first trials was with the African, of which he applied 400 +lbs. to the acre upon 27 acres, which would not produce three bushels of +wheat to the acre, in its natural condition, but with this application, +notwithstanding it was 32 per cent. water, and, consequently, had lost +much of it ammonia, he made an average of 12¾ bushels to the acre on +the whole field. Upon another, he increased the usual average yield from +8 to 18 bushels, while, in his opinion, the permanent improvement of the +land was of greater value than the increased yield of the first crop; +for now clover will grow where none would grow before; another advantage +arising from guano is, the wheat ripens so much earlier (15th of June) +it escapes the rust, so apt to blight that which is late coming to +maturity. He now sows wheat in the fore part of September, three pecks +to the acre, after having previously plowed in 200 lbs. of Peruvian +guano to the acre, and after the first harrowing sows the clover seed. +The land is a yellow clay loam, uneven surface, very much worn; in fact, +without the guano, and with all the manure that could be made upon the +farm—for no straw no manure—not worth cultivating. Dr. F. had been +using guano three years, at the date of our visit, and thought his +prospect good for a thousand bushels of wheat upon the same ground, +which, without guano would not produce one hundred and fifty.</p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h2><a name="MR_NEWTONS_EXPERIMENTS" id="MR_NEWTONS_EXPERIMENTS"></a>MR. NEWTON'S EXPERIMENTS.</h2> + + +<p>The Hon. Willoughby Newton, of Westmoreland County, was one of the +earliest and most successful experimenters in the use of guano in +Virginia. He owns large and productive farms on the Potomac, but on +account of the forest land being more healthy for a residence, he bought +a tract of it for that purpose; not having any design of ever putting it +into cultivation. In fact, it was so poor he could not. The manure of +the farm, if it had not been wanted there, was several miles +distant—too far to haul; and so the land lay an uncultivated, +unprofitable barren waste around his fine mansion; but it did not lay so +very long after he discovered the renovating power of guano. It is now +annually covered with broad fields of wheat, from which he has realized +upwards of twenty bushels to the acre; and the most luxuriant growths of +clover upon which he can pasture any amount of stock he pleases, where +three years previous a goat would have found difficulty in sus<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_8" id="Page_8">[Pg 8]</a></span>taining +life. Mr. Newton's first experiment—what was then an experiment is now +a certainty—was made with African guano. But we will give the account +of his operations in his own straight-forward, easily understood, +farmer-like language.</p> + +<p>"In the effect of <i>guano</i>, especially the Peruvian, I have never been +disappointed. I have used it now for four years, with entire +satisfaction having each year been induced to enlarge my expenditure, +until last year it reached eight hundred dollars, and for the crop of +wheat this fall it exceeds one thousand. I have observed with +astonishment its effect in numerous instance on the poor "forest lands" +alluded to in a former part of this address. What the turnip and sheep +husbandry have done for the light lands of Great Britain, the general +use of guano promises to do for ours. Lands a few years ago deemed +entirely incapable of producing wheat, now produce the most luxuriant +crops. From 15 to 20 bushels for one sowed, is the ordinary product on +our poorest lands, from the application of 200 lbs. of Peruvian guano. I +may remark, it is not usual, in Eastern Virginia, to sow more than a +bushel of wheat to the acre, and that I deem amply sufficient. Upon this +subject I hope a few details may not be considered tedious or +uninteresting. I applied last fall $350 worth of guano, partly Peruvian +and partly Patagonian, on a poor farm "in the forest," which cost a few +years ago four dollars an acre, and reaped 1089 bushels of beautiful +wheat from 78 sowed. Forty-six bushels were sowed on fallow, (both guano +and wheat put in with the cultivator, followed by a heavy harrow,) and +yielded 790 bushels or over 17¼ for one. A considerable part of this +was dressed with Patagonian guano, and was much inferior to the other +portion. A lot on which 15 bushels was sowed, and dressed with Peruvian +guano, was threshed separately, and yielded 301 bushels, or over 20 for +one. The whole cost of the farm was $1520, and I have good reason to +expect with a favorable season from the crop now sowed and dressed with +guano, a bushel of wheat for every dollar of the prime cost of the farm. +Many other instances of profit from the use of guano, equally striking +have occurred among my neighbors and friends, but I confine myself to +those stated, because having come under my immediate observation, I can +vouch for their entire accuracy. It has been frequently objected to the +use of guano, that it is not permanent. It would be unreasonable to +expect great permanent improvement from a manure so active, and which +yielded go large a profit on the first crop. Yet I have seen some +striking evidences of its permanency in heavy crops of clover, +succeeding wheat, and in the increase of the crop of wheat on a second +application. As an instance, I may mention that two years ago I sowed +upon a single detached acre of "forest land," one bushel of wheat and +dressed it with a barrel of African guano, costing $4, and the yield was +seventeen<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_9" id="Page_9">[Pg 9]</a></span> bushels. Last fall the same land, after remaining one year in +clover, was again sowed with one bushel of wheat and dressed with 140 +lbs. of Peruvian guano, costing $3, and the product was 22 bushels. Yet +I would advise no one to rely upon guano exclusively. Its analysis shows +that it contains salts of ammonia, alkaline phosphates and the other +mineral elements necessary to produce the grain of wheat, but is +deficient in most of the elements of the straw and roots of the plants. +Hence, (says Liebig) 'a rational agriculturist, in using guano, cannot +dispense with stable dung.' We should, therefore, be careful not to +exhaust the soil of organic manures, but by retaining the straw of the +wheat, and occasionally a crop of clover, which plant contains a large +percentage of the alkaline carbonates, which are entirely wanting in +Guano, furnish all the elements necessary to the entire wheat plant. In +this view of the subject, and for many other reasons that I cannot stop +to enumerate, there cannot be, when guano is extensively used, a more +judicious rotation than the Pamunky five field system, in which clover +occupies a prominent place. I have now enumerated some of the most +prominent means by which you may "keep your land rich." I would not +discourage the use of others. Science is daily making discoveries in the +art of enriching the earth, and we should discard nothing, without a +trial, which promises to be useful; always bearing in mind that the +wisest economy is entirely consistent with the most liberal expenditure, +in the purchase of manures, provided we take care, by judicious +experiments and observation, to ascertain their efficacy, and that we +get back our capital, with an actual <i>net</i> profit <i>in cash</i>, on all our +investments. This latter caution is indispensable, in our country, where +new lands are so abundant and cheap, that highly improved farms can +never be rated in the market at their true value."</p> + +<p>"The various manures compounded by chemists and manufacturers, should +also engage your careful attention. They should not be recklessly thrown +aside as humbugs, without trial or investigation, nor adopted and +extensively used with blind confidence in their efficacy. I have used +many of these manures by way of experiment, and the profit realized upon +them has not justified me in enlarging my operations. Poudrette, +manufactured in Baltimore; Bommers manure, Chappel's fertilizer and +Kentish & Co.'s prepared guano, (used, it is true, upon a small scale,) +have not realized the promises made in their behalf. Yet I would by no +means discourage the praiseworthy efforts of the manufacturers, and hope +they will persevere until, by lessening the bulk and increasing the +power of their compounds, they may be able to prepare an article that +for cheapness, convenience of application and efficacy, shall equal or +surpass the best Peruvian guano."<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_10" id="Page_10">[Pg 10]</a></span></p> + +<p>That desideratum, Professor Mapes believes he has already attained by +the addition of superphosphate of lime to the Guano, making a compound +of two-thirds of the latter to one of the former, more valuable by +weight than the pure article. That being the case will greatly increase +the consumption of Guano, and greatly improve the condition of all that +class of farmers who desire to make their poor lands rich.</p> + +<p>Of the use of lime, Mr. Newton has the following testimony, which we +embody here for its great practical value.</p> + +<p>"Calcareous matter is the great want of most of our lands, and in some +form is essential to permanent improvement. It should be regarded as the +basis of all our operations, and never to be dispensed with for any +substitute. From long experience in the use of lime, I am satisfied that +the French plan, of light and frequent dressings, is not only much more +economical, but much safer, in our climate, than the heavy dressings +common in Great Britain. Fifty bushels of slaked lime to the acre, I +have found amply sufficient for any of our lands, and a greater quantity +often attended with injury to the soil and crops, whilst twenty-five +bushels will answer every purpose on thin lands, deficient in vegetable +matter. Ashes, bone dust, and the various marine manures that abound on +the shores of the Chesapeake and its tributaries, will be found +important auxiliaries in the work of 'keeping your lands rich,' whilst +the necessity of clover and the proper grasses, to any system of +permanent improvement, is too obvious to require comment."</p> + +<p>Although caustic lime should never be used in connection, or so as to +come in contact with the Guano, there is no doubt of its being a +valuable auxiliary. Upon land limed this year, Guano may be used next, +and if mixed with charcoal or plaster, or plowed in and thoroughly +incorporated with the soil, especially if it contains a considerable +portion of clay, no loss of ammonia will occur, in consequence of the +action of the lime. On the contrary, the effect will be to make the +action of the Guano more active, and the immediate benefit greater; +though, of course the succeeding crops would not receive as great a +share. But, as Mr. Newton says, ought we to ask for great advantages to +succeeding crops, from a manure which gives us such great profits from +the present one.</p> + +<p>From our notes taken upon the spot, we give a few items more in detail +of Mr. Newton's operations, than he has done in the preceding +quotations. The tract of land he speaks of is gently undulating; of a +sandy loam, with a greater amount of clay in the subsoil; had been +literally <i>worn out</i> in former years by the shallow plowing, skinning +system of farming, until it would produce no more, when it was abandoned +and suffered to grow up again in forest timber, principally pine of the +"old field" species. No land could offer less inducements to the +cultivator or give smaller hope of renovation, than these old fields of +Virginia. Such<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_11" id="Page_11">[Pg 11]</a></span> was the conviction of impossibility to raise a crop upon +this kind of land, that Mr. Newton's first essay was looked upon by his +neighbors with a conviction that the fool and his money would soon part +company. One sensible old servant told us he thought his master "for +sartain was done gone crazy, cause he nebber seed no nothing grow on dat +land, no how could fix him." The negroes, wherever guano has been +introduced, have been violently opposed to using it; not alone from its +disagreeable odor and effect upon the throat and nostrils while handling +it in a dry state; but because they could not be persuaded that such a +small measure of stuff—200 lbs. measures about three bushels—could +possibly produce any effect upon the crop. Their astonishment and +consequent extravagant laudation of the effect produced, has often +afforded us hours of amusement while listening to their recital of +"massa's big crop," of perhaps ten bushels to the acre, which was at +least double that of any one ever seen upon the same field, "fore he put +dem little pinch of snuff on him."</p> + +<p><i>The increase of wheat from guano</i> may be safely calculated upon at five +bushels for each hundred weight of guano used, one year with another, +and up to what may be considered a fair judicious amount to be applied, +which may be set down at an average of 200 lbs to the acre, upon all +light soils, similar to those of that part of the country we are writing +about.</p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h2><a name="GUANO_vs_MANURE_EFFECTS_UPON_HEAVY_LAND" id="GUANO_vs_MANURE_EFFECTS_UPON_HEAVY_LAND"></a>GUANO vs. MANURE—EFFECTS UPON HEAVY LAND.</h2> + + +<p>Mr. Newton related to us an anecdote of some value upon this point. On +one of his Potomac farms, a portion of the land is exceedingly +heavy—pewtery land, as it is termed from its tendency when wet to run +together, presenting a glistening appearance somewhat resembling that +metal. His overseer was about as unbelieving as the negroes, and +declared he could beat the guano by expending the same value in manure +upon a given quantity of surface. To test this and also to try its +effect upon the stiff land, he applied a little short of one ton of +Peruvian, which cost $50 upon ten acres, and promised a premium to the +overseer if he could make a greater crop by the use of all the manure, +men and teams he saw fit to apply to another ten acres lying right along +side, and of the same quality of soil. Of course he spared no labor, +using both lime and manure freely, but in the spring finding the +appearance of his crop unequal to that guanoed, he gave it a top +dressing of fine manure and a good working with the harrow. At harvest +the guanoed portion was ready for the sickle several days earlier than +the other, and yielded 135 bushels of a quality so very superior, it was +all reserved for seed for himself and neighbors.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_12" id="Page_12">[Pg 12]</a></span></p> + +<p>The product of the other was 55 bushels; difference in favor of the +guano, 80 bushels—8 bushels to the acre—while the value of extra +manuring, probably exceeded the cost of guano, without any material +advantage in the effect upon succeeding crops. In fact, it is probable, +that the additional growth of straw and clover would be worth more to +the next crop on the guanoed portion, than the undecomposed manure and +lime would be in the other. It is needless to say both overseer and +servants, were fully convinced of the virtue of guano after this +experiment.</p> + +<p>According to our notes, Mr. Newton first used guano in 1846—one ton of +Ichaboe at $30, on 8 acres, with 8 bushels of seed, upon land so deadly +poor, that an old negro we conversed with said; "him so done gone massa, +wouldn't grow poverty grass nuff to make hen's nest for dis nigger." No +attempt had been made for years to grow any crop, not even oats or rye, +the last effort of expiring nature to yield sustenance to man upon one +of those old worn out Virginia farms. Think of the astonishment of the +poor negro, who thought his master crazy to sow wheat there <i>without +manure</i>, to see 88 bushels harvested from the 8 acres.</p> + +<p>In 1847, he used $100 worth of Patagonian upon same kind of land and +reaped 330 bushels. In 1848, $200 worth of Patagonian and Chilian at $40 +and $30 a ton, gave 540 bushels, which sold at $1 25, mostly for seed, +on account of its superior quality. In each case the advantage to the +land of equal value as to the crop. In 1849, he applied 10 tons Peruvian +at $47, and 11 tons Patagonian at $30, upon 260 acres, from 75 to 250 +lbs. to the acre. When we saw this crop the next spring, the appearance +in favor of the Peruvian, was fully 50 per cent. upon the same cost of +each kind per acre.</p> + +<p>In 1850 he applied 30 tons, of course, all Peruvian, with equal success +to former years.</p> + +<p>Mr. Newton says, the second application of guano to the same land +produces the best result—that notwithstanding the profit of the first +application in the increased crop, the profit to the land is always +greater.</p> + +<p>Before leaving Mr. Newton, we will place on record one expression highly +creditable to him, and convincing in its palpable truth of the value put +upon this fertilizer, by a gentlemen of sound judgment and candor of +speech, equal to any other within the circle of our acquaintance.</p> + +<p>"I look upon the introduction of guano and the success attending its +application to our barren lands, in the light of a special interposition +of Divine Providence, to save the northern neck of Virginia from +reverting entirely into its former state of wilderness and utter +desolation. Until the discovery of guano—more valuable to us than the +mines of California—I looked upon the possibility of renovating our +soil, of ever bringing it up to a point capable of producing +remunerating crops as utterly<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_13" id="Page_13">[Pg 13]</a></span> hopeless. Our up-lands were all worn out, +and our bottom lands fast failing, and if it had not been for guano, to +revive our last hope, a few years more and the whole country must have +been deserted by all who desired to increase their own wealth, or +advance the cause of civilization by a profitable cultivation of the +earth."</p> + +<p>We are satisfied that the above opinion will be considered of more +value—more conclusive in favor of guano, by all who are acquainted with +the character of Willoughby Newton, than all else contained in the pages +of this pamphlet.</p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h2><a name="OTHER_WITNESSES_IN_VIRGINIA_IN_FAVOR_OF_GUANO" id="OTHER_WITNESSES_IN_VIRGINIA_IN_FAVOR_OF_GUANO"></a>OTHER WITNESSES IN VIRGINIA IN FAVOR OF GUANO.</h2> + + +<p>As our principal object is to convince the skeptical, or induce +unbelievers in its efficacy and value, to try experiments themselves by +which they will be convinced and enriched, we offer the names of a few +more gentlemen of high standing, who have been very fortunate in the use +of this essential element of successful cultivation in Virginia, as +witnesses, whose testimony ought to be, and will be, where they are +known entirely conclusive.</p> + +<p><i>Col. Robert W. Carter, of Sabine Hall</i>, on the Rappahanock, whose land +is principally of that kind of clayey loam common upon that river, once +rich but badly worn by cultivation, is so well satisfied that it is +profitable to make rich lands still more rich, he buys annually 30 or 40 +tons of the best in market. He says he cannot afford to sow wheat +without guano—it is foolish and unprofitable. He sows it broad cast, +200 lbs. to the acre, with no other preparation than breaking the lumps; +plows it in; sows wheat and harrows that; in some cases has sown clover, +and in others, followed wheat after wheat with increasing productiveness +every year; clearly proving the effect of one application, to be +beneficial to the succeeding crop. Without guano, or very high manuring, +wheat will deteriorate year after year, if sown upon the same soil, +until the product would not pay for the labor of sowing and harvesting.</p> + +<p>Upon one upland field, which without manure would not pay for +cultivation, he sowed one bushel of wheat and 200 lbs. Peruvian guano +and made fifteen bushels. Plowed down the stubble with same application, +and when we saw the crop, should have been willing to insure it at +twenty-five bushels. Col. C. has nearly 2,000 acres in cultivation, +which within his recollection was cultivated entirely with hoes—his +grandfather would not use a plow—was as much set against that great +land improver as some modern, but no more wise farmers, are against +guano. Col. C. uses the best of plows; sows 200 lbs. guano to the acre +and plows it in six inches deep, and sows one bushel of wheat and +harrows thoroughly, but not deep enough to disturb the guano. His gain +has been eight bushels ave<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_14" id="Page_14">[Pg 14]</a></span>rage upon 210 lbs. guano. Thinks Peruvian at +$50 a ton preferable to any other at current prices. His land is mostly +clayey loam and was so much exhausted by a hundred years hard usage, it +was barely able to support the servants, until the Colonel commenced his +system of improvements by draining, deep plowing, rotation of crops, +lime, plaster, clover, and guano; the latter of which he looks upon as +the salvation of lower Virginia; while his large sales of eight or ten +hundred acres of corn and wheat, sufficiently attest its value upon that +location. His actual annual profits upon the use of guano, cannot be +less than two thousand dollars.</p> + +<p>Doctor Brockenborough, Doctor Gordon, Messrs. Dobyn, Micou, Garnett and +others of Tappahannock and vicinity, have all found the application even +upon the bottom lands, profitable, though not to so great an extent as +upon the poor old field-pine lands of Mr. Newton; but simply from the +reason that his land was utterly worthless before, but after the +application of the guano, was increased in value more than its whole +cost, besides the profit derived from the crop.</p> + +<p>Wm. D. Nelson, a neighbor of Mr. Newton, bought a tract of land for a +residence, at $4 an acre, which in its natural condition was not worth +cultivating; but with guano will pay all expenses of that and the +cultivation and the cost of the land the first crop.</p> + +<p>Upon a portion of this land, a poor sandy loam, he applied 200 lbs. +Peruvian guano and one bushel of wheat per acre, and made 12 bushels, +while a strip through the field, purposely left without guano, did not +produce the seed, and remained as destitute of clover as though it never +had been sown, forming a very striking contrast to the luxuriant growth +upon each side. In another trial he made 10 bushels from one sowed, with +200 lbs. of Patagonian guano, of a very good quality. This is about in +proportion to the current price of the two kinds, though the latter +cannot be so certainly depended upon for good quality as the Peruvian. +Another trial was made with 1,100 lbs. Peruvian and 1,100 lbs. +Patagonian, and 11 bushels of seed upon 11 acres which made 160 bushels +of wheat of very fine quality, and large growth of straw. Upon 36 acres, +same kind of soil, well manured in the previous crop of corn, sowed 36 +bushels and made 162. The first had not been manured. The evidence in +favor of guano in this case, needs no comment. By an outlay of $40, a +much more valuable crop was made from the 11 acres than from the 36; the +permanent improvement to the land from guano was much greater than from +the manure. In this case the guano was plowed in about four inches deep.</p> + +<p>Mr. Nelson thinks the yield of wheat will average in that neighborhood, +an increase of 16 bushels for 200 lbs. of Peruvian guano.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_15" id="Page_15">[Pg 15]</a></span></p> + +<p>H. Chandler, Westmoreland Court House, bought a farm at a price for the +whole below the cost of the mansion house alone, because the land was so +utterly and hopelessly worn out, as to be past the ability of supporting +those engaged in its tillage. When we saw it, we should have been +willing to insure the growing crop of wheat at 20 bushels, the result of +210 lbs. of Peruvian guano to the acre; while the clover upon the +stubble of the previous year could not be excelled in point of +luxuriousness upon the richest field in the State of New York, where the +land was valued at $100 an acre.</p> + +<p>Mr. Chandler first commenced with 250 lbs. African guano, measuring +3½ bushels, to the acre, upon which he sowed one bushel of wheat. The +result 17 bushels to the acre upon land which only gave 5½ bushels in +any previous crop. Cost of guano $5; profit, $6 50. The next year he +gained an increase of 12 bushels to the acre over previous years, by the +use of 250 lbs of Patagonian guano; while the clover, Mr. Chandler +thinks, worth more than the whole cost of the application. A still +better result was produced last year from 210 lbs. of Peruvian. The soil +is a yellow clayey loam, which in its unimproved condition looks about +as unpromising for a crop, as the middle of a hard beaten road.</p> + +<p>Mr. C. tried guano upon river bottom land, but the improvement was not +so remarkable.</p> + +<p>We were assured by Mr. C., that many persons who had long been +accustomed to look upon the hopeless barrenness of this land, were wont +to stop as they rode past this field of clover, and look at it with +utter astonishment. Some could not be satisfied with looking, but would +drive to the house to inquire what magical power had been used to +produce such a strange metamorphosis in the appearance of the place. +When assured it was all effected by guano, they went away—not +satisfied—but unbelieving.</p> + +<p>What tends much to increase the effect of this improvement, is the fact, +that directly opposite lies another tract, still in its barren +condition, lately purchased by Dr. Spence, a very enterprising +gentleman, imbued with the spirit of improvement, which will soon be +brought into the same condition, notwithstanding its unforbidding +appearance.</p> + +<p>Mr. S. B. Atwell who owns an adjoining farm, has been equally successful +in the use of guano. Before using it, his wheat upon 20 acres was hardly +sufficient to pay for harvesting. The first crop after using it, 400 +bushels. He has also increased the crop of corn from 20 to 260 barrels +by lime, guano and clover. In the meantime, the land has increased in +value in about the same ratio.</p> + +<p>In Lancaster County, we saw a field of wheat on the farm of Dr. Leland, +sown upon corn ground, one part with 200 lbs. of Peruvian guano<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_16" id="Page_16">[Pg 16]</a></span> to the +acre, the other with a full dressing of hog-pen manure, by the side of +which the ground was seen in its natural barrenness, scarcely making a +show of greenness; while the rank growth of the guanoed portion made as +great a contrast with that manured upon the opposite side.</p> + +<p>Guanoed wheat upon the farm of Col. Downing in the same county showed as +great a contrast with land both limed and manured; while directly +alongside of this luxuriant growth, the land was as destitute of +vegetation as a brick pavement.</p> + +<p>The effect of guano upon strawberries, Col. D. found to excel anything +else ever tried.</p> + +<p>A neighbor of Col. Downing had a fine show for a wheat crop on +exceedingly poor land from the application of only 90 lbs. Peruvian +Guano to the acre.</p> + +<p>Capt Wm. Harding, Northumberland, C. H., assured us he made 27 bushels +per acre upon only tolerably fair land, by the use of 200 lbs. Peruvian +guano, plowed in and followed by clover, worth more than the guano cost.</p> + +<p>Col. Richard A. Claybrook, in the same neighborhood, made 15 +bushels—the land along side almost as bare as the surface of the guano +islands.</p> + +<p>We might mention a dozen others in the same place, in fact in most of +the places mentioned, whose testimony would be as strong as those we +have named.</p> + +<p>Col. Edward Tayloe of King George Co., having been very successful in +the use of guano, induced his neighbor, Wm. Roy Mason, Esq. to test its +powers by the most severe experiment we have ever known it subjected to. +He selected a point of a hill, from which every particle of soil had +been washed away, until nothing in the world would grow there. It would +not produce, said he, a peck of wheat to the acre, but with a dressing +of 300 lbs. African guano, it gave me thirteen bushels, and now while +that is covered with clover, other, so called, rich parts of the field +are almost bare. A field which had never produced for years, over four +bushels of wheat to the acre, was dressed with 250 lbs. of guano and one +bushel of plaster at a cost of $7 to the acre, which gave thirteen +bushels of a quality greatly improved, and a very large growth of straw, +which he esteems highly as a top dressing for the clover, which far +exceeded upon the guanoed land that which was highly manured. The +success of Mr. Mason was so flattering, he immediately purchased six +tons for the next experiment.</p> + +<p>If all the faithless would pursue the course indicated in the following +<i>experiment with guano</i>, by Mr. Richard Rouzee of Essex Co. Va., they +would probably be as well convinced as he, that the greatest +"humbugging" about guano, is in neglecting to profit by its use. He +says:—"I<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_17" id="Page_17">[Pg 17]</a></span> must confess that I have been skeptical in relation to the +various accounts of the fertilizing properties of guano, especially in +these times of humbuggery, and therefore determined to subject it to the +most rigid test." In view of this, on the 3d of October last, I selected +two acres of land by actual measurement, proverbially poor, never having +yielded in a course of ten years cultivation more than three bushels per +acre, and in consequence, was called by way of derision, "Old Kentuck." +To the two acres 560 lbs. of guano were applied in the most injudicious +manner by strewing it on the top of the corn bed—the consequence was, +when the wheat was ploughed in, and came up, a small girth was only seen +on the top and a space between each row at least one third of its width; +in this condition it remained until about the middle of November, when +it had so sensibly disappeared, that it attracted the attention of one +of my neighbors, who remarked to me, that at least one half of it had +been destroyed, in which opinion I concurred; in examining that which +remained, we were of opinion that three-fourths of it had from three to +ten flies in the maggot state on each stalk; in this state of things I +surrendered all hope of any tolerable return, more especially as the +rust made its appearance in it a short time before it ripened.—Now for +the result—</p> + + + +<div class='centered'> +<table border="0" cellpadding="1" width="65%" cellspacing="0" summary="experiment with guano"> +<tr><td align='left'>The 2 acres of land yielded me 32 1/4 bushels of wheat</td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'>at $1 per bushel,</td><td align='left'> </td><td align='right'>$32 25</td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'>Deduct for average yield of the above, 2 acres, 6 bushels</td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'>at $1 per bushel,</td><td align='right'>$6 00</td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'>Deduct for Cost of 560 lbs. Guano,</td><td align='right'>$12 70</td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'> </td><td align='right'>——</td><td align='right'>$18 70</td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'> </td><td align='left'> </td><td align='right'>——</td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'> </td><td align='left'> </td><td align='right'>$13 55</td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'>Add for additional straw,</td><td align='left'> </td><td align='right'>50</td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'> </td><td align='left'> </td><td align='right'>——</td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'>Clear profit,</td><td align='left'> </td><td align='right'>$14.05</td></tr> +</table></div> + + +<p>Here is a clear profit of $14 upon $12.70 invested, and acknowledged to +be applied in the most injudicious manner. It is easy to judge what +would have been the profit under different circumstances. In the +vicinity of this city where straw sells for $5 per hundred little +bundles, instead of a credit of 50 cents it would have been at least +half the cost of the guano.</p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h2><a name="GUANO_IN_NORTH_CAROLINA" id="GUANO_IN_NORTH_CAROLINA"></a>GUANO IN NORTH CAROLINA.</h2> + + +<p><i>Henry K. Burgwyn's first trial with guano. Its effect on grass sown +with wheat.</i>—The name and farm of this gentleman is so widely known as +a successful renovator of miserably poor worn out fields, that we are +delighted to have it in our power to have his testimony to our +impregnable<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_18" id="Page_18">[Pg 18]</a></span> array of witnesses in favor of the most valuable substance +for the improvement of such land, ever given by an overruling power for +the benefit of those who ought to be exceedingly thankful for so good a +gift. But hear what this writer has to say upon this interesting +subject.</p> + +<p>"Having about 150 acres of my wheat, this year sown upon last year's +corn ground, and the land being rather light and not too rich, I feared +lest I should fail with my grass sown on <i>this</i> wheat, because of the +two successive cereal crops; I therefore bought guano, mixed it with its +bulk of plaster, then added fine charcoal, the same, and to this mixture +double the whole bulk of deposit of the Roanoke river, a rich alluvial +earth, and sowed the whole broadcast in February and March, and harrowed +it in, on the top of the wheat I sowed at the rate of 200 lbs. of guano +to the acre; the value of which, no doubt, was doubled by the mixture +with the absorbents of the ammonia, which is so exceedingly volatile +even when left for a few hours, is easily dissipated by the March winds. +On this land, I had sown in October previous, clover, timothy, Kentucky +blue grass, and Italian ray grass. My harvest has now been over, three +weeks, and I have never had a finer stand of all these, even on our rich +bottoms. The ray grass matured its seed, rather sooner than the wheat +was two-thirds as tall, and where <i>very thickly sown</i>, materially +injured the product of the wheat, <i>I have reaped an increased product +from my wheat, amply sufficient to repay my outlay for the guano, +plaster, &c., and have my grass as my profit on the investment</i>; this in +turn will shade and improve my land, fatten my stock, increase my crops, +and cheer my eye with 'grassy slopes,' in place of 'galled hill sides;' +this is profit sufficient for the most greedy if turned to a proper +account;—be it remembered, too, this was a light and rather poor soil, +but based on a good clay subsoil."</p> + +<p>To this we beg leave to add from our own knowledge of this land, which +is situated on the Roanoke river 6 or 7 miles below Halifax, that it was +before being improved by Mr. Burgwyn, about as unpromising a tract as +can be found upon all the "cottoned to death," poor old fields of that +sadly abused State. In the condition it was when we first saw it, while +undergoing the operation of putting a four horse plow through the broom +straw and old field pines, notwithstanding our strong faith in the +ability of such men as the Messrs. Burgwyns to redeem such land from its +condition of utter and apparently hopeless barrenness, we must own, that +if Mr. B. had made the assertion while we were riding over this very +tract, that within two years he would reap a remunerating crop of wheat +from the barren waste, and coat the ground with a carpet of luxuriant +grass, we should have told him the day of miracles had passed away. But +we had not then seen as much as we have since of the miraculous power of +Peruvian guano.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_19" id="Page_19">[Pg 19]</a></span></p> + +<p>We might continue to cite hundreds of similar cases but propose to pass +over into Maryland, and after showing its application there has produced +equally beneficial results, travel northward, calling here and there a +witness as we proceed. Among others, we may call to the stand in +Maryland, will be the editor of the American Farmer, whose testimony we +consider almost invaluable, having devoted much attention to the +subject, and to whom, and his able correspondents, we desire to award +full credit, in this general manner, to save repetition, for much of the +information we shall give the readers of several of the succeeding +pages. The testimony of witnesses of such high standing, cannot be too +highly estimated by those who are anxious to learn how to renovate their +worn out farms, or make the rich ones richer.</p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h2><a name="EXPERIMENTS_IN_MARYLAND" id="EXPERIMENTS_IN_MARYLAND"></a>EXPERIMENTS IN MARYLAND.</h2> + + +<p><i>Effects of guano upon the crop to which it is applied.</i>—Edward +Stabler, in the American Farmer, thus speaks of an experiment he made in +1845, soon after the introduction of guano to any extent into this +country.</p> + +<p>"In a field of some 10 acres, one acre was selected near the middle, and +extending through the field, so as to embrace any difference of soil, +should there be any. On this acre 200 lbs. of Peruvian guano, at a cost +of about $5 was sown with the wheat. Adjoining the guano on one side, +was manure from the barn yard, at the rate of 25 cart loads to the acre; +and on the opposite side (separated by an open drain the whole +distance;) ground bones were applied on the balance of the field, at a +cost of $6 to the acre; the field equally limed two years preceding. +There was no material difference in the time or manner of seeding; +except that the manure was lightly cross-ploughed in, and the guano and +bones harrowed in with the wheat.</p> + +<p>"The yield on the guanoed acre was 35 bushels; the adjoining acre with +bone, as near as could be estimated by dozens, and compared with the +guano, was about 27 bushels; and the manured, about 24 bushels. The +season was unusually dry; and the manured portion suffered more from +this cause than either of the others; the land being considerably more +elevated, and a south exposure."</p> + +<p>In our opinion Mr. S. is in error in regard to the manured land +suffering most from drouth. In our experience we have always found the +best effects from Guano, in wet seasons, or upon irrigated land. He says +also, "This is one of the most active of all manures; and although he +thinks the effect evanescent, it might aid materially in renovating worn +out lands." Since that time a great many other Maryland farmers have, +undoubtedly come to the same conclusion, for notwithstanding the price, +which he thinks too high to justify its extensive use, has not been +ma<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_20" id="Page_20">[Pg 20]</a></span>terially reduced, there is more guano sold in Baltimore than any, or +perhaps all the ports in the United States; and the benefits derived +from its use upon the worn out lands of Maryland, have been of the most +satisfactory character.</p> + +<p>In speaking of the after crop of grass upon the land above mentioned, he +says:</p> + +<p>"The field has since been mowed three times; the first crop of grass was +evidently in favor of the boned part; the second, and third, were fully +two to one over the guano, and also yielding much heavier crops of +clover seed. On a part of one land, 18 bushels to the acre of the finest +of the bone were used; on this, the wheat was as heavy as on the +guanoed, and the grass generally lodges before harvest, as it also does +on much of the adjoining land with 12 bushels of bone."</p> + +<p>This is all right; it should never be mixed with lime, and it should be +plowed in. In his experiments, the lime in the soil had the effect to +disengage the ammonia, and not being sufficiently buried or mixed up +with the earth to prevent its escape during a very dry season, much of +its value went afloat in the atmosphere. If he had given a bushel of +plaster as a top dressing, there is no doubt the effect upon the grass +crop would have been entirely different. The action of guano is very +variable upon different soils, as well as upon the same kinds of soil in +different seasons, or from the different manner of applying it; but +there is one thing in its favor, it seldom fails to pay for itself, as +Mr. Newton remarks, in the first crop; and if properly applied, that is, +plowed in with wheat, upon poor, sandy, "worn out land," and followed by +clover, and that dressed with plaster, it will pay far better in the +succeeding years than the first. This has been fully proved in a hundred +cases, since Mr. Stabler tried his experiments; for two years after, in +writing upon the same subject, he says "Harrowing in the guano with the +wheat will generally produce a better crop; but its fertilizing +properties are more evanescent. I prefer plowing it in for all field +crops; and when attainable, would always use it in conjunction with +ground bones, for the benefit of succeeding grass crops. This is +pre-supposing that you determine to improve more land than the resources +of the farm will accomplish, and are willing to do it by the aid of +foreign manures; and being 'far removed from lime.' If the object is to +realize the most in a single crop, and to obtain the quickest return for +the outlay, use the guano alone, and harrow it in with the wheat; but +the land, according to my experience, will derive but little benefit +from the application, unless the amount is large. By plowing it in, +particularly if mixed with one third its bulk of plaster, the effect is +decidedly more durable; nor is it then necessary that the seeding should +so immediately follow its application. If, however, the object is to +improve the land at the same time;<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_21" id="Page_21">[Pg 21]</a></span> and surely it should be a primary +object with every tiller of the soil—and lime, from your location, or +the price, is unattainable, I would advise about half the amount +determined on, to be expended for ground bones. This may be harrowed in +with the wheat."</p> + +<p>It is surprising what an effect a few bushels of ground bones to the +acre will produce; reference is made to a single experiment, and not an +isolated one either. Some six years since, we applied ten to twelve +bushels of coarsely ground bones to the acre, on about half of a twelve +acre field; on two lands adjoining, was guano, at the rate of 200 pounds +to the acre, (the cost of each about the same,) and extending nearly +through the field; both were applied in the spring, on the oat crop—and +which was decidedly better, by the eye, on the two lands with guano. In +the fall, the field was sown with wheat, manuring heavily from the barn +yard, adjoining the guano, but not spread on the two lands, or on the +boned portion of the field.</p> + +<p>There was but little difference perceived in the wheat, except from the +manure, which was the best—the field having been limed for the +preceding corn crop, 80 bushels to the acre. The experiment was made to +test the comparative durability of the three kinds of manure; the guano, +ground bones, and manure from the barn yard; and the ultimate profit to +be derived from each, in a full rotation. After the first crop of grass, +and perhaps the second, which was in favor of the manured portion, the +succeeding crops of hay and clover seed, have been decidedly better on +the boned part of the field. At the present time, and also the past +season, this being the fourth year in grass, the guanoed lands present +about the same appearance, that does a small adjoining space, purposely +left without manure of any kind, lime excepted. The manured part affords +good pasture, but is quite inferior to the boned, which would give a +fair crop of hay, and probably three times as much grass as the two +lands with guano. It is believed that the increased crop of clover seed +on the boned, over the guanoed portion, paid for the former; and that +the two crops of clover since taken from the field, have paid, or nearly +so, for the lime or other manures applied.</p> + +<p>This evidence corresponds with the opinion of Professor Mapes; that is, +that the value of an application of guano is greatly enhanced by the +addition of phosphate of lime, in some shape; the guano acting +immediately and producing a direct profit, while the slow action, for +which some farmers cannot wait, keeps up the fertility for years, or +until the owner may find time to profit by another application of guano.</p> + +<p>We quote again a few more of the very sensible remarks of friend +Stabler. "I am an advocate for the liberal use of all kinds of manure, +guano included, if the price will justify it. A farmer had better buy +manure than to buy grain, if compelled to do either; for we cannot +ex<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_22" id="Page_22">[Pg 22]</a></span>pect much from nothing, or reasonably calculate upon improving very +poor land without manure of some description, unless plaster will act +with effect; nor is this generally the case without the land possesses +naturally, some particular source of fertility, not wholly exhausted by +bad or improvident tillage.</p> + +<p>"It is probable those will be disappointed who expect to do everything +with guano—make fine crops and improve the land, while they take +everything off, and dispense almost, if not entirely, with the more +permanent manures, all equally within their reach. True, we may exist +for a time, only half fed and half clothed; but it is just as reasonable +to expect to improve under such a regimen, as to calculate upon +continued, not to say increased fertility of the soil, without an ample +supply, of the right kind of manure.</p> + +<p>"With all its acknowledged advantages, it may be questioned whether there +is not one drawback to the introduction of guano. It is used with less +profit in direct connexion with lime, than with most kinds of manure; +and its facility of application, and quick return, has induced many to +give up the lime entirely, if not also to some extent, to neglect the +resources of the farm. Others again, in improving poor land, advise the +guano first, and the lime afterwards. This may do very well; but is +often better in theory than in practice, for the lime is omitted +altogether, and perhaps at some risk of loss, in both time and money, as +regards permanent improvement. To use a figure of speech—the prudent +architect will first secure a solid foundation to build upon, and with +materials of known durability; this accomplished, he need have no fears +of the stability of the structure, and may, at pleasure add thereto, +either for ornament or utility."</p> + +<p>"That thin lands may be brought to a very productive state, by the +liberal and repeated applications of guano, there is no doubt; but at +what cost and how durable the improvements might be, I am not prepared +to say. In two instances, from 700 to 800 lbs. were applied at one time +to an acre; but in neither did the results correspond with the expense, +or induce a repetition of the experiment. My own experience so far, is +in favor of more limited applications, say 100 to 200 lbs. to the acre, +(taking in consideration the price of both grain and guano,) and also +used in connection with other manures, which is found to be the most +profitable, and probably more durable in its effect; in two experiments, +with from 50 to 150 lbs. of guano to the acre applied three years since +with barnyard manure, for wheat, the effect on the grass crop at this +time, is quite marked; applied in this way, it hastens maturity—thus, +in a degree, guarding against rust—renders the grain more perfect, and +is believed to be one of the most profitable modes of using guano."<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_23" id="Page_23">[Pg 23]</a></span></p> + +<p>Nothing could be more sensible than the advice of this gentleman, not to +rely upon guano alone. To waste or neglect stable and home made manures, +or throw away bones or other valuable fertilizers, because we could buy +guano, would be as insensible as it would for a man to throw away a +handful of bank bills, because he happened to have just then a pocket +full of gold and silver coin.</p> + +<p>We never have, nor shall we recommend guano to the exclusion of +everything else; but we do recommend every farmer in America, to whom an +additional quantity of manure would be an object, to buy guano; because +he will be almost sure to derive a certain and immediate profit from the +investment. It will make poor lands rich, and rich lands richer.</p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h2><a name="EVIDENCE_OF_THE_DURABLE_EFFECTS_OF_GUANO" id="EVIDENCE_OF_THE_DURABLE_EFFECTS_OF_GUANO"></a>EVIDENCE OF THE DURABLE EFFECTS OF GUANO.</h2> + + +<p>Upon this point, we have the following testimony of Thomas P. Stabler, +of Montgomery County, Md., a gentleman of the highest degree of +intelligence and integrity; one of the society of Friends, who are +rather noted for not being extravagant in their expressions or encomiums +of an article, without good grounds therefor. We make these remarks, +because, as every good lawyer will tell you, the character and standing +of your witnesses is of more importance than their language, to make a +strong impression in your favor.</p> + +<p>In speaking of the means within reach of farmers, by which they can +renovate their worn out lands, of which Maryland has an ample share, +friend Stabler says, "In some districts the distance from lime is so +great, that the man with small means can scarcely be expected to use it +upon a large scale—but in regions of country where bone, guano and +poudrette act favorably, none need be without important aid from their +use. Under a judicious system of cultivation and correct management, +either of these will make bountiful returns the first year, and the +strongest and most conclusive evidence exists of their durability as +manures. Proofs of this abound in my neighborhood. Reference to the +'facts' in a single case in point may suffice for an example. In the +summer of 1845, I prepared seventeen acres and a few perches of land for +wheat About five sixths of this was extremely poor—upon a portion of +the field, was put 112 ox-cart loads of manure from the barn yard and +stable, on what I considered about an average quality of the land. On +the 12th of the 9th month, (September,) I sowed seven bushels of wheat +on this part of the ground and plowed the manure and wheat in together +with the double shovel plow—very soon after the balance was sowed with +270 pounds of good African guano per acre, for which I paid $40 per ton, +and plowed this in with the wheat, immediately after sowing,<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_24" id="Page_24">[Pg 24]</a></span> in the +same manner as the other. During the succeeding winter and spring, the +appearance of my wheat field became the subject of much notice and +remark on the part of my neighbors, as well as others from several +adjoining counties who saw it, many of whom supposed that this +application of guano could not possibly produce such a crop as its then +present appearance indicated—in this, however, they were +disappointed—there were two small pieces left without manure of any +kind. One of these upon the best part of the field, and the other upon a +part of medium quality.</p> + +<p>"It may be recollected that the crop of wheat that season was generally +most inferior, both in quality and quantity. Upon the parts left without +manure, it was scarcely worth cutting, and men of integrity and good +judgment, were of the opinion that without the aid of the guano, I could +not have saved more than 60 or 70 bushels of wheat from the field. The +product was 320 bushels, that weighed 64 lbs. to the bushel. The guanoed +portion continued at harvest to be decidedly better than that manured +from the barn yard and stable. This field was sown with clover in the +spring of 1846, and to this time its appearance affords as strong +evidence of great improvement in the land, as it did during the growth +of wheat. It has now been pastured freely during two summers, and been +exposed to the action of the frosts of two winters, and upon the guanoed +portion I have not yet seen a single clover root thrown out of the +ground, while from the part manured from the barn yard, it has almost +entirely disappeared. Good farmers have frequently remarked during the +present summer that the appearance of this field warrants the conclusion +that it is now capable of producing largely of any crop common to our +country.</p> + +<p>"Thus 'worn out land' is renovated, and ample means produced for +increasing its fertility. Similar instances of improvement exist in very +many examples that can be seen in this portion of our country, resulting +from the application of lime, bone and poudrette, as well as from +guano."</p> + +<p><i>Guano prevents clover from being thrown out by frost.</i>—We wish to call +back the attention of the reader to this reliable statement of Mr. +Stabler, not only for its importance to farmers, but because the same +thing has been remarked by other gentlemen who have used guano. It can +only be accounted for from the fact, that guano seems to be peculiarly +adapted, more than any other manure, to give the young clover a vigorous +start, so that in its early stages it acquires a growth too strong to be +affected by the usual course of freezing and thawing, by which less +vigorous plants are thrown out. For this reason alone, if guano had no +other value, farmers in some sections of the country where the soil is<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_25" id="Page_25">[Pg 25]</a></span> +peculiarly affected by this difficulty, would find their account in the +use of an article which would enable them to grow clover, for clover is +manure, and it should be a sine qua non with every farmer to avail +himself of all the means within his reach to increase the supply of +manure from the products of his farm. Let him not depend alone upon the +purchase of guano, but rather upon the means which that brings within +his reach of increasing his home supply by the growth of clover, and +largely increased production of straw. Those who are interested +pecuniarily, which the writer is not, in the increased sale of guano in +the United States, have no fears that our recommendations to make manure +at home—to use lime, plaster, bones, clover, and every other source of +fertility within their reach, will decrease the sale of guano. On the +contrary, those who are most disposed to use all these sources of +fertility, are the very men most disposed to use a substance which all +experience has proved superior to all others. Besides, there is, and +probably always will be, enough "worn out lands" which can be profitably +renovated, to use up all the guano which will ever find its way into +this country. So our earnest recommendation is, where lime is available, +let no man claiming the honorable title of farmer, fail to make the +application. Let him also gather up all the fragments—let nothing be +lost—make all the manure at home he possibly can, and then he will not +only have the means, but a disposition also to buy that which a +beneficent Providence sends him from the coast of Peru; of the good +effect of which we will prove by further testimony—that of the Hon. +James A. Pearce, Senator from Maryland, and a farmer of no small note in +that State. He says—"In April 1845, I applied 350 lbs., probably of +African or Patagonian guano to an acre of growing wheat, the land being +entirely unimproved and very poor. It was applied as a top dressing, of +course, but mixed with plaster." (In what proportion he does not say, +but we will by and bye; but he does say)—"<i>The wheat was doubled in +quantity at least</i>—fine clover succeeded it—and in two crops, one of +corn and one of small grain, three and four years afterwards, the +effects are still apparent." Now this effect was produced by the use of +the guano as a top dressing; a method universally acknowledged to be the +most unfavorable to the development of the full value of the +application.</p> + +<p>The editor of the Farmer in answer to an inquiry whether a combination +of charcoal, plaster, and guano would make a profitable <i>top dressing</i> +in spring for wheat, says, "yes"—but thinks if it had been plowed in +with the seed in the fall, the result would have been much better. +However, says he, "we entertain not the slightest doubt, that, if his +wheat field be top dressed with the mixture next spring, it will greatly +increase the yield of his wheat crop, unless the season should prove a +very dry one, as the charcoal, and plaster, will each tend to prevent +the escape<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_26" id="Page_26">[Pg 26]</a></span> of the ammoniacal gases of the guano, and as it were, offer +them up as food to the wheat plants.</p> + +<p>"In April 1845, I applied 350 lbs. of guano to an acre of growing wheat, +the land being entirely unimproved and very poor. Of course it was +applied as a top-dressing, <i>mixed, however, with plaster</i>. The wheat was +doubled in quantity at least; fine clover succeeded it; and in two +crops, one of corn, and the other of small grain, last year and the +present, the effects are still apparent."</p> + +<p>If our correspondent would <i>mix</i>, in the proportion of 200 lbs. of +<i>guano</i>, one bushel of <i>charcoal</i>, and half a bushel of plaster per +acre, and sow the mixture on his wheat field next spring, after the +frost is entirely out of the ground, then seed each acre with clover +seed, and roll his land, we have no doubt that his wheat crop would be +increased five or six bushels to the acre, perhaps more, and that he +would have a good stand of clover plants, and a luxuriant crop of the +latter next year.</p> + +<p>"Our opinion is, that <i>guanoed</i> land should always be sowed to clover, or +clover and orchard grass."</p> + +<p>In this, particularly the opinion of the last paragraph, we fully +concur—to obtain the full value of guano it must either be mixed with +plaster or charcoal, or what is better, plowed in and thoroughly +incorporated with the soil, and the land always sown with clover, peas +or some other plant of equal value for green manure. It is true Col. +Carter has been successful with wheat after wheat; while many continue +successful, by carefully retaining all the straw; the guano being +sufficient to keep up the everlasting ability of the soil to produce an +annual crop of grain.</p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h2><a name="THE_FIVE_FIELD_SYSTEM_AND_GUANO" id="THE_FIVE_FIELD_SYSTEM_AND_GUANO"></a>THE FIVE FIELD SYSTEM AND GUANO.</h2> + + +<p>We look upon this as the most preferable of all other systems of farming +ever adopted in the South—it is the system of Edmund Ruffin, to whom +Virginia owes a debt of gratitude beyond her power to pay. It will be +seen from the following extract from a letter of Mr. Newton that that +eminent agriculturist is of opinion that improvement of poor land is +unlimited, if guano in connection with this system is perseveringly +applied. He says—"The "five field System," which is now rapidly extending +over all the poor and worn lands that are now under improvement by marl, +lime, or guano, originated, or at least was first extensively +introduced in lower Virginia, on the Pamunkey, and has there wrought +wonders, aided by marl and judicious farming. The rotation is +corn,—wheat,—clover—wheat, or clover fallow,—and pasture, and after +pasture one year, commencing the round again with corn. This system, if +guano be applied to both crops of wheat, on corn land and fallow, or +alter<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_27" id="Page_27">[Pg 27]</a></span>nately with lime or marl, when calcareous manures are required, +will readily increase the crops and permanent improvement of the land. +In the commencement of the rotation, lime had better be applied with the +putrescent manures to the corn crop, to be followed by guano on wheat. +If this system be perseveringly, pursued, I can scarcely see any +reasonable limits to the improvement of poor lands and the increase of +the profits of agriculture."</p> + +<p>Disappointment will result from the application of lime, marl, salt +potash, guano, or any special and highly concentrated substance as a +fertilizer, to the neglect of organic manures. We lay down this fact as +incontrovertible, that no soil, however fertile it may be made for the +time being by any of these special manures, can remain permanently so, +unless care is used to maintain a healthful supply of organic +matter,—rich mould—good soil upon the land cultivated. If this is +done, we never shall hear of guano failing to bring increased crops or +of the "land running out," where it has been applied. Special manures of +any kind may fail to produce crops, where this essential requisite to +good farming is neglected. Guano, in our opinion, should always be +followed by crops of clover, grass, peas, or some crop that will shade +the earth, and can be turned under with the plow, to keep up the +necessary supply of nitrogenous food for cereal crops.</p> + +<p><i>The effect of Lime and Salt</i> upon land is to <i>dissolve</i> the inert +portions of organic matters in the soil, so that plants can suck up +their substance into their own composition. Both are highly beneficial, +but insufficient to add permanent fertility.</p> + +<p><i>The effect of guano</i>, is greater than any other highly concentrated +manure ever discovered and applied to any soil. Its benefits are +immediate continuous, and unlike lime, without exhausting the soil of +its organic matter. Yet its benefits will be increased by the addition +of organic manures derived from green crops, straw, or the stable, and +the value of these will be greatly increased by the addition of lime, +salt and plaster, while any deficiency of phosphates must be supplied by +powdered bones or another application of guano.</p> + +<p><i>The effect of plaster with guano</i> is to arrest the excursive +disposition of the volatile parts of the guano, and imprison them in the +earth until called forth by the growing plants to do the State some +service. The following question to the Editor of the American Farmer, +and his reply, are to the point in this matter:—</p> + +<p>A correspondent says—"As to the question of mixing plaster with guano, +there is one question I should like to propose to the editor, +viz.—'what will be the effect of sowing guano upon land by itself, and +then, the seed being in the ground, giving it a heavy top-dressing of +plaster, so as to arrest the 'excursion,' of which so much is said?"<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_28" id="Page_28">[Pg 28]</a></span></p> + +<p><i>Reply by the editor.</i>—"The effect of such application of guano and +plaster would be, to prevent the waste of the ammonia of the former, as +every rain would decompose more or less of the plaster, separate the +sulphuric acid from the lime, and the sulphuric acid when liberated, +would unite with the ammonia, form a sulphate of ammonia, and hold the +latter in reserve to be taken up by the roots of the plants. The +presence of plaster with all <i>organic</i> manures, either directly mixed +with them, or broadcasted after they may be applied, tends to prevent +the escape of their volatile parts. We prefer them together for two +reasons,—<i>first</i>, because, by bringing the two into <i>immediate +contact</i>, the action of the plaster is more direct; and <i>secondly</i>, +because the time and expense of one sowing is thereby saved. We go for +saving every way, as time and labor costs money, and we look upon +economy as a virtue, which should be practised by all, and especially by +husbandmen."</p> + +<p>If the plaster and guano is mixed together, 25 lbs. of the former to 100 +lbs. of the latter, will be found a proper proportion, and sufficient to +prevent the ammonia from making an "excursion." Unless the soil be very +poor, 200 lbs. of good Peruvian guano is as much as we should recommend +for wheat. In this we have the concurrence of the editor of the Farmer, +and perhaps a hundred gentlemen whom we have conversed with upon this +subject. All agree in the opinion, whether mixed with plaster or not, +that a judicious application of guano will more certainly restore +productiveness to worn out land, or add fertility to that already +productive, than any other substance ever applied.</p> + +<p><i>Want of Faith in the efficacy of guano.</i>—Whatever doubts may have +existed in the minds of careful men, there is no room for doubts now, +that Peruvian guano possesses regenerating properties beyond belief, +without evidence, and capacity to increase the productiveness of lands +in sound condition, in such an eminent degree, that any farmer who has +the power to obtain it, evinces great folly and perverse obstinacy, if +he continue to cultivate his land without applying it; either for want +of faith, or pretended disbelief in its efficacy; or because he thinks +the price fixed upon it by the Peruvian Government, "unjustifiably +high;" or because although he has no doubt it will answer in the moist +climate of England, is sure it will never answer in this dry climate; or +because he is afraid the luxuriant crops produced by the application of +guano will exhaust his land; or because his neighbor Jones killed all +his seed corn by putting only a handful in the hill; while Mrs. Jones +killed all her flowers and fifty kinds of roses with the "pisen stuff;" +and therefore he don't want any more to do with it; or because it has +failed to give remuneration under the most injudicious application, made +contrary to all instructions or experience of those who have used it; or +for any and all the other thousand and one objections raised by those +who have ne<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_29" id="Page_29">[Pg 29]</a></span>ver used it, and seem determined they never will; probably +because when the almost miraculous accounts of its operations were first +published, they had cried out "humbug" so loudly they are determined no +after evidence shall convince them the only humbug in the case was in +their own disbelief. It is for the benefit of these unbelievers we are +now writing. Our object is to present such an array of facts guaranteed +by such respectable names, they shall have no hook to hang a doubt +upon—no reason—no justifiable excuse for any sane man longer to +neglect to apply an article of such positive, certain benefit to his +hungry soil.</p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h2><a name="ED_REYNOLDS_ESQ_OF_BALTIMORE_ON_THE_VALUE_OF_GUANO" id="ED_REYNOLDS_ESQ_OF_BALTIMORE_ON_THE_VALUE_OF_GUANO"></a>ED. REYNOLDS ESQ., OF BALTIMORE, ON THE VALUE OF GUANO.</h2> + + +<p>Writing on the subject of "bought manures," as everything is termed not +produced upon the farm, and how dubiously they are looked upon by some +persons calling themselves good farmers, for fear of being humbugged, +Mr. Reynolds says, in a letter dated July, 1850, "Since 1843, I have +been trying to find out which is the best of all these 'new things,' and +have now, after having been very considerably humbugged, settled down +upon bones and guano—although, even the last named in a very dry year, +has also 'cheated me'; but this is by no means its character, as I am +constrained to admit, that after having tried it on all sorts of soil, +and perhaps as long if not longer than any other person in the State, it +is my opinion that when properly applied, with an average fair season, +it is a very powerful fertilizer. My mode of using it is, when applied +to tobacco, to mix one and a half bushels of the Peruvian, (which is +ordinarily 100 lbs.) with one bushel rich earth, and one bushel of +plaster, which admits about the fifth part of a gill of the mixture to +each hill for every 5,000 hills—and putting it in the center of the +check before being scraped—so that when the hill is made, it lies +beneath the plant. On wheat, I apply three bushels of Peruvian guano +equal to 200 lbs. mixed with one bushel of plaster, one bushel rich +earth to the acre, sowing on the surface and plowing it in as soon and +as deep as possible, after it is sowed. The past spring I have put 300 +lbs. to the acre, on 30 acres of corn, being half of a field, on a farm +in Calvert, mixing with it the same quantity of rich earth and plaster, +and sowing on the surface, plowing in at once very deep, using the +cultivator only in working it afterwards. I do not intend to use it at +all with corn, hereafter, but not because I do not think it also a good +fertilizer with this crop, (as my corn on my Calvert farm, upon which it +has been used, now shows very fair,) but only because it has never +failed to pay me three fold better on wheat, than on anything else. In +order to test its virtue, it is essentially necessary to plow it in +deeply, and stir it as little as possible afterwards.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_30" id="Page_30">[Pg 30]</a></span>"</p> + +<p><i>Bones.</i>—Of these I have used both ground and crushed, and always to +advantage at ten to twelve bushels per acre; bought from manufacturers +here, and agents of houses in New York; but I am using the crushed +dissolved by oil of vitriol, as prepared by myself on my farm in Calvert +in the following way: The bones, (which we buy in the neighborhood at 50 +cents per 112 lbs.) after breaking them with a small sledge hammer on an +old anvil, we put at the rate of three bushels in half a hogshead, and +apply to that quantity 75 lbs. oil of vitriol, filling up the half +hogshead to within eight inches of the top with water, letting them +remain, (but stir the contents occasionally with a stick,) say two to +five weeks, according to the quality and strength of the vitriol; then +start the contents of the half hogshead into a large iron kettle, apply +a slight fire and the whole contents will in less than an hour be +reduced to a perfect jelly. We use two half hogsheads at once, to +prepare it expeditiously. We then mix the contents of each kettle, with +a horse cart load of rich earth, or ashes, throwing in a half barrel of +plaster, mix or compost it handsomely, and use at pleasure, on an acre +of land with any crop you choose, and you will have permanently improved +two acres at the following cost, viz: Bones, $1.50, vitriol, $3.75, +plaster, $1.12, making $6.37, or $3.18 per acre, and this may be +repeated so as with proper attention, as much lasting improvement may be +made each year as many farmers derive from their barn yards. Bones in +any form never fails to show their striking effects on clover and other +grasses—but either bones or guano will scarcely ever fail to produce a +better crop of clover, which, with the increased quantity of straw, +(particularly when guano is used,) will enable and encourage the saving +of larger quantities of barn yard manure, and which must inevitably +cause a lasting improvement.</p> + +<p>This coincides with our views exactly, as we have in all these pages +endeavored to impress upon our readers, that the increased growth of +straw from the use of guano, will increase the manure pile, and +"inevitably cause a lasting improvement."</p> + +<p><i>Poudrette.</i>—"I have used also, to good advantage, particularly on +clayey lands, at the rate of six to eight barrels per acre. It is a +first rate top dressing on young clover in spring, at two to three +barrels per acre; this article has been prepared so badly heretofore, +that a great quantity of it was really worthless."</p> + +<p>We also concede to poudrette as much credit as Mr. Reynolds but as will +be seen, it will cost more to improve land with it than with guano.</p> + +<p><i>Prepared Guano—Agricultural Salts—Generators and Regenerators.</i>—Of +these, the testimony of Mr. Reynolds is exactly to the point, concise +and strong, and exactly in accordance with all the facts we have been +able to collect upon the same subject. He says, "I have tried them on +corn, wheat, oats, clover and tobacco; but have yet to discover that +they<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_31" id="Page_31">[Pg 31]</a></span> ever generated anything for me, though I have heard them sometimes +well spoken of."</p> + +<p>Want of room in this pamphlet alone prevents us from inserting the names +and operations of many other gentlemen in this rapidly improving +State—a State now undergoing the process of renovation by the use of +guano, to a greater extent, perhaps, than any other in the Union.</p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h2><a name="GUANO_IN_DELAWARE" id="GUANO_IN_DELAWARE"></a>GUANO IN DELAWARE.</h2> + + +<p><i>Hon. John M. Clayton's Farm.</i>—No one who looks upon this highly +improved farm now, with its most luxuriant crops, can be made to believe +it was a barren waste seven years ago—hardly worth fencing or +cultivating. This great change, so far beyond the power of human belief, +has been effected by lime, plaster and guano. The railroad from +Frenchtown to New Castle, passes through this farm, four miles from the +latter place. It is well worthy a visit from any one anxious to make +personal observations of the effects of "bought manures," upon a soil +too poor to support a goose per acre.</p> + +<p><i>Effect of Guano on Oats.</i>—During a visit to Mr. Clayton, in 1851, we +saw the most luxuriant growth of oats upon one of the fields of this +farm, which we have ever witnessed, and it has been our fortune to see +some tall specimens of this crop on the bottom lands of Ohio, Indiana, +and Illinois. The seed he had obtained from England, and the means of +making it grow, from Peru. The guano was plowed in with the oats, at the +rate of 350 lbs. to the acre. The soil is a yellow clayey loam. The +effect upon other crops had been equally beneficial. The growth of +clover was so great he had purchased thirty bullocks to fatten, for the +purpose of trying to consume some of his surplus feed. The effect upon +wheat, corn, potatoes, turnips, garden vegetables and fruit trees, was +almost as astonishing as upon the oats and grass.</p> + +<p><i>C. P. Holcomb</i>, Esq., one of the most improving farmers of one of the +most improving counties in the U.S., has met with great success in the +use of lime, plaster, and guano. His beautiful highly improved home farm +is near Newcastle; but that upon which he has met with great success in +the use of guano, lies about four miles from Dover. Before he purchased +it had become celebrated for its miserable poverty. It is now equally +celebrated for its productiveness. The use of guano in that part of the +State has now reached a point far beyond what the most sanguine would +have dared to predict four years ago; and the benefits are of the most +flattering kind. Lands have been increased in value to a far greater +extent than all the money paid for guano; while the increased profit +from the annual crops, has produced corresponding improvements in the +condition and happiness of the people.</p> + +<p>No greater blessing, said an intelligent gentleman to me, ever was +bestowed upon the people of Delaware.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_32" id="Page_32">[Pg 32]</a></span></p> + +<p><i>Extensive use of Guano by a Delaware farmer.</i> Maj. Jones, whose name is +extensively known as a very enterprising farmer, purchased in the summer +of 1851, of Messrs. A.B. Allen & Co. New York, sixty tons of Peruvian +guano, for his own use. With this he dressed 300 acres of wheat, upon +the farm at his residence on the Bohemia manor; plowing in part of it +and putting in part of it by a drilling machine at the rate of 200 lbs. +to the acre, sowing the wheat all in drills. Part of the ground was +clover, part corn, and perhaps one half wheat and oat stubble. The earth +at the time of sowing was so dry, doubts were entertained whether it +would ever vegetate; and that and other causes extended the work so +late, upon a portion of the ground, there was scarcely any appearance of +greenness when it froze up. With all these disadvantages, the crop was +estimated at harvest at twenty bushels to the acre. Without guano no one +acquainted with the farm would have estimated the crop at an average of +ten bushels. This gives an undoubted increase of five bushels for each +hundred weight of guano; and as the soil contains a good deal of clay +with which the guano was well mixed, it will retain much of the value of +the application, for the next crop. Maj. Jones has heretofore derived +very great benefits from the use of guano, as might safely be adjudged +from the fact of his risking $3,000 in one purchase of the same article.</p> + +<p><i>Lasting effects of Guano.</i>—Maj. Jones is well satisfied upon this +point. In 1847, he used 16 tons, half Peruvian and half Patagonian, +sowed with a lime-spreading machine and plowed in deep, say eight inches +on clayey loam—planted corn and made 60 bushels per acre on 100 acres; +which was an increase of 12 bushels per acre over any former year. Next +spring the weeds grew as high as his head on horseback. Rolled them down +and plowed under and sowed wheat, five pecks to the acre, and made a +heavier crop than ever before made on same land, which he attributes +entirely to the guano. Thinks the third crop of wheat is benefitted from +guano plowed in three years previous.</p> + +<p>The extent to which guano is used in the State of Delaware may be +inferred from the fact that it is not at all unusual for merchants in +small country villages to purchase from 50 to 200 tons at a time for +their retail trade.</p> + +<p>Among other successful users of guano in that State, we may mention +Governor Ross, who, if as good a ruler as he is farmer, ought to be +continued in office to the end of life.</p> + +<p>The soil to which guano has been mostly applied in this State is a sandy +loam, and the process of applying it, by sowing broadcast from 200 to +350 lbs. per acre, and plowing in from four to six inches deep, previous +to sowing wheat, which is always followed by clover, by every one who +understands his own true interest; for wherever that course has<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_33" id="Page_33">[Pg 33]</a></span> been +pursued, there has been a certain profit derived from the application, +even when the wheat has failed.</p> + +<p>The improvements in farming in Delaware within the last ten years, will +probably exceed in proportion to acres and people, any other State in +the Union. Nearly all the northern part of the State has been whitened +with lime, and the southern part is rapidly following the same path; +while the sale of guano in all parts will exceed any other section of +the country, if not in quantity, certainly in numbers of persons making +use of this sure means of restoring the lands of an almost ruined State, +to their pristine fertility.</p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h2><a name="GUANO_IN_PENSYLVANIA" id="GUANO_IN_PENSYLVANIA"></a>GUANO IN PENSYLVANIA.</h2> + + +<p>There has probably been less guano used in this great State, than in her +little sister, of which we have just been speaking. This may be owing to +the fact that great improvements have been made by the use of lime, and +that Pensylvania farmers generally are not much inclined to leave the +path their fathers trod before them; or that they are skeptical as to +what they hear of the miraculous powers of guano; hence, its use has +been in a great measure confined to market gardeners, or experiments in +a small way; the sales at Philadelphia, for home consumption, so far as +we have noticed, are mostly in small lots of one to ten bags. Among all +with whom we have conversed, however, who have used Peruvian guano in +that State, we have never heard a doubt expressed of its value, though +the idea, strangely enough seems to prevail, that it will only be +profitable for gardners and small farmers, and that it is of no benefit +to succeeding crops. No doubt the progress of improvement by the use of +guano in that vicinity has been greatly retarded, in consequence of the +sale of considerable quantities of "cheap guano," which however low in +the scale of prices, is still lower in the scale of values. In fact, +there is but one thing connected with the spurious stuff, lower in any +scale, and that is the honesty of those who manufacture or knowingly +sell such a villainous compound to farmers, who are utterly ignorant +upon the subject, under solemn assurances, that it "is equal to any +guano in market, and only a little more than half price."</p> + +<p>Mr. Landreth, the celebrated seedsman of Philadelphia, applied $500 +worth of Peruvian guano last spring, principally on the bean crop—he +thinks guano admirably adapted to all the Brassica tribe, including +turnips, cabbages, rutubaga, radishes and all cruciform plants. Upon a +lawn which appeared to be running out, he applied guano, and the grass +is now green and vigorous. The character of his soil may be judged from +its location; it is on the Delaware river above Bristol, and had<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_34" id="Page_34">[Pg 34]</a></span> been +awfully skinned before he came in possession. Now, with a liberal +expenditure for manures, he gets two crops a year.</p> + +<p><i>Guano for grass lands.</i>—The Germantown Telegraph says: "The +application of guano broadcast to grass lands has been found to produce +a decided difference in the crop. In several instances this season, +where Peruvian guano has been applied at the rate of 200 lbs. per acre, +about the middle of April, the yield of hay has been double in quantity, +over the intermediate lands not so treated; and in every instance +noticed, it is believed that the difference in quantity produced will +amply repay the cost of the guano."</p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h2><a name="GUANO_IN_NEW_JERSEY" id="GUANO_IN_NEW_JERSEY"></a>GUANO IN NEW JERSEY.</h2> + + +<p>Guano has not been extensively used in New Jersey, owing to the +abundance of green sand marl, which is a very valuable fertilizer, +abounding in that part of the State most in need of artificial manures. +Guano has, wherever used, produced the most astonishing results. One of +these we witnessed upon the farm of Mr. Edward Harris, a gentleman well +known for his enterprising spirit of improvement and intelligence in +agriculture, who resides at Moorestown, which lies in the sandy region +east of Philadelphia. He sowed 400 lbs. to the acre, plowed in with +double plow, sowed oats and seeded with timothy, which upon similar soil +often "burns out" for want of shade, after the oats are harvested. Not +so in this case. The shattered oats from a remarkably fine crop, +vegetated and grew with such a dark green luxuriance, there was more +danger of the young grass being smothered out; so he had to put the +mowers at work, who cut heavy swaths of this second crop of oats, for +hay. If it had been situated so it could have been fed off, the amount +of pasture would have been almost incalculable. It is needless to say +the effect of guano upon this land, was not evanescent. Other trials +made by Mr. Harris, have convinced him of its value to Jersey farmers, +and that good as "Squankum marl" undoubtedly is, farmers would do better +to expend part, at least, of their money in guano.</p> + +<p>The name of James Buckalew is known, perhaps, more extensively than any +other in New Jersey, as one of her most enterprising, rapidly improving, +money making farmers, whose testimony in favor of guano may be easily +obtained by any one who will take the trouble to go and see what +beautiful farms he has made out of the barren sands near the Jamestown +station, on the Camden & Amboy railroad, by the use of lime, plaster, +marl, manure and guano. It is a pity that every one who doubts the +feasibility of profitably improving the worst land in that State, by the +power of such an agent as Peruvian guano, could not see what has been +done by Mr. Buckalew. Let them also look at what were<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_35" id="Page_35">[Pg 35]</a></span> once bare sand +hills around the residence of Commodore Stevens, at South Amboy, a +gentleman who ought to be more renowned for his improvements on land +than water, notwithstanding his world wide reputation, in connection +with the yacht America. Go ask how it is that these drifted sand hills +have been covered with rank grass, clover, corn, turnips and other +luxuriant crops; the very echo of the question will be, guano.</p> + +<p>Look at the astonishing crops of Professor Mapes, at Newark. Peruvian +guano, in combination with his improved superphosphate of lime, hath +wrought the miracle, aided as it has been, by the deepest plowing ever +done in that State.</p> + +<p>Mr. Samuel Allen, at Morristown, has now growing upon a poor barren, +gravelly knoll, a crop of corn which might put to blush the owner of a +rich and well manured field, and which ought to put to blush some of the +unbelievers in the power of guano to produce such a growth upon such a +soil; rather where there was no soil, hardly enough to grow a +respectable crop of mullen stalks. Mr. Allen has tried guano for several +years upon every kind of garden vegetable, with the most wonderful +success. A crop of Lima beans now growing exhibit its wonderful power in +the strongest manner. The application has been made by a small dose at +planting and two sprinklings hoed in during their growth.</p> + +<p>A great many other persons in this State have produced most wonderful +effects upon land almost utterly worthless, while in the immediate +benefits, those who have applied it to lands in good condition, have +profited more than with double the cost of manure.</p> + +<p><i>Guano for Peach Trees.</i>—A New Jersey nurseryman assured us of his firm +conviction in the power of guano to cure the yellows in peach +trees—that no grub or worm can be found alive in the roots of a tree +where guano is applied—that young trees can be brought into bearing by +the use of guano, a year earlier than by any other forcing process with +which he is acquainted.</p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h2><a name="GUANO_ON_LONG_ISLAND1" id="GUANO_ON_LONG_ISLAND1"></a>GUANO ON LONG ISLAND.<a name="FNanchor_1_1" id="FNanchor_1_1"></a><a href="#Footnote_1_1" class="fnanchor">[1]</a></h2> + + +<p>One gentleman assures us he tried an experiment very carefully, and +found an application of guano at two and a half cents a pound, 300 lbs. +to the acre, more economical than hauling his own manure one mile. The +fair value of team work and cost of labor hired, was more to the acre +than the guano, and the first crop quite inferior, the second no +difference, and the third slightly in favor of the manure. He thinks +buying city manure, particularly street sweepings, about the poorest use +to which he could put his money, as he certainly could make 50 per ct. +more upon the same amount expended in Peruvian guano. Professor Mapes<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_36" id="Page_36">[Pg 36]</a></span> +entertains the same opinion, about hauling manure, where guano, or +rather with him, guano improved by the addition of his "improved +superphosphate of lime," can be procured.</p> + +<p>Dr. Peck, a gentleman well known for his philanthropic motives in +settling and improving the "Long Island barrens," has proved that every +acre of that long neglected, and until quite recently considered +worthless portion of the Island, can be rendered fertile, so as to be +cultivated with great profit, either in farms or market gardens, by the +aid of this greatest blessing ever bestowed by Providence upon an +unfertile land.</p> + +<p>Several of the Messrs. Smith, of Smithtown, could show any Long Island +farmer who still has doubts upon the subject, that guano is the greatest +worker of miracles in this age—that it is just as capable of producing +great crops on the barren sands of the Island, as it is on the tide +water shores of Virginia, upon soil of the same character.</p> + +<p>A great deal has been said in deprecation of the waste of fertilizing +matters in the city of New York, in which the writer of this pamphlet +has conscientiously joined; because, he thought it wicked to commit such +waste, while we were surrounded by lands lying idle, for the want of +these very substances. Precious, however, as they would be to the +farmer, he cannot afford to use them. That is, it would be poor economy +for a Long Island farmer, no matter how near the city, to expend money +in the hire of men, vessels and teams, to save, carry, haul and apply to +his farm, the immense amount of fertilizing substances now wasted; +because the same capital expended in purchasing and applying guano, will +produce a much greater profit. The difference in cartage is enough to +astonish one who has never thought upon the subject. One man with a pair +of horses can easily carry guano enough in one day, thirty miles into +the country, to manure ten acres of ground. To carry an equivalent of +city manure, in the same time, would require 300 pair of horses and 350 +men. Who can wonder that barren lands have remained barren? Who will not +wonder if they still continue so, with such fertilizers as their owners +might possess to render them otherwise? But few of the residents in the +interior of Long Island, if the manure was given to them, can afford the +time and team work to haul 300 loads for ten acres, while all can afford +the time for one load; and they may be morally certain the capital +invested in that load will be returned in the first crop. The great +advantage of guano over all other manures is, the concentration of +immense fertilizing power in such small bulk.</p> + +<p><i>Guano in New York and Connecticut</i>, generally, has been less used than +any sound reason will justify. A comparatively small portion of the +market gardeners—a few gentlemen in the improvement of rural homes, and +here and there a nurseryman, have derived immense benefits; but the bulk +of the farmers are still either faithless, or ignorant; in most<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_37" id="Page_37">[Pg 37]</a></span> cases +the latter, of the benefits they might derive from a liberal expenditure +in the means, and the only means within their reach, of rendering their +lands productive.</p> + +<p><i>Effect of Guano on Garden Seeds.</i>—From the society of Shakers, at +Lebanon, so justly celebrated for growing garden seeds, we receive the +most positive assurance that no manure ever applied by them, has had +such an effect as guano. The production of seeds of all descriptions, is +not only increased, but the quality is improved to an astonishing +degree. The same effect has been noted upon wheat, particularly in our +account of Mr. Newton's operations. So also has it in England. This view +of the case should give an additional value to guano to the farmer, as +not only an improver of the quantity of his products, but by the gradual +improvement in the quality of the seed, calculated to be of vast benefit +to him in that respect. Garden seeds raised by guano, as soon as their +superiority becomes known, will be in such demand that no other can be +sold. Another advantage will arise from the fact that such seeds will be +found entirely free from weeds, as none grow after a few years upon land +manured only with guano.</p> + +<p>The beautiful residence of Mr. Edwin Bartlett, near Tarrytown, exhibits +strong evidence of the fertilizing power of guano upon the poor, +unproductive hill sides of Westchester Co. That place, now so luxuriant, +was noted a few years ago, as too poor to support grasshoppers. It was +the poverty stricken joke of the neighborhood.</p> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_1_1" id="Footnote_1_1"></a><a href="#FNanchor_1_1"><span class="label">[1]</span></a> For interesting letters from Long Island, see <a href='#APPENDIX'>appendix.</a></p></div> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h2><a name="GUANO_IN_MASSACHUSETTS" id="GUANO_IN_MASSACHUSETTS"></a>GUANO IN MASSACHUSETTS.</h2> + + +<p>We have heard a good many assertions that guano, however valuable it +might be upon the warm sandy soils of the south, would not answer in the +cold land and climate of the New England States. To refute this fallacy, +we have some strong testimony. Seven years ago, while the very name of +guano, and much more its virtues were unknown to half the farmers of +America, Mr. S. S. Teschemacher, of Boston, a gentleman of science and +practical skill in gardening, became so fully convinced of its value to +the cultivators of American soil, he published a pamphlet for the +purpose of inducing others to profit by its use. From that pamphlet we +make a few extracts. He says—"One of the numerous objections to this +manure is, that, although it may answer well in the humid atmosphere of +England, it cannot produce equal benefit in the hot, sandy soils of this +country. In reply to this, it may be observed, that the sandy soils of +South America are more hot than they are here; and, on the coast of +Peru, where it is most used, it scarcely ever rains at all. The truth +is, that it certainly requires moisture to decompose it, and enable it +to enter into the juices of the plant; by no means, however, so much<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_38" id="Page_38">[Pg 38]</a></span> as +is usually supposed; but, once absorbed by the roots and plants, it +imparts that strength and solidity which enable them to resist both +drought and cold.</p> + +<p>"It is beyond dispute that guano contains the chief ingredients required +for the growth of plants. The instances hereafter adduced will show that +the combination and form of these ingredients are such as to promote not +only its immediate action, but clearly to accelerate considerably the +progress of vegetation."</p> + +<p>The chief ingredients, then, of guano, are,</p> + +<p> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Ammonia, in various forms and combinations;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Phosphate and oxalate of lime and magnesia;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Salts of potash and soda;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Animal organic matter;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Sand and moisture.</span><br /> +</p> + +<p>Besides the evidence we have given of the value of an application of +such a compound, it contains evidence within itself to every mind embued +with any knowledge of agricultural chemistry, that it will not only +promote immediate growth of vegetation, but produce a lasting benefit to +the soil. It contains all the materials necessary for the growth of +cereal or esculent vegetation in the exact form required—that is an +impalpable powder—to promote rapid, certain, large growth, and abundant +fruitfulness, and consequent profit.</p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h2><a name="EXPERIMENTS_BY_MR_TESCHEMACHER" id="EXPERIMENTS_BY_MR_TESCHEMACHER"></a>EXPERIMENTS BY MR. TESCHEMACHER.</h2> + + +<p>To Indian corn, applied one teaspoonful to the hill, well mixed with +earth, at time of planting. When twelve or fifteen inches high, hoed in +three tea spoons full around the corn, and covered two inches deep and +watered. Soil—a poor, sandy, sterile one. Product—one seed produced +three main stalks with eight perfect ears and five suckers, weighing +8¼ lbs. The best plant without guano, weighed 1¼ lbs. and only had +one ear.—"I find the best mode of applying guano is to hollow out the +hill, put in one teaspoonful and a half of guano, and mix it well with +the soil. Spread even, then put on this about one or one and a half inch +depth of light soil, on which sow the seed and cover up. When the corn +is about twelve inches high, or the time of first hoeing, begin with the +hoe about four inches from the stems, and make a trench the width of the +hoe about two or three inches deep. Spread in this trench about three or +four teaspoonfuls guano, stir it in, and cover the trench as quickly as +possible. If this last operation can be performed just before or during +rain, the action will be quicker and more effectual."</p> + +<p>Four or five teaspoonfuls of dry powder producing such an effect, is +what staggers the belief of those who see with their own eyes.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_39" id="Page_39">[Pg 39]</a></span></p> + +<p>So great is the luxuriance of growth from such an insignificant +application, it is necessary to increase the space nearly double between +the hills. In a country where fodder is so valuable as it is in +Massachusetts, the great increase of stalks is of equal importance with +the increase of grain. Indian corn requires both phosphate of lime and +magnesia which it finds in guano, in combination with ammonia, in a +state just ready to be absorbed by the growing plant, wherever brought +in contact, with its roots.</p> + +<p>Mr. T. found the guanoed corn planted May 22d, ripened sooner than that +planted May 1st. with manure. This alone on account of the difficulty +from frost, is sufficient to give it great claim upon northern farmers.</p> + +<p><i>Effect on Grass.</i>—"The application of this manure to grass land +already laid down is for many reasons often attended with uncertain +results. The best mode is, to spread broadcast about 250 lbs. per acre +of the Peruvian guano as soon as the snow is off the ground. It would be +very advantageous if, after it was spread on, some light loam could be +put over it, in the manner of a top dressing. I state the Peruvian guano +is the best for this operation, as it contains what Dr. Ure calls +<i>potential ammonia</i>, or ammonia in a more permanent form; whereas the +ammonia from the Ichaboe guano evaporates more easily, and this valuable +ingredient is therefore lost in the atmosphere when it is spread on the +surface.</p> + +<p>"Most excellent crops have been obtained, where the grass is sown and +laid down in the autumn, on light, sandy soils, by sowing the guano +evenly broadcast, then harrowing twice, sowing the grass seed, and +rolling."</p> + +<p>The best mode of applying it, however, is to sow broadcast and plow it +in—at the south, on sandy soils, no matter how deep—at the north on +soils more clayey, plow it in about four inches deep—the real object +being to so mix it with the soil as to prevent the escape of ammonia, +which is exceedingly volatile. Remember, <i>Guano</i> should never be used as +a top dressing, except in combination with plaster, or some other +substance which will prevent the escape of the most valuable portion of +its composition.</p> + +<p>In several case, where sods have been laid down for lawns or +embankments round houses, the most surprising growth has been obtained +by strewing the surface with guano previous to laying on the sod.</p> + +<p>E. Baylies, of Taunton, sowed 460 lbs. African guano per acre, with +grass seed, which yielded, this year, one ton per acre more than that +without; and the appearance of the guanoed grass is now much more thick, +luxuriant, and promising, for next year than the other.</p> + +<p>"Another friend of mine sowed grass in sandy soil with a full quan<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_40" id="Page_40">[Pg 40]</a></span>tity +of manure, and an adjoining acre, with 400 lbs. Ichaboe guano. The +guanoed acre grew stronger, and retained its full verdure the whole +winter; the manured piece, on the contrary, became, as usual, brown by +the action of the frost."</p> + +<p>Mr. T. as well as nearly all the English writers upon the subject, has +noticed the improvement in quality as well as quantity of grain and +garden vegetables. It is a well authenticated fact, that birds wont +touch the manured wheat, while they can obtain that which is much more +plump and rich where guano has been applied.</p> + +<p><i>Effects on Trees and Grape Vines.</i>—"The experiments with guano on +trees which have come under my observation, including exotics number +about one hundred and fifty. The action has invariably been to produce +large foliage, of a deep healthy green."</p> + +<p>The best mode of applying guano to fruit-trees, or flowering shrubs, is +to dig it into the earth at such distance from the trunk as will be +likely to meet the largest number of fibrous roots.</p> + +<p>"For instance, round an apple-tree of ten years' standing, dig a trench +one or one and a half foot deep, at about the same distance from the +stem that the branches extend; let this trench be about one foot wide; +then put at the bottom one and a half inch depth of guano, dig it well +in, and incorporate it with the soil; then cover up carefully and press +the earth down. The effect of this application will unquestionably be +felt for several years."</p> + +<p>On grape vines, the action of guano has been proved exceedingly +beneficial; increasing the growth of vines and fruit, improving the +flavor and hastening the ripening, so as to escape early frosts.</p> + +<p>In planting young trees, put about a pint in the bottom of the hole +covering with soil so the roots will not touch it. No insects or grubs +will disturb the roots of such a tree.</p> + +<p>"Several friends, who have tried guano this year on their pear-trees, +have reported to me the result to be greater crops, and of a much larger +size, than they ever had previously."</p> + +<p><i>Guano on Peas</i>—<i>Method of Applying.</i>—The kinds on which I +experimented were Prince Albert, Shilling's early grotto, (a dwarf pea,) +blue imperial, and marrowfat. Draw a deep trench with a hoe, strew guano +in the trench, mix it up with the soil, over this put about one inch and +a half of earth, then sow the seed, and cover up. The quantity used +should about equal the quantity of seed. The produce of the three first +kinds of peas, was five full pecks to the quart of seed, besides a full +quart of seed gathered for next year. From the marrowfats I obtained +only four pecks and a half, and no seed. The growth of all was extremely +luxuriant. The marrowfats were six and a half feet high, the stems from +one to one and a quarter inch in circumference. Guano<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_41" id="Page_41">[Pg 41]</a></span> should be placed +at such a depth that the natural moisture of the earth will decompose it +and render it fit for the plant. In the lightest soils—plow and bury +guano a little deeper than in others more heavy; the guano itself +retains moisture, and absorbs it naturally.</p> + +<p><i>Guano on Beans</i>, doubled the yield of a paralel row, while the improved +flavor was perceptible to those who had no idea of the cause which +produced it. In drouth, the power given plants by guano, to resist the +scorching rays of the sun, is remarkable.</p> + +<p><i>On Melons</i>, the effect was equally favorable, giving a large increase +of highly flavored fruit.</p> + +<p><i>On Potatoes.</i>—We give out of many equally favorable, only one +experiment, just to show the ability of farmers to grow this crop in the +most unsuitable soil, by a small expenditure for guano, twenty per cent. +better than with manure. Here it is. "Soil, very sandy and light; +quantity, 800 lbs. African (per ship Samos) to the acre; cost, $20. Same +soil, with twenty-two loads fine compost manure, cost $22. Yield, as +eleven to nine, or twenty-two per cent. in favor of guano, the potatoes +with which were larger than the others."</p> + +<p><i>On Turnips</i>, no manure is equal to guano. The crop has been doubled in +numerous instances. Mr. T. says of one experiment he made, "The plants +on this portion are now twice as large as those which have not had any. +It is perfectly beautiful to see the luxuriance of all these guanoed +vegetables compared with the others."</p> + +<p><i>On Strawberries</i>, nothing has ever been applied equal to guano, +provided the plants are plentifully watered. The best mode of +application is in solution. One pound is enough for ten gallons of +water.</p> + +<p><i>On Cauliflowers.</i>—Two experiments, one with guano, the other with a +solution. The first are fine strong plants, particularly one to which I +gave a larger share than the other; it is heading finely. But those with +the solution are much larger and finer. I have been accustomed to +observe the cultivation of this vegetable, and never saw such a +luxuriant growth. They are now, (Sept. 15th) beginning to show flower; +and, if the season is favorable, I expect the heads will be very fine. +The plants are at least four times larger than those on the same piece +without guano, or any manure at all, planted on the same day, from the +same seed bed.</p> + +<p><i>On Rhubarb or Pie Plant</i>, guano has the most decided beneficial effect, +increasing the size, flavor and tenderness of the stalk; besides the +very great advantage of bringing it forward some two or three weeks +earlier in the spring. Fork it in all over the bed, just as early as the +frost will permit, at the rate of 600 lbs. to the acre.</p> + +<p><i>On Asparagus</i>, the same treatment will more than double the quantity of +this excellent, healthy vegetable. In the fall, give a dressing of +salt<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_42" id="Page_42">[Pg 42]</a></span> equal to 15 or 20 bushels to the acre. With the guano, nothing +else need be applied, if it is thoroughly mixed with the soil.</p> + +<p><i>For Vegetables, Plants, Trees, and Shrubbery generally</i>, where fruit is +an object, apply the guano as above, in powder. Where flowers of rare +size and beauty are desired, apply it in solution, or by frequently +stirring in small dressings just before a shower. Another important +observation on this subject is, that guano, or its solution, should +never be applied except at that period of the season when the growth of +wood is proper and natural.</p> + +<p><i>In forcing houses</i>, nothing can be equal to guano. One thing, it +produces no weeds, or insects; this is enough to insure its favor +wherever it may be tried.</p> + +<p><i>On roses</i>, the beneficial effect is already well known. If tea roses +are cut down when the bloom is over, repotted in fresh earth, and well +watered twice or thrice a week, with guano water, they will immediately +throw out luxuriant shoots, and be covered with their fragrant blossoms. +The cactus tribe will bear a larger quantity and stronger solution of +guano, without injury, than most other plants.</p> + +<p>"During the progress of my experiments," says Mr. T., "I have been +delighted with the unfailing and extraordinary luxuriance of growth and +produce on a miserable spot of land, induced by the use of this manure, +and struck with the numerous instances which have come to my knowledge +of erroneous applications of it. On a stiff clay, guano would be of +little value, except on the surface, or an inch or two deep, unless it +were considerably lightened by the addition of sand, or well broken up +by exposure, in ridges, to frost, as every clay soil should be. A light, +porous, sandy soil would require 300 lbs. Peruvian, or 400 lbs. best +Ichaboe; and for this soil I think the Peruvian best adapted, as it +retains the ammonia longer, and, being less soluble in water than the +Ichaboe, its qualities are not so soon washed out."</p> + +<p>In a soil already much enriched with manure, and at the same time +abounding in phosphate of lime, I have found the guano to produce less +visible effects than on a poor, sandy soil.</p> + +<p>Most excellent effects have been produced by steeping seeds in guano +water of moderate strength for eight to twelve hours, dependent on the +kind of seeds, and then planting with one to three inches soil between +the seed and the guano. The steep encourages the growth of the young +plant, whose roots, in a more advanced stage, find the guano, which +continues the stimulus.</p> + +<p><i>Quantity for a Steep.</i>—Put one, one and a half, or two teaspoonfuls of +guano, according to quality, in a quart bottle, shake up, and when +settled, use; then refill and use two or three times, previous to +putting in fresh guano. Or, in the large way, from fifteen to twenty +gallons of<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_43" id="Page_43">[Pg 43]</a></span> water to one pound; mix in a barrel, stir up and leave it to +settle, taking care, however, to put a cover on, to prevent the escape +of ammonia.</p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h2><a name="DIRECTIONS_AS_TO_QUANTITY_AND_MANNER_OF_APPLYING_GUANO_TO_VARIOUS_CROPS" id="DIRECTIONS_AS_TO_QUANTITY_AND_MANNER_OF_APPLYING_GUANO_TO_VARIOUS_CROPS"></a>DIRECTIONS AS TO QUANTITY AND MANNER OF APPLYING GUANO TO VARIOUS CROPS AND SOILS.</h2> + + + +<p>The best action of guano is undoubtedly upon naturally poor or worn out +light sandy soils. Next sandy loam—then loam proper—then clayey loam +or exhausted gravelly soil, and lastly cold stiff clay, or land +naturally wet. Upon the first particularly at the south, it should +always be plowed in from four to six inches deep; and will always afford +the greatest profit when applied to wheat land and that sown with +clover.</p> + +<p><i>Preparation of guano for use.</i>—Until some ingenious Yankee invents a +cheap mill by which he will make a fortune and the lumps be easily +ground, the following method may be pursued. Take the bags on the barn +floor or in some close room with tight floor and sift the guano over a +box, through a 3/8 mesh sieve, putting the fine back in the bags and +lumps on the floor. These may be mashed with a stout hoe or shovel, or +with a block like a pavier's rammer. Sift and break again until all is +fine. Lay the dust with a very slight sprinkle from the nose of a +watering pot; of a solution of copperas, at the rate of 10 lbs. to the +cwt. of guano, or with plaster or loamy earth—woods mould or dry fine +clay. Many persons prefer to mix plaster with the guano in the first +instance at the rate of a peck of plaster to a bushel of guano—others +use an equal weight of each. Where plaster is not to be had, from five +to ten bushels of pulverized charcoal or dust from the coal pit, or +pulverized peat, to each hundred weight of guano may be used to fix the +ammonia and prevent loss. Sulphuric acid 1 lb. to 10 of water, with +which to sprinkle the mass may be used as a fixer. But if it is kept in +the bags, in a dry room, until ready for use, and then prepared, sown +and plowed in at once with as little exposure to the air as possible, +very little of the ammonia will escape. The true axiom to be observed in +the use of guano, is to plow it in as soon as possible after it is sown +and before it is moistened with dew or rain; and to plow it in deep, or +in some way thoroughly incorporate it with the soil, so that rains will +not wash it away, or hot sunshine cause it to evaporate. We hold all +top-dressings with guano, to be wasteful, on account of its volatile +character, and because it needs the moisture in the earth to fit the +substance of which it is composed so its fertilizing properties can be +taken up by the roots of the plants. If spread upon the surface, it must +wait for a dissolving shower to carry it down to the roots; in the +meantime, it is moistened by dews and evaporated by the sun, and carried +off to enrich your neighbor's crops half as much as your own.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_44" id="Page_44">[Pg 44]</a></span></p> + +<p><i>Preparing Land and Sowing.</i>—When ready to plow the land for wheat, +measure an acre and lay it off in lands 18 feet wide; put the guano in a +pail and walk up one side and down the other with a moderate step +throwing handfulls across at each step, and you will find you do not +vary much from two hundred pounds to the acre. Never sow in a windy day +if it can be avoided, nor faster than it can be plowed in the same day.</p> + +<p><i>To prevent guano from getting into the mouth and nostrils.</i>—Take a +thin piece of sponge and wet it and tie over the mouth and nose. +Whenever the dust accumulates, wash it out. If you must sow while the +wind is blowing, mix earth enough with guano to prevent blowing away.</p> + +<p><i>Depth it should be plowed in.</i>—On light sandy land, there is no danger +of its ever being plowed in too deep. On sandy loam, it ought to be +plowed under at least six inches—eight inches would be better. On true +loam, a less depth will answer, though we are strong advocates of deep +plowing. On clayey loam, four inches will answer, and on clay, +particularly in the Northern States, if well harrowed or put in with the +cultivator, there will be no great loss of ammonia, as the clay is a +great absorber of that volatile substance. This rule may in general be +observed; upon the light lands of the south, it cannot be too deeply +buried; in the clay lands, or in the more heavy, cold, or moist lands of +the north, it may be covered too deep to benefit the first crop; but, if +the after cultivation is good, whatever is planted will be sure to be +benefitted. Upon granite soils, it will be of less value than silicious +or aluminous ones. Though most valuable on poor sandy or worn out old +fields like those of Virginia, already described, still it must not be +rejected by the owner of any land which can be improved by manure, +because this is a manure of the very best and most concentrated kind; +containing more of the ingredients necessary to promote vegetable +growth, in the exact proportion and combination, ready prepared for use, +than any other substance in the known world. It is a fertilizing +substance which none will reject who once learn its value, unless very +deeply prejudiced. It is idle to reject it because the Peruvian +Government wont let us have it at our own price, because we can profit +by it at theirs. It is nonsense to say, it will answer in the moist +climate of England, but not in our dry one. Truth deduced from +experience, in several States, in various climates and soils, refutes +all such sayings. Besides, it has been used with continued success in +the burning sun and soils of Peru, ever since the conquest by the +Spaniards, and, according to tradition for ages untold previous to that +time.</p> + +<p><i>Guano on Wheat.</i>—We repeat, sow broadcast and plow in upon all light +lands, <i>deep</i>; at the rate of 200 to 600 lbs. to the acre, as you can +afford, or as the land requires—we believe in the small quantity and +re<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_45" id="Page_45">[Pg 45]</a></span>peat the next sowing, to be by far the most judicious. On heavy lands +you may harrow or cultivate it in, but the plow is better. It will do +well on lands previously limed, but should never be mixed with lime or +ashes, unless mixed with plaster or charcoal. If you must use it as a +top dressing in the spring, mix a bushel of plaster with every hundred +of guano, sow and harrow in—don't be afraid of injuring the wheat +Always sow clover or grass on guanoed grain.</p> + +<p><i>On Indian Corn.</i>—Follow the same directions as for wheat, or if the +land is already rich, and you wish to give the corn an early start, +scatter at the rate of 100 to 200 lbs. guano in the furrow, and cover it +two inches deep with another furrow and then drill the corn. Be sure and +never let the seed come in contact with the guano, or you will kill it +most certainly. Guanoed corn should be sowed in wheat, particularly +whenever it has been dressed with a large quantity.</p> + +<p><i>To growing Corn</i>, if it is desirable to apply it, turn a furrow away +from the row on each side and scatter in the bottom at the rate of 300 +lbs. per acre, and turn back the earth immediately.</p> + +<p><i>Green Corn</i>—roasting ears—are improved in taste by guano beyond +anything ever conceived of by the lovers of this luscious food.</p> + +<p><i>Quantity per acre.</i>—Thomas S. Pleasants of Petersburg, Va., a +well-known writer upon agriculture, and who has had much practical +experience ever since the first introduction of guano into this country, +says:—"<i>Corn</i> is a gross feeder and will take up a greater quantity of +guano than perhaps any other crop. I have known as much as 600 lbs. +applied to the acre and the product was in proportion. Each hundred +pounds will give an average product of ten bushels as various +experiments have proved From the above mentioned application of 600 lbs. +a product of 73 bushels was obtained, which left 13 bushels as the +product of the soil alone. For corn, guano may be spread broadcast on +the land and ploughed in as deeply as it is desirable to break the soil; +or it may be strewed along deep furrows to be afterwards ridged over and +the cultivation to be in only one direction. The best result I ever +obtained was from this latter mode, when from land not capable of +producing five bushels, I harvested a crop that could not have been less +than 35 bushels to the acre.</p> + +<p>"The furrows were opened deep and wide by passing the plow both ways and +the guano strewed along these at the rate 1 lb. per every ten yards. +They were then covered over and the land thereby thrown into beds. But +in whatever way it is used, the roots of the corn will be sure to find +it all, and between these two modes, I think there is little or no +choice. I would certainly advise against putting it in the hill, though +I have sometimes seen good results. It is difficult, however, in such a +case, to prevent the guano and seed from coming into close contact;<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_46" id="Page_46">[Pg 46]</a></span> +and, unless there are two or three inches of earth interposed between +them the seed will be certainly destroyed."</p> + +<p><i>For wheat</i>, the guano should be spread broadcast at the time of +seeding the wheat, at the rate of 200 lbs. to 250 lbs. per acre and +ploughed in. If the land has been previously fallowed, it will be +sufficient to plow it in with a one horse plow; if broken up for the +first time, there will be no objection to using a larger plough. The +best depth for getting it in, however, is, I think, from four to six +inches. It always acts more powerfully on clean land; indeed if there is +much crude vegetable matter in the soil, there is frequently little or +no advantage derived from its application. Experience, therefore goes to +show that the most economical application is to corn land; that is, to +land that has just produced a crop of corn, no matter how poor it may +be. If it is intended to be put on land that has been lying in grass, it +would be advisable to fallow it as early in the season as practicable, +and afterwards to get it in with a small plow as already suggested.</p> + +<p>The same direction will apply to oats and also to rye. But for oats, 125 +to 150 lbs of guano will be as much as can be used to advantage.</p> + +<p>A. B. Allen of New York, one of the earliest, and most strenuous +advocates of using guano, who, long before he ever thought of being +engaged in its sale, used to distribute small parcels among farmers and +gardeners to enable them to try experiments and learn its value, in a +letter to the Southern Cultivator, says:—"Never put guano in the hill +with corn, no matter if covered two or three inches deep; for the roots +will be certain to find it, and so sure as they touch the guano, so +caustic is it, that it will certainly kill the corn; the same with peas, +beans, melon vines, in fact most vegetable crops. Wheat and other small +grains have so many roots, and tiller so well, there is no danger of +guano killing them, when sown directly with the seed. Still, as before +remarked, it is better to plough it in before sowing the seed.</p> + +<p>"After corn is up, you may apply a table spoonful, at the first time +hoeing; dig it an inch or two deep six inches from each stalk. A table +spoonful to the hill will take 250 to 350 lbs., per acre, according to +the distance the hills are apart. If the soil be rather poor, a second +dose at the time the corn first shows its silk, will add considerably to +the yield in grain, if followed by rains, but little or nothing to the +growth of stalk. Guano increases the size of grain more than stalks; +hence one must be content to wait till the grain is fully matured before +giving an opinion of the virtues of guano.</p> + +<p>"Before applying the guano, it is better to mix it well with an equal +quantity of plaster of Paris or charcoal dust. Either of these +substances help to retain the ammonia and prevent its evaporation.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_47" id="Page_47">[Pg 47]</a></span></p> + +<p>"The genuine unadulterated Peruvian guano, is so much superior to any +other kind, it is in reality the <i>cheapest</i>, though the price is +considerable higher than that of the other qualities."</p> + +<p><i>Guano on Oats.</i>—Mr. Allen says, "I am satisfied from experience and +observation in the use of guano, for the past twelve years, that the +best method, decidedly, of applying it to crops in our dry climate, is +to plow or spade it into the ground; and autumn is the best time for +doing this, as it gives time for the pungent salts contained in the +guano, to get thoroughly mixed with the soil before spring planting. Do +not fear to loose the guano by plowing it in as deep as you please—it +will not run away, depend upon it. At the south, it loses half its +virtue if not plowed in at least three inches deep; six or twelve inches +would be still better."</p> + +<p>Because "autumn is, for many reasons, the best season" for applying +guano, as a general thing, we do not recommend an application to this +crop, notwithstanding our full conviction it will increase the product +upon any light, poor soil, from ten to twenty bushels to the acre, for +each cwt. applied. As some however, will find it more convenient and +profitable to manure the oat than wheat crop, we recommend them to plow +in from 200 to 300 lbs. to the acre, on ground that was clean tilled the +previous year, and sow the oats in drills, three or four bushels to the +acre and seed with clover, herds, or ray grass. If not to be followed +with grass, we would use a much less quantity; say 125 or 150 lbs. to +the acre. As may be seen in the account of Mr. Harris' crop, not one +half of the 400 lbs. was taken up by the oats. With wheat, on the +contrary, the guano is dissolved more slowly by winter rains, giving the +crop a vigorous growth in fall, and sometimes all winter, so it sends +out double the number of stalks in spring. The sun too, is so much less +powerful at that season, evaporation does not take place so easily as in +summer.</p> + +<p><i>Great Crops from Guano.</i>—In England, 48 bushels of wheat and 100 of +oats have been made from an acre dressed with 200 lbs. of guano. A late +English writer, in detailing his own experiments, and urging others to +the same course, says; "The reason guano is serviceable to all plants +arises from its containing every saline and organic matter required as +food. It is used beneficially on all soils; for, as it contains every +element necessary to plants, it is independent of the quality of the +soil. So far as the experiments in England and Scotland may be adduced, +one cwt. of guano is equal to about five tons of farm-yard manure, on an +average; but it is much higher for turnips than for grass."</p> + +<p><i>Guano on Grass.</i>—As we are opposed to using it as a top dressing, of +course we shall not recommend its application to this crop. Generally, +by using it on wheat and other crops, the farmer will save manure enough +to top dress his meadows. Nevertheless, in combination with<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_48" id="Page_48">[Pg 48]</a></span> proper +ingredients, we do say it is a good and profitable manure for grass. For +each acre mix from 200 to 400 lbs. with as many bushels of plaster, or +ten to one of charcoal, or twenty to one of dry swamp muck or peat, +woods mould or fine clay, and sow upon the meadow or pasture early in +spring. If the season is moist, the benefit will be very great; if dry, +it will probably be said, as it has been before; "Oh, this guano is good +for nothing—I tried it once on grass and it never done a bit of good."</p> + +<p><i>On potatoes</i>, 400 lbs. to the acre, broadcast, may be used to good +advantage, if it is plowed in deep enough, on clean land. As it is a +caustic manure, and requires a good deal of moisture, as well as +potatoes, it is not suitable for the hill or surface dressing. A less +quantity will pay a greater profit to the immediate crop, without much +after benefit, if it is drilled in the bottom of a deep furrow and then +covered by turning two furrows, one from each side, so as to leave a +slight depression between them, and directly over the guano. Upon these +beds plant the tubers in drills. After hoeing, scatter a mixture of +equal parts of lime, salt, ashes and plaster, a large handful every +yard, all over the rows, and we will warrant the crop free from the +potato rot.</p> + +<p><i>On turnips</i>, nothing can exceed guano, unless the phosphate of lime in +bones could be rendered equally pulverulent. Use 3 to 600 lbs. per acre, +and plow it in at the last plowing, and top dress with five bushels of +ashes and two of salt as soon as the turnips are up. Follow with wheat +or rye and grass. One half the above quantity and five bushels of bone +dust dissolved in sulphuric acid, will produce a wonderful crop of +turnips, or ruta bagas. Guano may be used to equal advantage upon all +kinds of root crops.</p> + +<p><i>Benefits to the Dairy Farmer.</i>—The beneficial use of guano in the +manufacture of butter and cheese, is unquestionable. In many districts +in England, and in some in this country, the continual cropping of grass +and conversion of it into cheese, has so exhausted the soil of its +phosphates, the milk will no longer produce the quantity of casein +necessary to make cheese making profitable. When this is the case, you +will find the cows seeking to supply the deficiency by eating bones. +Wherever guano has been used upon pasture land, it is found that cows +eat the increased luxuriant grass most greedily, and improve not only in +quantity but quality of their milk. We cannot, therefore, recommend too +earnestly, to all dairy farmers, to give their pasture lands an +immediate dressing of guano. If you have not full faith in what we are +telling you, try an experiment for yourself. Mix 200 or 300 lbs. of +guano with two or three bushels of plaster, and that with two or three +loads of charcoal dust from the bottom of some coal pit, or from burnt +peat, or<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_49" id="Page_49">[Pg 49]</a></span> swamp muck; or, if the charcoal is not attainable, use woods +mold, or powdered clay or fine loam, to any extent you can afford; and +if you can afford nothing but the guano and plaster, don't fail to +afford a dressing of that, because it will afford you a rich return. No +other manure can be used upon pasture land, to produce the same effect. +Cattle never reject the grass of guanoed land, as they do that lately +manured.</p> + +<p><i>On Flax.</i>—Experiments in England have proved guano superior to any +other substance ever applied to this crop. With the aid of this manure, +farmers will never complain of flax exhausting the soil. With 300 lbs. +per acre, successive large crops can be grown upon the same ground. It +should be plowed in, but not so deeply as for some other crops, as it is +not expected to benefit succeeding ones as much as the present. As soon +as the "flax cotton" movement now progressing is fully understood, there +will be immense fields of flax grown for that purpose, and the best and +most economical fertilizing material, and for which there will be a +large demand, will be Peruvian guano; for no good farmer will attempt to +grow a crop without it. A top dressing of 25 or 30 bushels of ashes to +the acre will be found beneficial; but farmers ought to try which is +best, more guano and less or no ashes, or the reverse. We cannot advise +rotation with this crop, where guano is used, because the ground becomes +so clean and free from weeds, it is of great advantage, and so far as we +are informed, continuous good crops result from the annual application +of the same quantity of guano, year after year.</p> + +<p><i>On Cabbages.</i>—Field culture. After the ground is well prepared, lay it +off in checks three to four feet square. With a spade, throw out a deep +spit at each check and put in a spoonful of guano, or at the rate of 400 +lbs. per acre, and cover with soil. Set the plants immediately and water +if possible. After the first hoeing, throw a handful of ashes on each +plant.</p> + +<p><i>For Carrots, Beets and Parsnips</i>, plow in 500 lbs. per acre, twelve to +eighteen inches deep. Top dress with ashes, salt, and fine manure in +compost, to assist the young plants; the long roots will find the guano +and it will produce such a crop as you never saw before.</p> + +<p><i>On Hops.</i>—Make a mixture of three cwt. of guano, one of salt, one and +a half of saltpetre, and one of gypsum, for each acre; sow broadcast and +plow in about four inches deep, and you will find your manure well paid +for, and no exhaustion of the soil, as is usually the case wherever this +crop is cultivated, as it is a very gross feeder, and requires very rich +land or great deal of manure; for which reason it is not as much +cultivated as it will be as soon as the virtues of the above application +become fully known.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_50" id="Page_50">[Pg 50]</a></span></p> + +<p><i>For Tobacco</i>, guano has been found to possess superior qualities, +particularly in obviating the difficulty heretofore experienced in +getting plants sufficiently early. We have the testimony of several +witnesses to prove that burning a seed bed is quite unnecessary, if +guano at the rate of 400 to 600 lbs. to the acre be mixed with an equal +amount of ashes, and plaster and well raked in previous to sowing. Of +the effect upon the crop, we give the testimony of a Virginia planter.</p> + +<p>"In the spring of 1850, I applied 200 lbs. to the acre, on eight acres +of land, which had been manured three years before for tobacco, and the +same quantity, on three acres which had never been manured, and was very +poor. On the last I also turned in some half rotted straw, raked up in +the barn yard, after all the farm yard manure had been hauled out. +Between these two pieces of land, 19 acres were heavily manured. The +whole 30 acres had been well broken with four horses, early in the +winter. The last year was the worst I have ever known for tobacco. +Nevertheless, the first eight acres produced a very fine crop—the last +three acres brought much better tobacco than the adjoining manured land, +I should say not less than 600 lbs. to the acre."</p> + +<p><i>Wheat on Guanoed Tobacco Land.</i>—This field was sown with wheat, and +the writer says—"I measured from these 30 acres next year upwards of +600 bushels of wheat of very fine quality; both pieces of guanoed land +being <i>above</i> the average of the whole lot. Adjoining the <i>three</i> acres +is an equal quantity of land of the same quality, which did not yield +five bushels to the acre."</p> + +<p>Of the effect upon another crop of wheat, the same gentleman says—"Two +years ago I purchased three tons, two of which I applied to 20 acres of +a James River hill, which though not gullied, had been a good deal worn +by hard croppings, or bad cultivation, or both combined. The Guano was +sowed <i>dry</i>, and on the wide rows laid off for sowing wheat, and +ploughed in with two horses, the wheat then harrowed in. I forgot to say +that the land had been fallowed in with three horses in the month of +August, and the wheat sowed in October. In consequence of the dryness of +the guano, and the width of the rows, the wheat was very much striped, +being very luxuriant where the guano fell in the largest quantities. The +product did not exceed 200 bushels, or 10 bushels to the acre, but the +quality was so superior that I saved it all for seed."</p> + +<p>"The land sowed two years ago, is now <i>striped with clover</i>, as it was +with wheat."</p> + +<p>This land is a tenacious red clay formation, from which the soil we +presume has all been washed away "long time ago." No planter, he says, +would have put such land in tobacco without heavy manuring; and yet it +produced a fair crop of tobacco. Owing to distance from na<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_51" id="Page_51">[Pg 51]</a></span>vigation, he +could not use lime, or any heavy manure, and without guano he could not +make crops, and, consequently could not make manure at home.</p> + +<p>The editor of the American Farmer, in a note says—"Our correspondent +appears to desire that his land should be brought to a state of +fertility by the <i>quickest</i> practicable process, and from the beautiful +results of his experiments with guano, we know of no agent to which he +could look with so much certainty of success as to that very manure."</p> + +<p><i>The quantity per acre for Tobacco.</i>—We should recommend at least 400 +lbs. sown broadcast and plowed in, on such land as described, not over +four inches deep. The tobacco to be followed with wheat, the wheat with +clover, the clover after one year with corn and then tobacco and guano +again. The clover should have a bushel of plaster fall and spring. +Whoever tries this will find the benefit of guano on tobacco. But there +is one still greater benefit; we have been assured that the tobacco worm +which it was supposed from his natural taste, nothing could nauseate, +actually gets sick of guano, and refuses his accustomed food.</p> + +<p><i>Another mode of applying</i> it to tobacco has been practised successfully +as follows:—Mark off the land in checks and put a small spoonful in +each check, and cover up directly under the bed where the plant is to +stand, three or four inches deep. To this a handful of ashes and plaster +may be advantageously added. Guano does not give tobacco the rank flavor +that is often acquired from high manuring.</p> + +<p>Mr. Pleasants, although many experiments have failed, principally, as he +believes, from improper application, says in a recent letter—"There is +no actual reason why guano should not act as well on tobacco as any +other crop. The failures are doubtless to be ascribed to the injudicious +manner in which it has been applied. I can conceive of only one mode in +which it can be used to advantage, and that is by strewing it along a +deep furrow as described for corn; then bedding upon it and confining +the cultivation to one direction. This has been my way of cultivating +cabbages for the market for several years, and the guano has always +acted promptly and powerfully. If chopped in at the base of the hill it +would require a great quantity of rain to dissolve it and make it +available to the young plants, for the conical shape of the hill has a +tendency to shed the rain instead of absorbing it. I expect soon to +receive very accurate results of a crop grown with guano, which Judge +Nash represented to me as splendid. If I cultivated tobacco, I should +have every confidence of success by planting it on ridges with the Guano +buried at a considerable depth, say from four to six inches beneath the +surface of the ridge—1 lb. to ten yards would be a sufficient quantity.</p> + +<p>"In short, I consider guano good for any crop. For potatoes (that is +Irish potatoes) I regard it as a specific manure. The quantity I ap<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_52" id="Page_52">[Pg 52]</a></span>ply +is 3/4 lbs. to every ten yards put in the furrows as recommended for +corn and tobacco, and then covered over about one inch with earth drawn +from the sides of the furrows. After this the potato cuttings are +planted and covered over with the plough or hoe. The quantity +recommended is about right as far as my experience goes (which is of +several years duration) if the cuttings are placed about two inches +apart."</p> + +<p><i>Guano for Cotton.</i>—But few trials upon this crop have come to our +knowledge, but such as have, indicate that it will prove one of the most +valuable promoters of the growth of this staple product of America ever +discovered. The analysis of cotton—stalk, seed and lint—compared with +that of guano, is sufficient to prove the latter to be the very matter +required to produce the former. We are assured upon the most reliable +authority that guano will give an average increase of pound for pound +upon any soil producing less than a bale per acre so that every pound of +guano costing two and a half cents, will give a pound of cotton +averaging at least 6¼ cents.</p> + +<p><i>Mode of applying on Cotton Land.</i>—Open a deep furrow and drill in the +bottom at the rate of 400 lbs. to the acre, upon land usually producing +300 to 500 lbs. seed cotton, and less for a better quality of land, down +to one-fourth the quantity. Bed on this as deep as you please; the +moisture of the earth will disengage the ammonia and phosphates, and +send their fertilizing properties up to the roots. Never use guano as a +top-dressing for cotton. The seed will be found better matured, and +consequently more valuable to manure another crop, besides being so much +easier separated from the lint, which will be found as much improved in +quality as quantity. For Sea Island planters, where manure is so +valuable and so hard to obtain, we would earnestly recommend a thorough +trial of guano. As the land for this crop is mostly prepared with hoes, +care must be taken that the servants do not neglect to bury it at the +very bottom of a good bed.</p> + +<p>From the knowledge the writer has of the culture and value of long +staple cotton, and the price and value of guano, he has no hesitation in +expressing his honest conviction that a clear profit of two to four +hundred per cent. may be made upon every dollar expended in the purchase +and proper application of guano to that crop.</p> + +<p>Guano, for all staple crops in the United States, is no longer an +experiment. It has been clearly demonstrated, to be the cheapest and +most valuable fertilizer, particularly for all poor, worn out, hard used +and exhausted soils ever discovered; which no sensible man will neglect +to profit by, as soon as he learns its value, unless prevented by deep +prejudice or strong circumstances.</p> + +<p><i>Application to Miscellaneous Crops.</i>—Under this head we will give the +experience of several individuals in various sections, soils and +climates,<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_53" id="Page_53">[Pg 53]</a></span> in hopes it may encourage the doubtful, and direct those who +are disposed to emerge from darkness into the light of scientific +agriculture. A gentleman from Warsaw, Virginia, where the soil is +generally a sandy loam, badly worn by long years of bad tillage, says, +"My wheat looks finely, especially where I applied guano last fall. I +put it in with the seed furrow about three inches deep, and also with +double plow six inches deep, harrowing in the wheat frequently side by +side. At this time I can see no difference in the wheat crop. I use a +large wooden toothed harrow extending over the bed of ten feet, and an +even soil, free from stone; they do admirable work and drill the wheat +as if put in with the drill."</p> + +<p>Willoughby Newton, whose operation we have already spoken of, says; "I +do not believe it possible to improve a farm, on the old three shift +system, of corn, wheat and pasture, without a large supply of foreign +manures. If clover can be substituted for pasture in the summer, then +the land, if not naturally poor, may be rapidly improved by the use of +lime alone, in addition to the putrescent manures that may, by proper +care, be made on the farm. On other land of less fertility, and drier, I +greatly prefer the five field system, under which, with the use of lime, +guano and clover, a rapid improvement may be effected at the same time +that heavy crops of wheat are reaped."</p> + +<p>Another writer in speaking of how to improve worn out lands, says; "Let +whatever little surplus he can spare from supplying the necessary wants +of his family be laid out in the purchase of some one of the reliable +concentrated manures. [Guano is by far the cheapest, and therefore the +best for him, if he will plow it in well]. And my observation and +experience have convinced me that he may make such improvement as will +bring him a quick return, and soon enable him to get his farm well set +in grass. This once effected, his facilities for its further improvement +will assuredly increase in a ratio just in proportion as he is careful +to pursue the course indicated. If a farmer can succeed in getting his +fields well set in grass, a large and long array of facts and experience +have proved that he may then, under a judicious course of management, +render them more and more fertile without foreign aid of any kind +whatever."</p> + +<p>The editor of the American Farmer, in deprecating the price of guano +says, "Of the efficacy of guano, in restoring worn out lands to +productiveness—of its capacity to increase the yield of any lands in a +sound condition—there cannot be a doubt; but even with all its +regenerating properties, we do think that its market value is too high. +Forty-eight dollars for a ton of 2,000 lbs. of Peruvian guano is more +than it is intrinsically worth, and should it be continued thus high, +must, we should<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_54" id="Page_54">[Pg 54]</a></span> think, limit its use, for the obvious reason, that +farmers cannot afford to pay a price for it which is so disproportionate +to its real value."</p> + +<p>Yet they do continue to pay, and make it pay a greater profit than any +other manure ever purchased. We hold to have done as much as any other +individual to reduce the price of guano, and wish as heartily as does +the editor of the Am. Farmer, it was only half the price it now is; yet, +we must counsel our readers not to wait for that cheap time coming. It +is now cheaper than it was then, and probably as low as it will be for +years; and in the hands of the present agents, the public may depend +upon a regular supply, and of genuine quality, at what the Peruvian +government deem a fair price.</p> + +<p><i>Guano for Melons and other Vines.</i>—Mr. Pleasants, of whom we have +before spoken, and whose long experience in the use of guano in +connection with a market garden, entitle him to a high degree of credit, +says, "I have been in the habit of using it for several years, and can +testify to its value, not only using it for melons, but for the whole +tribe of cucurbitacæ. The mode of application which I prefer is this; +when the ground is prepared and checked off, remove the loose soil at +the intersections of the furrows, leaving clear spaces on the substratum +of not less than eighteen inches in diameter. Upon these spaces sprinkle +guano, at the rate one pound to eight hills. Follow with a hilling or +grubbing hoe, and incorporate the guano with the subsoil; then draw the +loose earth back, and finish by chopping a small quantity, a spadeful or +less, of well rotted manure into the hill near the surface. Guano placed +near the surface, will remain almost inert, and buried deep, as I +recommended, it will be too remote from the seed to give the young +plants the quick start which is indispensable to an early crop of +melons. The small quantity of manure near the top of the hill answers +the purpose of immediate forcing, and enables the roots to strike +rapidly into the guano, when the growth of the vines will be stimulated +to such a degree as to cause them to mature their fruit a week or ten +days earlier than they would do from either guano or manure alone. +Melons equally fine may be raised from nothing but guano, applied in the +manner directed; but they will not be an early crop, from the fact that +the plants remain almost stationary until the roots reach the guano. +Last year, from such a preparation as is now recommended, I had as fine +a crop of melons as I ever saw; and they began to ripen at a very early +period in the season. Two years ago, I had them nearly or quite as good +from guano alone; but they were late. This year the crop was almost a +failure, from the wetness of the season, which caused the vines to die. +Cantelope melons, however, have produced abundantly, grown entirely with +the aid of guano. Where manure is scarce, I have no doubt an admirable +compost might be prepared, consisting of guano and rich<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_55" id="Page_55">[Pg 55]</a></span> earth. It +should be made several weeks, or even months, before it is wanted for +use; and the heap worked over frequently in order to bring it into a +suitable condition. Such a compost would doubtless supply the place in +the hill which I have assigned to the manure. For pumpkins, squashes, +cymblins and cucumbers, when it is not particularly desirable to have +them early, nothing more is necessary than to prepare the hills with +guano."</p> + +<p>The following extract from a letter of E. G. Booth, to F. C. Stainbrook, +written in that plain familiar style of one friend to another, which +characterises the man, with an evident intent to do good; though it was +not designed for publication, we give it because we believe it will do +others good, as well as the recipient. Mr. Booth confirms our opinion +often expressed, that the poor old barren fields of lower Virginia, are +really more valuable than the rich lands of the west; because, owing to +facilities of intercourse with commercial cities by water, these lands +can be bought, and cultivated by aid of guano, with more profit than the +richest prairie farm in Illinois. Mr. Booth's testimony upon the +durability of this manure, is enough to contradict all the assertions +that "it is of no use for only one crop." On his land, strangers can +easily tell where guano was applied four years previous.</p> + +<p>"Yours of the third has been received, and it affords me pleasure to +give you any information in my power. The wheat crop during the the +winter was very unpromising. There was a general complaint that it was +too thin. The Poland wheat (most generally sown in this neighborhood,) +is said to branch more than other kinds, and I regard the present +prospect of the wheat crop as flattering, particularly where guano was +used. It is now a fixed fact, that no poor land ought to be cultivated +without guano, by any person who can command the money or credit to buy +it. It is remarkable that it pays a much better profit, or per cent. on +the investment, on poor land, than rich. I was inclined for some time to +believe that the difference was really in appearance alone. The +difference of five bushels increase on land which without it would bring +only fifteen—or in other words, an increase from fifteen to twenty +bushels to the acre, would not be very perceptible, while an increase of +five bushels on land previously making only five, would be very evident. +Still, the real increase would be five bushels in each case. I am now +however, decidedly of the opinion that it pays a much larger per cent. +on poor than rich land; because it supplies that in which poor land is +deficient, and of which rich land may have enough. I have it now in +strips on a clover fallow, scarcely showing any difference. I last +applied it on about the poorest land on my plantation, and the product +was remarkable. This circumstance much reduces the difference between +the value of poor and rich land, and admonishes us that there<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_56" id="Page_56">[Pg 56]</a></span> is not a +plot in our wide extended surface, which need be abandoned or neglected. +We can, if we manage properly, support a population which will out vote +the West in 1865. There is another fact which experience confirms, that +is it is much more durable than at first supposed. My visitors have been +able to point out the strips of land on which it was sown, four years +after its application. I noticed a very evident effect on the farm of +Mr. William Fitzgerald, a few days ago. He last year put it in drills, +and hilled on them for tobacco, in the fall the whole surface was sown +in wheat, which is now growing in ridges corresponding with the furrows +where it was placed.</p> + +<p>"While on the subject I will mention another fact different from first +impressions, viz: that it is more productive, (the first crop, at +least,) when harrowed in with the grain, on the surface, than when +turned in very deep. I have yet to satisfy myself which is most durable. +In the experiment which lasted four years, I think it was turned in. The +purchases the ensuing fall will be very large. Those who were most +incredulous are now going in largely. A very intelligent and +enterprising friend of mine, who has been improving his land judiciously +and profitably in this way, related to me an anecdote which occurred to +him. He had two neighbors remarkable for their judgment and success in +farming as well as other things, who, however, were inclined to +underrate his expenditure of money in these elements of improvement. +They knew he had purchased and used a ton of guano, and thought they +knew where he had used the whole of it. They went, not exactly by night, +but rather privately, to examine into the result. They made their +observations and calculations, and agreed that he had got his money +back, but no profit worthy consideration, and were only confirmed in +their opposition to such an expenditure. The truth was, however, that +only about one eighth of the ton had been used where they calculated for +the whole. One of these gentlemen, I am informed, is now about the +largest purchaser of such articles in the county; and perhaps the other +also, though I have not been informed."</p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h2><a name="PLASTER_WITH_GUANO" id="PLASTER_WITH_GUANO"></a>PLASTER WITH GUANO.</h2> + + +<p>A Virginia farmer, in a letter of December 1847, in speaking of using +plaster with guano, and the effect says—"I am a firm believer in the +merits of the mixture, and always use it. I have used it on turnips with +decided effect, as decided as that following any application of guano I +ever saw. Several farmers of my acquaintance used the mixture of guano +and plaster, and stable manure and plaster habitually, like myself, and +one told me he used it half and half, producing the most marked effect +on wheat, and that a neighbor of his had used it in the same pro<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_57" id="Page_57">[Pg 57]</a></span>portion +with the same effect—the usual surprising effect of guano. For myself, +I used some $400 worth of guano on wheat this fall, the whole of it +mixed with plaster. I believe the effect of the mixture will not be so +vigorous on the first crop, as guano by itself—the plaster husbanding +the ammonia for succeeding crops, upon which the mixture, (if the theory +be correct,) will have more effect than guano unmixed, that being +exhausted by the first crop."</p> + +<p>A gentleman after making sundry careful experiments with plaster and +carbonate of ammonia, thus expresses his conclusions—"These experiments +prove to me that no matter in what state, (whether <i>wet</i>, <i>moist</i>, or +<i>dry</i>,) plaster is presented to guano, or any other manure from which +the carbonate of ammonia is escaping, it must retain a certain amount of +ammonia that would otherwise be lost in the atmosphere."</p> + +<p>The editor of the American Farmer says—"If the soil be poor, and it be +desired to permanently improve it, at least four hundred pounds of +guano, without respect to the fixer used, should be spread <i>broadcast</i>, +on every acre of it, and plowed in to the full depth of the furrow. If +the land be in moderate heart, three hundred pounds will be enough per +acre. Where the soil may be good, two hundred will be sufficient. These +quantities, as the reader will observe, have relation to broadcast +applications, as all should be where general improvement is +contemplated; if compelled to confine his experiments on corn to +applications in the hill, a form of manuring, we have ever disapproved, +two hundred pounds, or even one hundred of guano, will manure an acre, +mixed with a bushel of plaster, five bushels of slaked ashes, and a +double horse cart of wood mould more effective than ten loads of manure +applied in the hill."</p> + +<p>Yes, as has been proved by careful experiment made in England, more than +fourteen tons of manure. The editor also says, what we have so often +repeated—"We hold these to be agricultural truths—that guano is most +beneficially applied, when ploughed in as spread on the the earth, never +less than four inches deep—and better, for permanent effect, to be +ploughed in deeper, say six to eight inches—where it may be desirable +only to bury it four inches deep, the land should be previously ploughed +as deep as the furrow can be turned up, and the guano applied at a +second ploughing—that all top-dressings with guano are wasteful, +inasmuch, as from the volatile nature of the more active parts of the +manure, great loss must inevitably result from all such applications, +and because, more moisture than is to be found on the surface, is +necessary to excite, and carry on, that healthful progressive state of +decomposition, which is required to render guano most available for +present production and future improvement.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_58" id="Page_58">[Pg 58]</a></span></p> + +<p>"We do not hesitate to express the opinion, that when properly used, as +an adjunct to lime or marl, that it will bring up any sound worn out +land, to at least its original degree, if not a greater degree of +fertility; provided its application be followed by clover. We believe +that, when properly applied to land, either limed or marled the previous +year, it will add twenty-five, thirty, and, in some instances, forty per +cent. to the product of wheat; besides infusing into the soil, the +capacity to grow luxuriant crops of clover, and thus fit it for +profitable future culture. If it will do this, and we are certain it +will, then it will achieve all that any agriculturist can reasonably +expect of it, or of any other fertilizing agent; and we are very sure +there is no other manure equally efficacious, within the reach of +farmers and planters.</p> + +<p>"Guano differs much in quality; that from Peru, is confessedly best of +any which has yet been submitted to actual experiment by agriculturists, +or tested by the analysis of chemists, being much richer in its +nitrogenous element, than either the Patagonian or African variety."</p> + +<p>He also says—"400 lbs. of guano and 1 bushel of plaster, will ensure a +good crop of corn, so will 200 lbs. guano and eight bushels of bone +earth, or 20 bushels of bone earth, 10 bushels of ashes and 1 bushel of +plaster. Each to be ploughed in."</p> + +<p>Much more might be said in favor of using plaster with guano, or some +other fixer of ammonia, wherever it is exposed, on or near the surface. +We add a few more extracts mainly to show that deep ploughing, and +plentiful manuring, are the sure guarantee of bountiful crops. +Bone-dust, except when used in the drill, should always be harrowed in. +It should be put in bulk with other matters, and excited into an +incipient state of decomposition before being used.</p> + +<p>Guano should always be ploughed in, if practicable. Harrowing and +cultivating in guano "have been practised both in this country and in +England, by intelligent farmers; and in various instances have been +spoken approvingly of, success having attended such applications in +single crops; but we doubt whether much, if any permanent benefit were +done to the soil, in qualifying it for the production of the subsequent +crops of a course of rotation. In Peru it is used topically, but such +applications are always followed by immediate irrigations of the soils +to which it is applied, the Peruvians acting upon the philosophical +principal, whether they comprehend its theory or not, that to secure the +nutrient properties of this active fertilizer to their growing crops, it +is essential that they provide an absorbent, and that they find in the +water furnished by their processes of irrigation. Experience, practice, +and irrigation have taught them, that unless they cause the carbonate of +ammonia, and the various compound substances with which it exists in the +guano, to descend speedily to the roots of their plants, that from the +vo<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_59" id="Page_59">[Pg 59]</a></span>latility of its more active and efficient elements, they will be +expelled by the heat of the sun, escape into the air, and be lost for +all the purposes of vegetable growth.</p> + +<p>"But in view of the whole ground, taking into consideration the +evanescent nature of any ammonia in guano in the compounds in which it +exists, to be converted into that form, we honestly believe, that so far +as lasting benefit to the land may be concerned, guano should be +ploughed in.</p> + +<p>"In all tolerably good Guano, there is a sufficiency of the carbonate +already formed to carry on healthful vegetation, and therefore, it is +best to place it sufficiently deep to prevent the waste of an element so +essential to the growth of plants, and so liable to loss.</p> + +<p>"It is possible where the soil had been, by repeated harrowings, reduced +to a state of very fine tilth, that guano may be covered sufficiently +deep with the Cultivator to become mixed with, and consequently be +absorbed by the vegetable remains of the earth, and thus be prevented +from loss by escape of its volatile gases; especially would this be the +case, if the process of cultivating it in, were soon after followed by +penetrating rains. In admitting this, we still adhere to the opinion, +that so far as permanent benefits are concerned, the most economical +mode of applying guano to the earth, is by the plough.</p> + +<p>"As soon as the guano is ploughed in, the wheat should be sowed and +harrowed in, in the usual way. In our climate we can sow wheat on the +poorest corn ground late in November and have as fine a crop, and +harvest it as soon, as we can obtain from well prepared and fallowed +without guano sowed early in the season, For every 100 lbs. of guano, +not exceeding 250 lbs. we calculate on reaping of an average season from +six to seven bushels, sometimes eight. From a greater quantity though +the product will be increased, yet it will not be increased in the same +proportion, and 200 lbs will also be sufficient for the production of +two good grass crops following the wheat and will then leave the land in +an improved condition."</p> + +<p><i>Charcoal and Guano.</i>—The benefit of charcoal with guano will be +understood from the following extract from "Scientific Agriculture," on +the nature of charcoal and its use as a manure.—"Charcoal on account of +its power of absorbing gases and destroying offensive odors, is a +valuable addition to the soil; its operation as a manure is not so +direct as some other manures; that is, it is not so useful on account of +any element it furnishes to plants, as by the intermediate office which +it performs, of absorbing and retaining in the soil those volatile +matters which plants require, and which would otherwise escape and be +lost. It is beneficial as a top-dressing, and as an ingredient in +composts; it evolves carbonic acid in its decomposition, and is in this +way directly<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_60" id="Page_60">[Pg 60]</a></span> useful to plants. Its powerful antiseptic properties +render it very useful to young and tender plants, by keeping the soil +free of putrifying substances, which would otherwise destroy their +spongioles and prevent their growth."</p> + +<p>And its capacity to absorb many times its bulk of gaseous matter, will +always give it value as an absorbent of escaping ammonia from surface +dressings of guano.</p> + +<p>The editor of the Farmer also says—"In our climate, we should be +opposed to all topical applications of any strongly concentrated manure +like guano by itself,—and, indeed we should, under all circumstances, +prefer to have it ploughed in, if practicable; but as we presume our +correspondent has been prevented by circumstances, from using guano at +the time of ploughing for wheat; and of course, must avail himself of +the next best plan of deriving benefit from its use, we would advise, +him next spring, as soon as the frost is out of the ground, and it is in +a state to bear a team; to mix, in the proportion of 100 lbs. of guano, +one bushel of fine charcoal, and one peck of plaster per acre, then to +sow the mixture over his wheat field, lightly harrow the ground, and +finish by rolling; and we have no hesitation in saying, that his wheat +crop will be benefitted more than twice the cost of the manure. We say +to him farther that he need not fear injuring his wheat plants by the +operation of harrowing and rolling; for, on the contrary, it will act as +a working, and prove of decided advantage. We feel very certain that the +admixture of charcoal and plaster with guano, together with the covering +it will receive by the harrowing, will prevent any material loss of the +ammoniacal principles of the latter; as independent of the affinity +existing between charcoal, plaster, and all nitrogeneous bodies, they +will be greatly aided by the vital principle of the plants themselves. +We are not, however, left to the lights of theory alone, in this matter, +but have the experience of the Honorable Mr. Pearce, of Kent county, of +this State, to guide us to a practical result,—he used, some years +since, a top-dressing of guano and plaster upon his wheat field, and was +rewarded by a large increase of crop."</p> + +<p>A correspondent says—"I am satisfied from experience and observation in +the use of guano for the last twelve years, that the best method, +decidedly, of applying it to our crops in this dry climate, is to plow +and spade it into the ground; and autumn is the best season for doing +this, as it gives time for the pungent salts contained in the guano to +get thoroughly mixed with the soil before spring planting. Do not fear +to lose the guano, by plowing it as deep as you please—it will not run +away, depend upon it. At the south it loses half its virtue if not +plowed in at least three inches deep; six to twelve inches would be +still better.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_61" id="Page_61">[Pg 61]</a></span></p> + +<p>"Spread broadcast on grass land, late in the fall or early in the spring, +if not plowed in before sowing buckwheat, rye or wheat, then spread it +broadcast after sowing the grain, and harrow well and roll the land. +This last operation is quite important."</p> + +<p><i>Value of Guano on account of its Phosphates.</i>—He who wishes to have +the best grazing grounds, where he can present the richest and most +nutritious herbage to his cattle, will keep his ground well supplied or +manured with guano that abounds in phosphates, knowing that it will +supply the needed nutriment to the grass, and by the grass to the +cattle; and thus his stock will be kept in a high condition and full +flesh, either for the farm or the market.</p> + +<p>Again; he who raises wheat, corn, or other grains, has an equal +inducement to look to it that his manures are abundantly impregnated +with these essential elements. Phosphates, so available to the raiser of +stock, are equally so to the producer of grain; because the size, +richness, and nutritious qualities of the grain depend largely on the +presence of these in the soil. A farmer, therefore, has a vital interest +in this matter, and should obtain what best suits his purpose. The most +intelligent English farmers are so well convinced on this point, that +substances containing only ten per cent. of phosphate of lime, are +sought after, dissolved in sulphuric acid and water, and sprinkled on +the soil. Bone dust also is used, and to a certain extent, is available, +because one of the principal constituents of bones, is phosphate of +lime. But the article in which the phosphates are the most convenient, +because the most minutely distributed, is guano; and this, when +judiciously used, must find favor wherever it can be obtained.</p> + +<p>That which contains a large proportion of phosphates, in combination +with ammonia, nitrogen and alkaline salts, apparently in the exact +proportion required by nature, such as analysis and experience proves is +the case with Peruvian guano, will be sought after by every farmer who +reads the evidence of its value which we have given in these pages.</p> + +<p>It is idle to talk of bones to restore the waste of phosphates in the +soil that is being constantly carried away in grass and grain, beef, +pork, mutton, milk and cheese, much of which passes into the sea from +the sewers of cities, to be there retained in that great reservoir for +the future use of men. It is from that we are now drawing our present +supplies. Happily for mankind in all civilized countries, the discovery +of guano has, in a providential manner, met the very wants of the times, +in reference to the reinvigoration of certain kinds of soil, since this +manure furnishes the elements most needed to supply the waste arising +from cultivation, and to develop vegetation.</p> + +<p>The impossibility of procuring bones enough to supply the wants of the +comparative few now engaged in using guano, may be readily learned<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_62" id="Page_62">[Pg 62]</a></span> by +any farmer who uses ten tons of guano per annum, if he will undertake to +"pick up bones" enough to furnish him the same amount of phosphates +contained in that quantity of guano. Then if all who are now using it, +would drop guano and take to bones, it would soon be found to be hard +picking. Save all the bones and apply them to the soil, is a standing +text with us; upon the same soil use all the guano your can procure and +you will not need to pick bones—you will grow bones to pick. It may be +very patriotic to talk about expending the money at home, for bones, +instead of sending it to Peru, for guano; but that talk is all for +Buncombe, there is not a particle of sound reason in it. If all the +bones in the United States could be saved and applied to the land again, +we should still fall short of a supply, and be obliged to do as England +did before the introduction of guano; go about and ransack grave yards +of great battlefields, for more bones. With all the guano imported, or +that will be imported, and all the bones that will be saved, there will +still be room for more phosphates in the millions of acres of hungry +soil in America. What would be the effect if a few such farms as +Willoughby Newton's, and Col. Carter's, who each use 30 to 40 tons per +annum of guano, should come all at once into the bone market for their +supplies. In our opinion there would be such a rattling among the dry +bones, we should hear no more about substituting them for guano. The +fact is an incontrovertible one, that nothing on earth nor under the +earth, or in the sea, has ever been discovered, which can be used as a +substitute for guano. Its small bulk is alone sufficient to commend it +to favor.</p> + +<p>The Royal Agricultural Society of England offers a prize of £1,000 and +the gold medal of the society, for the discovery of a manure with equal +fertilizing properties to the guano, of which an unlimited supply can be +furnished in England, at £5 per ton.</p> + +<p>"<i>Analogy between Bones and Guano.</i>—There is a striking analogy in +composition between bones and guano, which is, for other reasons +interesting to the practical man.</p> + +<p>The following table exhibits the composition of bones compared with +guano, supposing both in the dry state. Bones, as they are applied to to +the land contain about 18 per cent. of water. Ichaboe guano from 20 to +25 per cent.</p> + + + +<div class='centered'> +<table border="0" cellpadding="2" width="60%" cellspacing="0" summary="Bones compared with guano"> +<tr><td align='left'> </td><th align='right'><i>Bones.</i></th><th align='right'><i>Guano.</i></th></tr> +<tr><td align='left'>Organic animal matter,</td><td align='right'>33</td><td align='right'>56</td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'>Phosphates of lime and magnesia,</td><td align='right'>59</td><td align='right'>26</td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'>Carbonate of lime,</td><td align='right'>4</td><td align='right'>6</td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'>Salts of soda,</td><td align='right'>4</td><td align='right'>10</td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'>Salts of potash,</td><td align='right'>trace</td><td align='right'>trace</td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'>Silicious matter</td><td align='right'>0</td><td align='right'>2</td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'> </td><td align='right'>——</td><td align='right'>——</td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'> </td><td align='right'>100</td><td align='right'>100"</td></tr> +</table></div> + + +<p>And these substances are found in guano already in a pulverulent state, +while bones have to be reduced by mechanical or chemical means to the +same condition before they are of any use as manure. Do not, we again +repeat most emphatically, do not waste a bone; dissolve all you can get +in sulphuric acid and mix with guano—save and make all the manure +possible, both by the stable, compost heap and green crops, and then you +will have money to buy guano, by which you can save the immense labor of +hauling to distant fields, and still have the satisfaction of seeing +them as fertile as those highly manured near home.</p> + +<p>When the farmer raises crops for sale, and removes his grain and grasses +from the land, he sells a portion of his soil; and if he does not renew +in some way the saline matters taken away in his crops, he invariably +impoverishes his farm. This work of exhaustion is now going on to an +alarming extent, and the prolific wheat lands are to be searched for +farther and farther westward as the operation proceeds.</p> + +<p>Every one knows the superiority of wheat grown on newly cultivated +lands, and most farmers are aware of the fact that soils become +exhausted of something, they know not what, but of something essential +to the most favorable production of grain. This something is found in +guano, and by it the original fertility of land can be more easily, more +certainly and cheaply restored than by any other means as yet +discovered.</p> + +<p>Professor Mapes in one of his letters of advice says; "As no farm, under +ordinary usage, will supply as much manure as may be used upon it with +profit, I am glad you intend to use guano, as it is an admirable manure, +replete with many requirements of plants. The ammonia of the guano is in +the form of a carbonate, and therefore so volatile as to escape from the +soil into the atmosphere before plants can use it.</p> + +<p>"You will readily perceive, therefore, that the sulphuric and phosphoric +acids require amendments, and the ammonia should be changed from a +carbonate to a sulphate of ammonia, which is not volatile. All this may +be readily done by dissolving bone dust in dilute sulphuric acid, mixing +it with the guano, and then with a sufficient amount of charcoal dust to +render the mass dry and pulverulent. The more charcoal dust the better, +as it absorbs and retains ammonia, and after it is in the soil, will +continue to perform similar offices for many years, only yielding up +ammonia as required by plants, and receiving new portions from rains, +dews, &c."</p> + +<p>If used as a top dressing, this change from a carbonate to a sulphate +may be necessary; but not so if well mixed with the soil, particularly +one in which clay predominates. In such a soil it is not even necessary +to adhere to the direction to plow the guano deeply under. If it is but +slightly harrowed in, the nature of the clay is such it will prevent +the<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_64" id="Page_64">[Pg 64]</a></span> escape of the ammonia. If you require phosphates, more than +ammonia, add the superphosphate of lime; but in no case omit the guano.</p> + +<p><i>Use of Salt with Guano.</i>—Common salt at the rate of a bushel to 100 +lbs. of guano, well mixed, may be used to good advantage either as a top +dressing, or when plowed in. The effect of the muriatic acid of the salt +upon the guano will be, as both are dissolved in the earth, or by dews +and rains, to form muriate of ammonia, which is not volatile; +consequently the salt prevents loss by exhaustion, which is sure to take +place when the guano is used as a top dressing, unless prevented by +something to act as a fixer of the ammonia.</p> + +<p>The wisdom of this law of nature in making the most precious saline +manure a fixed and difficultly soluble salt, is at once obvious; for it +is thus kept always ready in the soil for the plants to act upon +according to their need. If we cut plants down before the seeds form, we +have all the phosphates the plants contain diffused throughout them, and +if we allow the seed to ripen, the phosphates, as before observed, will +be found mostly in the seed. We find them in the state of phosphate of +potash, phosphate of soda, phosphate of magnesia, and phosphate of lime, +and probably, also, phosphate of ammonia. Now all these salts are +essential to the growth and sustenance of animals, and without them +grain would cease to be sufficient.</p> + +<p>The necessity of restoring inorganic substances to the soil, may be +better understood by examining the following table:</p> + +<p>Mr. Prixdeaux states that the following quantities (of inorganic +matters) are removed from an acre of soil by a crop of wheat, of 25 +bushels of grain, and 3000 lbs. of straw—</p> + + + +<div class='centered'> +<table border="0" cellpadding="2" width="60%" cellspacing="0" summary="Mr. Prixdeaux states"> +<tr><td align='left'> </td><th align='right'><i>By the grain.</i></th><th align='right'><i>By the straw.</i></th><th align='right'><i>Total.</i></th></tr> +<tr><td align='left'> </td><td align='right'>lbs.</td><td align='right'>lbs.</td><td align='right'>lbs.</td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'>Potash,</td><td align='right'>7.15</td><td align='right'>22.44</td><td align='right'>29.59</td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'>Soda,</td><td align='right'>2.73</td><td align='right'>0.29</td><td align='right'>3.02</td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'>Magnesia,</td><td align='right'>3.63</td><td align='right'>6.99</td><td align='right'>10.62</td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'>Phosphoric acid,</td><td align='right'>15.02</td><td align='right'>5.54</td><td align='right'>20.56</td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'>Sulphuric acid,</td><td align='right'>0.07</td><td align='right'>10.49</td><td align='right'>10.56</td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'>Chlorine</td><td align='right'>0.00</td><td align='right'>1.98</td><td align='right'>1.98</td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'> </td><td align='right'>——</td><td align='right'>——</td><td align='right'>——</td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'> </td><td align='right'>28.60</td><td align='right'>47.73</td><td align='right'> </td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'>Gross weight to be returned to an acre,</td><td align='left'> </td><td align='left'> </td><td align='right'>76.33</td></tr> +</table></div> + + +<p>Professor Johnson says—"Soils are barren either from the presence of a +noxious principle or the absence of a necessary element. It is therefore +highly important to be able to distinguish between the two cases.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_65" id="Page_65">[Pg 65]</a></span></p> + +<p>"The art of culture is almost entirely a chemical art. Its processes are +explained on chemical principals in part, but partly on mechanical and +natural ones.</p> + +<p>"All forms of matter may be divided into one of the two great +groups—organic or inorganic matter."</p> + +<p>In Peruvian guano, both these substances exist in a better and cheaper +form than can be obtained from any other source.</p> + +<p>The editor of the Genesee farmer, whose scientific information none can +dispute, strongly corroborates this opinion. In a late number he +says—If we admit that phosphate of lime is a necessary ingredient in a +special manure for wheat—Peruvian guano would at present be much the +cheapest source of it; for, in addition to the 16 per cent. of ammonia, +it contains 20 per cent. of phosphate of lime in first-rate condition +for assimilation by the plant, as well as other fertilizing ingredients +of minor importance.</p> + +<p>As a manure for wheat, therefore, we greatly prefer good Peruvian guano, +even to the <i>improved</i> superphosphate of lime.</p> + +<p><i>Difference in favor of Guano over Bone dust.</i>—Robert Monteith, +England, dressed oat ground with 276 lbs. guano per acre, cost 31 +shillings, produce 59 bushels, value £7 7s 6d. Same quality of land with +10 bushels bone dust, cost 23 shillings and fourpence, produced 43 +bushels value £5 7s 6d, which gives a balance in favor of guano of £1 +12s 4d, or about $7 50 per acre.</p> + +<p><i>Difference in favor of Guano over Manure.</i>—The Yorkshire Agricultural +Society of England, instituted a series of experiments several years ago +for the purpose of working out practical facts in relation to guano, +through a series of crops, upon different soils, by different persons, +upon whose report the utmost reliance might be placed, so as to +determine the value, or advantage to British farmers, who might use this +extraordinary fertilizer. This report has just been published, and the +following is a synopsis of the results. The experiments were arranged +under the following heads—</p> + +<p>1. To show the natural produce of the land, one part was to have no +manure whatever.</p> + +<p>2. Was to have twelve tons per acre of farm-yard dung.</p> + +<p>3. Was to have six tons of dung, and one cwt. each of guano and +dissolved coprolites; and</p> + +<p>4. Was to have two cwt. of guano and two cwt. of the coprolites.</p> + +<p>Other substances might be tried as additions, but these were to be the +standard experiments.</p> + +<p>Mr. Cholmeley's turnips, grown on a loamy soil had the heaviest crop on +No. 3, the dung, coprolite, and guano, beating the farm-yard manure by +some 5¾ tons per acre.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_66" id="Page_66">[Pg 66]</a></span></p> + +<p>Mr. Johnson's experiments were tried with various manures singly; and +his Peruvian guano gave the greatest weight of the class of substances +tried; but 10 cubic yards of farm-yard manure had previously been +applied to the whole land.</p> + +<p>Mr. Maulevere's heaviest weight, also applied singly, was with the 12 +tons of dung; but only 14 cwt. more than the dressing with 2 cwt. of +coprolites. This soil was a light clay.</p> + +<p>Mr. Newham's on a limestone soil, were the heaviest with No. 3—the +same as Mr. Cholmeley's—and were 16 cwt. heavier than an application of +dung alone.</p> + +<p>Mr. Outhwaite's, on a hungry gravel, were the heaviest, with 9¾ tons +of dung and 2 cwt. of guano, for all the land had been dunged at this +rate, and exceeded 14½ tons of dung by 2 tons 9 cwt. per acre.</p> + +<p>Mr. Scott's were the heaviest on No. 4,—the guano and coprolites, and 1 +ton 7 cwt. more than 20 tons of dung,—his soil was a strong loam.</p> + +<p>Mr. Wailes's were the heaviest, with 4 cwt. of coprolites, showing an +increase over 20 tons of dung of 2 tons 9 cwt. per acre; the soil is a +useful loam.</p> + +<p>The first fact which strikes the observer, is, that as a general rule, +there is not only an addition to the crop by the addition of those +artificial manures, but there is, in some cases, more absolute crop +produced by them than by farm-yard manure alone.</p> + +<p>Now to bring this to the test of figures, the coprolites at £5 per ton, +and the guano at £10 per ton, will be at the rate of 2 cwt of each, £1 +10s per acre. Now assuming this to be equal to 20 tons of dung per acre, +we should require to be able to produce the dung at 1s 6d per ton to +cost us the same money. But it can be neither produced nor purchased at +any such money. In the whole of the cases referred to, the manure is +most costly, and yet we find hardly any case where there is not an +addition to the crop, of say two to three tons of turnips per acre, by +such an increase of manure as the guano. Now, if a ton of turnips be +worth 10s., or even 9s, there is at once an element of repayment; for, +if a soil be in a condition to give a large crop of turnips, it is +almost certain to be capable of giving a large crop of any other plant +to succeed.</p> + +<p>Mr. Charnock gives it as the result of his practical experience, that 4 +cwt. of Peruvian guano, without manure, is the cheapest and best mode of +growing turnips; but the general testimony seems to be decidedly in +favor of what all farmers find it the best and easiest to do, viz., to +add a small quantity of artificial manure to that which the farm will +supply, and so to spread the whole over the land, rather than put all +the dung in one place, and all the artificial manure in another.</p> + +<p>No one can doubt the true statement of this report, which proves $7 50. +worth of guano equal to 20 tons of manure—reducing the worth<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_67" id="Page_67">[Pg 67]</a></span> of that +to one shilling and sixpence—about 34 cents—per ton, or one dollar a +cord. Now, as manure is often estimated in this country by the cord, and +valued at about $4, and applied at the rate of 6 cords per acre, it +follows that a saving of $14 50 per acre may be made by using 250 lbs. +of guano instead of purchasing the manure. This Yorkshire experiment +exactly corresponds with those made in this country, some of which we +have detailed, and which proves that a farmer cannot buy manure at the +common selling prices; and if he hauls his own the distance of a mile, +he will expend more value of time, than it is worth to him on the land; +because the same value of time—"time is money"—expended for guano, +will bring him better returns. In this, as before stated, we are +confirmed by Professor Mapes; and here is the opinion of Mr. Hovey of +Boston, the eminent horticulturist, which we find in the August No. of +his magazine, as follows—</p> + +<p>"If, after such evidence as this, farmers will continue to buy ashes at +eight cents a bushel, or manure at three to six dollars a cord, +including carting, and use them alone, then let them do so, but they +should not complain that their crop cost more than it comes to. To +orchardists and fruit growers, this information is of the greatest +value, and we trust they will not let it pass unheeded."</p> + +<p>This opinion is valuable because it has been stoutly asserted, that +however well guano might answer at the South, it was of no use in the +hard soil and cold climate of New England. This is a fallacy which will +soon be cured by knowledge, and self-interest is a very strong prompter +towards the acquisition of the knowledge, that guano is the best, +cheapest, most suitable, convenient and productive manure ever used by a +New England farmer, and just as suitable for that climate and soil as it +is for Virginia. We assert, without fear of successful contradiction, +that there is not a farm—not a field—covered with five-finger vines +and mullens, in the State of Massachusetts, which may not be made to +produce as profitable crops, by the use of guano, as any Connecticut +river farm. Farmers are about the hardest class of men in the world to +learn new doctrines; or that science has anything to do with the +business of this life, and what all other life in a civilized country is +dependent upon. Yet science teaches, by unerring truths, that the plants +the farmer cultivates, are composed of carbon, obtained by plants +chiefly from the soil and atmosphere; oxygen and hydrogen, obtained by +plants chiefly from water, carbonic acid, &c.; nitrogen obtained by +plants chiefly from manure, and also from rain and snow; silicium, in +combination with oxygen, called <i>silicia</i> or sand; lime in combination +with phosphoric and other acids; potash and soda in combination with +acids; magnesia, in combination with acids, and various oxides of +metals, the presence of which, however, is not very important, as they +ex<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_68" id="Page_68">[Pg 68]</a></span>ist in an exceedingly small quantity. And that guano is composed of +ammonia (formed of nitrogen and hydrogen,) combined with carbonic, +oxalic, phosphoric, and other acids; lime, combined with phosphoric +oxalic, and other acids; potash and soda, combined with muriatic and +sulphuric acids; magnesia, combined with phosphoric and other acids; +animal organic matter, containing carbon, and also nitrogen.</p> + +<p>Now, is it not enough to prove that all the ingredients, with the +exception of the metallic oxides, exist in guano, which are required by +the plants grown for the sustenance of man.</p> + +<p>Putting guano into the soil, therefore, as a manure, is clearly +restoring to the earth those substances which plants abstract from it, +and which are absolutely necessary for their growth.</p> + +<p>The questions, then, which the farmer should now ask are, "which is best +for me to buy, guano or coarse manure?" The evidence just given answers +that question. "I have manure, teams, and men to haul it; my fields are +from one to three miles distant, is it economy for me to let my teams +lay idle and buy guano?" By no means. But you can probably employ men +and teams in other improvements to much better advantage. With your +manure make all your home lots exceedingly rich. With your men and teams +clear off stones, dig ditches to put them into, drain your land, or +build fence—bring bog meadows and swamps into dry cultivation—send +every little brook through artificial channels for irrigation—send +water up from lowland springs and streams by hydraulic rams for the same +purpose, and for stock on the hills; or bring it down from hillsides if +you are so situated; and buy guano for those distant fields, instead of +wasting time in the laborious operation of hauling manure. Those who use +guano, are enabled by the saving of time, to say nothing of their +increased profits, to make improvements which are utterly impossible to +accomplish under the old system.</p> + +<p><i>How to choose Guano.</i>—As we are satisfied no sensible reader can have +perused the preceding pages, without having come to the determination to +make a trial for himself, we will give him some general instructions +about buying guano.</p> + +<p>In the first place, we lay it down as an incontrovertible axiom, that +the Peruvian guano, at the current price for years of that and all +other, is the cheapest and best, because it contains the largest amount +of ammonia, in a perfectly dry state; as a carbonate, true, but because +dry, it is permanent and not likely to loose by volatilization by long +keeping.</p> + +<p>If other varieties contain a larger proportion of phosphates, and are +sold at a less price, experience proves they are not cheaper. If an +additional quantity of phosphates is desirable, it can be obtained in a +cheaper form from dissolved bones, or bone dust and shavings of bone +workers; or from mineral phosphates of lime. Recollect, guano under<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_69" id="Page_69">[Pg 69]</a></span> no +other name, has ever equalled the Peruvian, in the results as compared +with the quality or cost.</p> + +<p>Therefore buy none but Peruvian. To guard against deception, be careful +of whom you buy. If you cannot buy directly from the agents, be sure the +character of your merchant is a sufficient guarantee against +adulteration.</p> + +<p><i>To test the quality of Guano.</i>—The best test is the price. Unlike +other merchandise, this article is not subject to fluctuations. Being a +government monopoly, the price at which the agents are to sell here is +fixed in Peru, and that price may be easily known; therefore, if any +dealer offers you Peruvian guano at "a reduced price," you may be sure +the quality is reduced also. Remember, that the lowest price by the ship +load, it can be procured for of the agents in Baltimore or New York is +$46 per ton of 2240 lbs. To this, every fair, honest dealer, must add +freight, insurance and profit. Every man who sells without such +addition, you may be sure will make his profit by short weight or +adulteration.</p> + +<p>The next best test is its appearance. Good Peruvian guano is an +impalpable powder, perfectly dry to the touch, of a uniform brownish +yellow color, with a strong smell, like that of spirits of hartshorn, +contained in ammoniacal smelling bottles. But the smell is no test; that +which smells strongest may be worst, as the ammonia may be disengaged by +moisture or by the addition of lime or salt.</p> + +<p><i>The adulteration of guano</i> is carried to a great extent in England, and +probably will be in this country. The principal adulterations are made +by the addition of loam, marl, sand, plaster, old lime, ashes, chalk, +salt, moisture, and by mixture with other guano of a cheaper quality. +The farmer need not depend upon the assertion, "this is a genuine +article—here is the inspector's certificate." We would not give a straw +for a corn basket full of certificates of analysis. The buyer must +analyse for himself. Mr. Nesbit, analytical chemist, London, has just +published a pamphlet from which we have condensed some very plain, +short, simple rules for testing the quality of guano. As the +adulterating substances are generally heavier than the guano, they may +be detected by a comparison of weight and measure. To do this, get a +small glass tube closed at one end, and weigh accurately an ounce of +pure guano, put it in the tube and carefully mark the hight it +fills—try several samples—if there is any difference, mark it. Now +weigh an ounce from a sample adulterated with one fourth its bulk of any +or all the preceding list of articles used for that purpose, and you +will find the difference of bulk between that and the genuine, very +perceptible.</p> + +<p><i>Test by Burning.</i>—Guano burnt to ashes at a red heat will leave an ash +of a pearly white appearance, not varying in weight from 30 to 35 per<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_70" id="Page_70">[Pg 70]</a></span> +cent. of the quantity burnt. If it is adulterated with marl, sand, clay, +&c., the ash will be about 60 or 65 per cent, of the weight tested, and +be colored with the iron always present in the adulterating substances, +and which is never found in pure guano. This test, to be accurate, must +be done with a nice pair of scales and a platinum cup, which may be +heated over a spirit lamp. Ten grains of the guano are placed in the +platinum cup, which is held by the tongs in the flame of the spirit lamp +for several minutes, until the greater part of the organic matter is +burnt away. It is allowed to cool for a short time, and a few drops of a +strong solution of nitrate of ammonia added, to assist in consuming the +carbon in the residue. The cup is again heated, (taking care to prevent +its boiling over, or losing any of the ash,) until the moisture is quite +evaporated. A full red heat must then be given it, when, if the guano be +pure, the ash will be pearly white, and will not exceed 3½ grains in +weight. If adulterated with sand, marl, &c., the ash will always be +colored, and will weigh more than 3½ grains. Even the simple burning +of a few grains of guano, on a red hot shovel, will often indicate by +the color whether a fraud has been committed; but we cannot particularly +recommend this method, as the iron of the shovel itself will sometimes +give a tinge to the ash. This might be obviated by burning the sample on +a common earthen plate.</p> + +<p>If the adulteration of guano has been made by sand, it can be detected +by dissolving the ashes in muriatic acid. The sand will remain—if it is +more than one per cent., it has probably been added fraudulently. As +iron exists in loam, it will show in the color of the ash if that is the +substance used for adulteration. If lime has been added, it can be +detected by dissolving the ash in muriatic acid and separating the sand, +loam and iron, if present, by filtration, and then adding oxalate of +ammonia to the liquid. If it shows more than a mere trace of lime, it +has been falsified.</p> + +<p><i>Test by salt.</i>—Saturate a quart of water and strain it; pour some in a +saucer and sprinkle guano upon the surface. Good guano sinks +immediately, leaving only a slight scum. If it has been adulterated by +any light or flocculent matters, they will be seen upon the surface of +the brine.</p> + +<p><i>Test by Acid.</i>—Put a teaspoonful of guano in a wine glass and add a +little vinegar or dilute muriatic acid. If ground limestone or chalk +have been added, the effervessence will show it. A genuine article will +only show a few bubbles.</p> + +<p><i>Test by Water.</i>—The following simple plan will easily detect all the +ordinary adulterations of guano. Procure a wide mouthed bottle, with +solid glass stopper; fill with water and insert the stopper; let the +exterior be well dried. In one pan of accurate scales, place the +bottle;<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_71" id="Page_71">[Pg 71]</a></span> counterpoise by shot, sand or gravel. Pour out two thirds of +the water, and put in four ounces avoirdupois of guano. Agitate the +bottle, add more water; let it rest a couple of minutes, and fill with +water, so the froth all escapes; insert the stopper, wipe dry, and +replace the bottle in the scale. Add now to the counterpoised scale, one +and a half ounces avoirdupois, and a fourpenny piece; if the bottle +prove the heavier, the guano is, in all probability, adulterated. Add in +addition a three-penny piece, and if the bottle is still heaviest the +guano is undoubtedly adulterated. By this simple experiment, a very +small amount of sand, marl, &c., is detected.</p> + +<p>If farmers will not use some of these simple tests, or employ a chemist +to detect suspected adulteration; or if they will buy guano of men who +have no character to lose, and who offer to sell below a price to afford +them a living profit, they cannot be pitied if they are cheated.</p> + +<p><i>Prepared Guano.</i>—Never buy anything bearing that name, unless you wish +to verify the adage of "the fool and his money are soon parted."</p> + +<p><i>Analysis of Prepared Guano.</i>—We give an analysis of one sample of +domestic manufacture, and two British. No. 1. was offered in London and +actually sold as Peruvian guano, to farmers in the south of England; +just because they were so neglectful of their own interests as not to +inform themselves that an article sold for $35 a ton, could not be +genuine, while the regular government price remained fixed at $47. It +may readily be seen by the analysis, how they were cheated into paying +that price for an article of which 74 per cent. is plaster, and only +half of one per cent. ammonia.</p> + + + +<div class='centered'> +<table border="0" cellpadding="1" width="35%" cellspacing="0" summary="Analysis of Prepared Guano"> +<tr><td align='left'>No. 1.</td><td align='left'>Gypsum,</td><td align='right'>74.05</td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'> </td><td align='left'>Phosphate of lime,</td><td align='right'>14.05</td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'> </td><td align='left'>Sand,</td><td align='right'>2.64</td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'> </td><td align='left'>Moisture and loss,</td><td align='right'>9.26</td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'> </td><td align='left'> </td><td align='right'>——</td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'> </td><td align='left'> </td><td align='right'>100.00</td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'> </td><td align='left'> </td><td align='right'>——</td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'> </td><td align='left'>Ammonia,</td><td align='right'>0.51</td></tr> +</table></div> + + +<p>The other sample is still worse. This was sold as Saldana Bay guano, at +$15 to $20 a ton. It was composed of</p> + + + +<div class='centered'> +<table border="0" cellpadding="1" width="35%" cellspacing="0" summary="Saldana Bay guano"> +<tr><td align='left'>Sand,</td><td align='right'>48.81</td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'>Phosphate of lime,</td><td align='right'>10.21</td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'>Gypsum,</td><td align='right'>5.81</td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'>Chalk,</td><td align='right'>22.73</td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'>Moisture,</td><td align='right'>12.44</td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'> </td><td align='right'>——</td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'> </td><td align='right'>100.00</td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'> </td><td align='right'>——</td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'>Ammonia,</td><td align='right'>a trace</td></tr> +</table></div> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_72" id="Page_72">[Pg 72]</a></span></p> + +<p>It would have been dear at half the price. But why? perhaps you inquire, +do you give these samples of rascality in England? Just to show you what +men are capable of doing there, they will probably do here—nay, have +done. Here is the analysis of an article which was sold in the city of +New York, under the name of <i>prepared guano</i>. The analysis was made by +the lately deceased, highly respected, and eminent analytic chemist, +Professor Norton, of Yale College, showing the following result.</p> + + + +<div class='centered'> +<table border="0" cellpadding="1" width="35%" cellspacing="0" summary="Professor Norton's experiment"> +<tr><td align='left'>Water,</td><td align='right'>4.35</td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'>Alumina and phosphate of lime,</td><td align='right'>7.82</td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'>Organic matter,</td><td align='right'>32.58</td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'>Insoluble matter,</td><td align='right'>26.05</td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'>Carbonate of lime,</td><td align='right'>28.76</td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'>Magnesia, alkalies, and loss,</td><td align='right'>0.43</td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'> </td><td align='right'>——</td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'> </td><td align='right'>100.00</td></tr> +</table></div> + + +<p>This analysis was made by the request of the editor of the Genesee +Farmer, by whom it is not only endorsed, but proof given of its utter +worthlessness upon the land where it was applied. Professor Norton made +the following remarks upon the subject.</p> + +<p>"This is indeed a <i>prepared</i> article. You will observe that three tenths +of the whole are water, or matter insoluble in acid, or nothing more +than water and sand. More than another three tenths is organic matter; +this contains scarcely a trace of ammonia or nitrogen in any form, being +worth no more than common muck from a swamp. Thus we have six tenths of +the guano made up of a mixture that as a gift, would not be worth +carting. Nearly another three tenths is carbonate of lime, a valuable +article it is true, but one which can be bought far more cheaply by the +barrel, bushel or ton, than as guano. The remaining tenth contains a +small quantity of phosphates, but not enough to make the mixture of much +value. The parties engaged in this manufacture, should be widely +exposed, for it is one of the most outrageous impositions I have ever +known. Farmers should avoid everything of this nature unless it is +certified to be equal to a copy of analysis shown. This stuff is not +worth transporting any distance for your land. <span class="smcap">J. P. Norton</span>."</p> + +<p>We will now give the analysis of Peruvian, Patagonian, and Chilian +guano, as determined by Dr. Anderson, chemist of the Royal Agricultural +Society of Scotland, to be a fair average deduced, from a careful +examination of many samples. The same results have been obtained in this +country by such eminent chemists as Professor Norton, Dr. Antisell, and +Dr. Higgins. We only give analysis of these three kinds, for the reason, +no other of any consequence is now offered for sale in this country.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_73" id="Page_73">[Pg 73]</a></span></p> + +<h4>ANALYSIS OF GUANO.</h4> + + + +<div class='centered'> +<table border="0" cellpadding="1" width="85%" cellspacing="0" summary="ANALYSIS OF GUANO"> +<tr><td align='left'> </td><th align='right'>Peruvian.</th><th align='right'>Chilian Fine.</th><th align='right'>Chilian Inferior.</th><th align='right'>Patagonian.</th></tr> +<tr><td align='left'>Water,</td><td align='right'>13.73</td><td align='right'>6.06</td><td align='right'>15.09</td><td align='right'>24.86</td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'>Organic matter and ammonical salts,</td><td align='right'>53.16</td><td align='right'>54.51</td><td align='right'>12.88</td><td align='right'>18.86</td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'>Phosphates,</td><td align='right'>23.48</td><td align='right'>11.96</td><td align='right'>16.44</td><td align='right'>41.37</td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'>Lime,</td><td align='right'>——</td><td align='right'>1.37</td><td align='right'>8.93</td><td align='right'>2.94</td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'>Sulphuric acid,</td><td align='right'>——</td><td align='right'>——</td><td align='right'>——</td><td align='right'>2.21</td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'>Alkaline salts,</td><td align='right'>7.97</td><td align='right'>10.25</td><td align='right'>6.04</td><td align='right'>2.70</td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'>Sand,</td><td align='right'>1.66</td><td align='right'>15.85</td><td align='right'>40.62</td><td align='right'>7.56</td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'>——</td><td align='right'>——</td><td align='right'>——</td><td align='right'>——</td><td align='right'>——</td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'> </td><td align='right'>100,000</td><td align='right'>100,000</td><td align='right'>100,000</td><td align='right'>100,000</td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'>Ammonia,</td><td align='right'>17.00</td><td align='right'>18.80</td><td align='right'>2.11</td><td align='right'>2.69</td></tr> +</table></div> + + +<p>It will readily be seen there is a vast difference in the value of the +Chilian, and though not stated, there is as great a difference in the +Patagonian, while that from Peru, owing to the fact that it never rains +upon the depository, is of a uniform quality. As the principal value of +guano consists of the ammonia and phosphates, it is easily calculated.</p> + + + +<div class='centered'> +<table border="0" cellpadding="1" width="60%" cellspacing="0" summary="principal value of +guano"> +<tr><td align='left'>17 per cent. of ammonia is equal to 340 lbs. in</td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'><span style="margin-left: 2em;">a ton of 2,000 at 12½ cents,</span></td><td align='right'>$42.50</td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'>23.48 per cent. of phosphates is equal to 470 lbs.</td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'><span style="margin-left: 2em;">in a ton at 1½ cents,</span></td><td align='right'>7.05</td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'>Alkaline salts,</td><td align='right'>5.00</td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'> </td><td align='right'>——</td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'>Value of a ton of Peruvian guano,</td><td align='right'>$54.55</td></tr> +</table></div> + + +<p>To this may be added the advantage of having these valuable substances +in the best possible condition, so finely pulverized they are ready +prepared for the use of plants.</p> + +<p>It may be taken as an incontrovertible fact then, that guano is a cheap +and good manure for any land and any crop which would be benefitted by +the best quality of farm yard manure and ground bones. It is most +beneficial on poor sandy loam, absolutely unproductive; and most +profitable when applied to any land which cannot be otherwise manured on +account of distance and transportation of grosser articles. The better +the land is kept in tilth, the better will be the effect of an +application of guano. The public may also be assured of another fact; if +the guano is bought direct from the agents of the Peruvian government in +this country, or of reliable merchants, who get their supplies direct +from them, it will be of a uniform quality and value, as indicated by +the analysis just given.</p> + +<p>They may also rest assured, and the author of this pamphlet believes his +reputation will warrant the assertion and belief, that he could not be<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_74" id="Page_74">[Pg 74]</a></span> +hired to puff an unworthy article, or write a book to induce American +farmers, to purchase an article which would not prove highly beneficial +to their best interests.</p> + +<p>The author does know that the introduction of guano into this country is +a blessing to the nation. Its general use will not only increase the +wealth of individuals, but that of the body politic. Let us illustrate +this point by a statement of an English writer of its advantages to that +country. He says—"The importance of this question may be easily +illustrated. We grow in this country about 4,000,000 acres of wheat +annually. An application of two hundred weight of guano to each acre +would increase the produce by six bushels, or raise the average of +England from 26 to 32 bushels an acre, giving a total increase to our +home produce of 3,000,000 quarters of wheat, which is of itself +equivalent to a larger sum than the whole diminution of rent stated by +the Chancellor of the Exchequer to have been occasioned by free trade in +corn. But this is only one use to which guano would be applied, for its +effects are even more valuable to green crops than to corn."</p> + +<p>The proportionate advantage to this country would be almost +inconceivably greater as our average product is far less, and the +increased number of bushels per acre, far more; the produce of land as +stated by Mr. Newton and others, having been raised from 3 to 15 or 20 +bushels per acre.</p> + +<p>The estimation in which it is held by some of the best farmers in the +world may be judged by the increased demand in England.</p> + +<p>The quantity of Peruvian guano annually imported has risen from 22,000 +tons in 1846 to 95,000 tons in 1850, but has increased during the last +year to about 200,000 tons. If the price were reduced by £2 to £3 a ton, +even the present large supply would be found greatly short of the +increased demand. In a single season, in 1845, when the price of Ichaboe +guano ranged from 6£ to 7£ a-ton, the importation with an open trade +rose to 220,000 tons. A reduction of 2£ to 3£ a ton would be followed by +an extraordinarily increased consumption. Twice the present importation +might be taken advantageously for the wheat crops alone. It seems to be +held by the Government that the right of Peru to the Lobos Islands is +unquestionable. It is, in that case, only by friendly negotiation that +anything can be done. Considerations should be pressed on the present +Ministry, pledged as they are to promote the landed and shipping +interests. If they can persuade the Peruvian Government, by friendly +negotiation, that the interests of that country as well as ours will be +benefited by opening the guano trade, they will confer an important +service on this country; a full supply would contribute materially to +restore the prosperity of the landed interest by increasing<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_75" id="Page_75">[Pg 75]</a></span> their +produce at diminished cost; and it would give regular employment to +about one-tenth of the whole mercantile navy of England.</p> + +<p>Undoubtedly! an increased supply, or rather an increased consumption, +would tend materially to restore, in England and in America, to build up +the landed interest, by increasing the product of the land at diminished +cost. If farmers could buy guano at lower prices, it is argued all would +use it. Undoubtedly again! Because their profits would be greater. So +great in fact, the temptation to make money out of the purchase and use +of guano few could withstand "such a chance for a speculation."</p> + +<p>But as they cannot induce the Peruvians to let them have it at a lower +price, and as they can make money out of it at the present price, is it +not a suicidical measure upon the part of the owners of unprofitable +land, to refuse to use guano, because they cannot get it at their own +price, while they can certainly profit by its use at present prices.</p> + +<p><i>The Guano Monopoly.</i>—Much prejudice has been excited against the +agents and principal dealers in this country by the cry of monopoly. Are +those who cry <i>wolf</i> the loudest, entirely clear themselves, of a +fondness for fat mutton? The following extract from a letter of Edward +Stabler of Maryland, gives a more fair, impartial view of the subject. +He says; "Odious and grinding as monopolies usually become, and hard as +this one seems to bear upon the agriculturist's interests, it still +appears to be about as fair as ordinary mercantile transactions. The +Peruvians may be considered the producers, and like our farmers and +planters, may at times require advances from the commission merchant; +and in proportion to the prices obtained, are his profits increased; nor +does any one censure the merchant for selling at the highest price he +can. Dealers, or speculators, if you please, are always censured for +raising the price of guano. Is not the same thing done every day, and +every hour in the day, by the purchase and sale of flour, wheat, corn, +and tobacco—and is not the price of almost every article of commerce +regulated in a great degree by the supply and demand? Most certainly; +and so long as there is a probability of profit by the purchase and sale +of this article, and just so long, and no longer, will the 'trade in +second hands' continue. If the present supply is inadequate to the +demand, by an almost undeviating rule in commerce, the price is +enhanced, until at a point to drive the consumer from the market. This +however, is not quite so soon attained with guano, under the present +excitement, as with many other things. I have viewed this matter in a +different light from some others, though erroneous as some may suppose, +and do not think that censuring the dealers will cover the true ground +of complaint, or at all tend to remove the existing difficulty. Their +agency is, if I may use the term—but in no offensive sense—a kind of +neces<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_76" id="Page_76">[Pg 76]</a></span>sary evil; for the importer will not retail, and it suits but few +of the consumers comparatively, to club together, and purchase in large +quantities. The price of guano is owing mainly, if not entirely, to this +monopoly in the import trade; and it would be the same thing, and a +monopoly still, whether in the hands of English or American merchants; +with also, about the same amount of liberality to be looked for, from +one as from the other."</p> + +<p>Is there anything so unfair in this, that we should cry out "wicked +monopoly." The Peruvian government, after the revolution, finds itself +deeply in debt, and greatly in want of money, and in possession of one +of the most valuable fertilizing substances in the world, which the +people of other governments are in want of, or rather, may profit by the +use of, which she offers to sell at what she deems a fair price; and for +the purpose of enabling her to borrow money for immediate necessities, +as well as to pay the war debt, she has given some of her citizens—rich +merchants, who can advance money, certain privileges and advantages in +the guano trade, upon condition that they will send a supply to all the +countries where it can be sold, and in as great quantities as they will +buy at fixed prices. This is the monopoly. A parallel case can be found +nearer home. The government of the United States, also incurred a +revolutionary war debt, and also came in possession of an article which +the people of all other countries want, and unlike that possessed by +Peru, an article which they must have. Upon this necessity of life, our +government has fixed a price, which any one may pay or let it alone—buy +or not, just as he pleases. The government will neither sell to citizens +or strangers at half price, nor let them have the use of it without pay; +in fact, will not let us carry away anything of value from this +property, although it might not materially injure the sale of the +principal and most valuable portion, which is immovable. Such is the +"guano monopoly" of one government, and such is the "land monopoly" of +the other. Which is most wicked?</p> + +<p>Of the right of each government, no honest man will dispute. That Peru +has as much right to the guano upon her desert islands, as the United +States has to the live oak timber in the deserts of Florida; or as +England has to the codfish in the waters of Newfoundland, seems to be as +clear as any right ever exercised by any power on earth. Each protect +their own by hired agents, so far as they are able, to prevent dishonest +men from carrying away that which each considers valuable.</p> + +<p>If English and United States citizens have a right to go and seize upon +the guano and bring it off in defiance of Peru, because the guano +islands are not inhabited, then have we a right to seize all the codfish +in the waters of the sea, because nobody lives there—they cannot live +there—they only live on the lands adjacent, and therefore have no +right<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_77" id="Page_77">[Pg 77]</a></span> to anything except what they stand upon. Then by the same rule +may the lands of the United States be seized upon, because they are +unoccupied.</p> + +<p>By virtue of decrees now in force, no vessel, either under the national +or any foreign flag, has a right to go to the Peruvian guano deposits, +without first obtaining permission from the Peruvian Government under +penalty of confiscation.</p> + +<p>Foreign vessels, furnished with government licences, are allowed to load +at the Chinche Islands only.</p> + +<p>Finally, any attempt to load vessels without the proper licences, would +subject them to be seized by the Government vessels appointed to cruise +off, and visit the different guano deposits, in order to prevent not +only the illegal extraction of guano by foreign trading vessels, but +also to prevent the natives of Peru from violating the Government orders +against visiting those localities, and destroying or disturbing the +birds.</p> + +<p>Notwithstanding this cuts off the free trade in the article, it goes to +show what we have always endeavored to impress upon the minds of +American farmers, that the supply is inexhaustible—at least in this age +and generation—and as every one grows wiser and wiser, it is probable +the next will have no occasion to use such an old fashioned article as +bird dung for manure. During the present, however, our advice is to +every person occupying land which needs something to improve its +fertility, to use guano—genuine Peruvian guano—purchased of reliable +merchants—and the fewer the better between the importer and consumer.</p> + +<p><i>The Quantity inexhaustible.</i>—By those surveys, the quantity was +ascertained to be upwards of TWENTY MILLIONS OF TONS. As this must +appear so enormous as to be almost incredible, we present the annexed +cut, supposed to represent a vertical section of one of the Chincha +islands and the depth of the deposit according to the government +surveys. The paralel lines at the bottom represent the level of the +water—the crooked line above, the surface of the rock; its position +having been ascertained by boring and observations of the surveyors. The +rounded line is the surface of the island as it now appears; all between +that and the rock being guano. The almost perpendicular line at the left +hand, 100 feet high, is the rock at which ships lay to take in cargo. +The space under the dotted line show a comparison of the quantity taken +away, as it relates to the whole upon the island. The well hole +represented in that section was dug some fifty feet deep to prove the +guano was of equal quality at the bottom.</p> + +<p>The Chincha Islands are three in number; not remote from each other or +differing very materially in size or general feature. The Geological<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_78" id="Page_78">[Pg 78]</a></span> +formation presents the appearance of masses of rock jutting out above +the surface of the ocean—and occasionally rising nearly perpendicularly +to a height of from 50 to 100 feet. At a distance, the islands present +to the eye a somewhat conical form; owing probably to the greater +deposits of guano in the centre; and all appear equally rich in quantity +and quality.</p> + +<p>The "North Island" is estimated to be about 300 feet at its greatest +elevation; it is about 1½ miles in length, and from 1/2 to 3/4 of a +mile average width. In sailing round them, the guano appears to many +places to extend to the water's edge.</p> + +<div class="figcenter"><img src="images/img078.jpg" alt="Sectional View of the North Chincha Island" title="" /></div> + +<p>All the guano islands are uninhabited, except by the laborers, mostly +Indians or poor Chinamen, who are employed in the work of digging, +carrying and loading the guano into the ships. When a vessel is ready to +take in cargo, she is moored alongside of the rocks almost mast head +high, from the top of which the guano is sent down through a canvass +shute directly into the hold of the ship. Thus several hundred tons can +be put on board in a day. The trimming of the cargo is a very unpleasant +part of the labor. The dust and odor is almost overpowering; so the men +are obliged to come often on deck for fresh air. The rule is to remain +below as long as a candle will burn; when that goes out, the air is +considered unfit for respiration. If the labor had to be performed by a +Yankee, he would think it unfit at first; and thereupon set his ready +wit at work to construct a machine to spread the guano as it fell, from +one end of the hold to the other. The guano in position upon the island, +is so compact it has to be dug up with picks. It is then carried to a +contrivance made of cane, at the edge of the rock, which conveys it into +the canvass conductors. The mass is cut down in steps, receding and +rising from the point of commencement, and has not yet attained a depth +of 100 feet, and with all the labor of hundreds of men digging, and +numerous ships carrying away to the several countries using it, there is +but a bare beginning of removal made upon the mass upon one island only, +as may be seen by reference to the diagram.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_79" id="Page_79">[Pg 79]</a></span></p> + +<p>Supposing like many others, the supply of Peruvian guano was like the +Ichaboe, destined to run out—that is all be dug up and carried away; we +inquired of an intelligent captain of a ship just returned with a load, +how long it would be before the supply would be exhausted. "Exhausted!" +said he, with a look over the gangway, as much as to say how long would +it take to exhaust the ocean with a pint cup; "why not in one hundred +years, if every ship afloat should go into the trade, and load and +unload as fast as it would be possible to perform the labor; no, not +from the Chincha islands alone. Exhausted! they never will be +exhausted." With due allowance for the captain's enthusiasm, we may be +very certain from the government surveys, the quantity is so great, that +no probability exists of the supply being exhausted until all the +present inhabitants of this earth have ceased to move upon its surface. +We may be certain of another fact; that unless we commit a great +national wrong upon Peru, by seizing upon some of her guano territory; a +thing which the sober second thought of this nation will never sanction; +we shall not be able to obtain the article only through her government +agents, at such prices as her rulers think proper to affix to it. While +the demand and the result of the use of guano continues as at present, +there is not much probability of any material change.</p> + +<p>The Peruvian Government are, of course, anxious to sell all that the +world want, and are willing to pay for at remunerating prices. The +Peruvian minister, in reply to the Secretary of State at Washington +says:—"The Peruvian Government, in leasing out its rights and +interests, as a proprietor of the article, adopted the only system that +was supposed likely to create a demand for guano; while, on the other +side, it was bound to leave the consignment as security, in the hands of +those persons who had hazarded their capital in meeting the heavy +expenses attending the process of freighting, and in making the advances +which were required to facilitate the exportation and construct the +depots. Far from establishing a selfish monopoly, which would have +proved injurious to its own interests, or fix a high, deliberate, and +conventional price upon the article, it has only aimed to secure a net +profit, reduced to the lowest possible standard, exceeding very little +the actual amount of expenses; and there have been accounts of sales +rendered exhibiting both loss and damage.</p> + +<p>"The guano, therefore, is not monopolized; the government as the +proprietor, has forwarded it, on its own responsibility, to those +markets where it was in demand; selecting as consignees, as it was +natural and proper it should do, those persons or houses who have +advanced the capital necessary to defray the expenses; and, as these are +much greater in all cases of remittances to England, and it follows that +the sale of the article in this country is at the rate of ten pounds +sterling<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_80" id="Page_80">[Pg 80]</a></span> per ton, the net profit has been less than what is realized in +the United States, where the farmers obtain it at lesser prices. Nor has +my government imposed any restrictions, duties, or determinate value on +the exportation of guano, although it might and could do so with perfect +propriety; because such action would have militated to the detriment of +its own interests as the proprietor of the article. Its object has been +to send it to those markets where it was in demand; because, as it had +not yet become an object of decided and positive interest to the +consuming world, and there being no certainty of its attaining saleable +prices, to create a market as it was impossible for individuals to send +to Peru for supplies, with any prospect of even moderate profit."</p> + +<p>This is a fair statement of the case; and ought to be perfectly +satisfactory to the consumers. The disposition of some men to create +prejudice against the government of Peru, or the agents who sell guano +in this country, because the price is too high, is a wicked one. Men can +make money by purchasing at the present prices; and the owners of the +article think they cannot make it by selling at a lower price. We have +heard it urged as a reason why it should be sold at lower prices, that +the agents and merchants engaged in its sale are making fortunes. So are +flour merchants—so are farmers who grow the wheat—but that is no +reason why it should be sold lower.</p> + +<p>With all our heart, we wish the Peruvians would give us guano at half +price; but because they will not, there is no reason why the people of +this country should refuse to use an article which will most assuredly +make them grow rich faster than those who are engaged in selling it.</p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h2><a name="WHAT_IS_GUANO_ITS_HISTORY_AND_LOCALITYmdashAMOUNT_AND_VALUE" id="WHAT_IS_GUANO_ITS_HISTORY_AND_LOCALITYmdashAMOUNT_AND_VALUE"></a>WHAT IS GUANO?—ITS HISTORY AND LOCALITY.—AMOUNT AND VALUE.</h2> + + +<p>Guano is the concentrated essence of fish-eating birds excrements. It, +is found in the condition of a dry powder, of a brownish yellow color, +not unlike in appearance to Scotch snuff; with a pungent strong smell of +ammonia, distinguishing it from any other substance. It is found in +various parts of the world, upon desert headlands and islands of the +Atlantic and Pacific Oceans, where the birds have had undisputed +possession for countless ages of time. The island of Ichaboe, on the +Coast of Africa, furnished a good many cargoes, a few years since, most +of which were taken to England; a small supply was imported into the +United States, and sold and known as African guano. The quality was fair +The deposit upon that island is quite exhausted—in fact it was all +carried away within a few months after it became generally known—some +of the last cargoes being of little more value than rich earth. It is +said that a new deposit, which is nothing more than dry bird dung, has +already been gathered and taken to England. No doubt cargoes of similar +ma<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_81" id="Page_81">[Pg 81]</a></span>nure might gathered from the Florida keys; and although it would be a +valuable manure, it is not guano—that is formed by the chemical action +of a dry atmosphere, during time's long ages.</p> + +<p><i>Anagamos Guano.</i>—This is also of a character similar to "new Ichaboe." +It is rich in ammonia, but contains no lime or sulphuric acid, and less +phosphates and alkaline substances than Peruvian, and more sand. The +supply of this must be very limited, as it is a recent deposit and has +to be gathered by hand from the rocks.</p> + +<p><i>Bolivian Guano.</i>—This as its name indicates, is from the coast of +Bolivia, on the west side of South America. It was thought at one time +to be fully equal in value to Peruvian, but some subsequent importations +of almost worthless cargoes, have proved the deposit to be very variable +in quality, or else purposely adulterated, which has had the effect to +destroy confidence in all bearing that name. The belief of the writer +is, that it was not adulterated, but owing to the fact that it is found +in a latitude where it does sometimes rain, or where it is liable to be +drenched by sea spray, that portions of it are injured in that way; so +that a ship may have one portion of her cargo of the best kind, while +the remainder is hardly worth the freight. The deposit is not large.</p> + +<p><i>Chilian Guano.</i>—The most of that imported into this country under this +name, has been of a very inferior quality, and having been recommended +by those interested in its sale, as having come from the same coast as +that of Peru, and of equal value, and proving almost worthless, has +deterred many from making another trial. Although there is a small +supply of Chilian Guano, which is gathered from the rocks in pale yellow +masses, some of which has been sent to England and this country, which +is equal to any ever discovered in any part of the world, yet the great +bulk of the deposit is so inferior that Chilian guano will never meet +with universal favor. In fact, some of the stuff which has been sold +under that name, is unworthy to be called guano.</p> + +<p><i>Patagonian Guano.</i>—Of this kind, larger quantities have been imported +than any other beside Peruvian; and it has generally been sold at higher +prices than its value as a fertilizer would warrant. Owing to the fact +of its being deposited in a latitude of sunshine and showers, both of +the utmost intensity; it never comprises the valuable qualities always +found in that where rain never was known to fall. Besides the +deterioration of the elements, samples of some cargoes of this guano +have been found to contain upwards of 30 per cent of sand—in one case +38 per cent. It is said, however, that some of the deposits contain +considerable quantities of crystalized salts of ammonia, magnesian +phosphates, rich in ammonia, but which have been rejected by masters of +vessels taking in cargoes, under the supposition of its being sea salt +and calculated to injure the sale and value of the guano. It is believed +that there is a<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_82" id="Page_82">[Pg 82]</a></span> a larger supply of this than any other guano, except +Peruvian, but as no certain reliance can be placed upon its quality or +value, it never will be extensively imported into the United States.</p> + +<p><i>Saldana Bay Guano.</i>—Considerable quantities of guano under this name +have been taken to England, and upon land and crops requiring phosphates +more than ammonia, has been pronounced a superior article. But the fact +is, it is found in a climate similar to the Patagonian, and, +consequently, like that, must have a great portion of its ammonia washed +out, leaving almost its only value as fertilizer, in its phosphates; +which undoubtedly exist in large proportions, but not as cheap as may be +procured from other sources. The foregoing comprises all the kinds of +guano known in commerce, except the Peruvian, to which we shall devote +an entire chapter.</p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h2><a name="PERUVIAN_GUANO_ITS_LOCATIONmdashOWNERSHIPmdashQUANTITYmdashVALUEmdashHOW_PROCURED" id="PERUVIAN_GUANO_ITS_LOCATIONmdashOWNERSHIPmdashQUANTITYmdashVALUEmdashHOW_PROCURED"></a>PERUVIAN GUANO—ITS LOCATION—OWNERSHIP—QUANTITY—VALUE—HOW PROCURED.</h2> + + +<p>This is not only the most valuable, but is found in the largest +quantities of any other guano known. That which has been sent to this +country and England, in such quantities within the last ten years, was +taken from the Chincha Islands, which are situated between latitude 13° +and 14°, and at about twelve miles from the coast of Peru, in the bay of +Pisco. The great value of the Peruvian guano, arises from the fact, +<i>that rain never falls upon the islands where guano is found</i>. The air +is always dry, and the sun shines with intense power, sufficient to +evaporate all the juices from flesh, so that meat can be preserved sweet +without salt. The waters surrounding these islands may be said to be +literally alive, so full are they of fish. Almost as numerous as the +fish, are the birds which satisfy their voracious appetites upon this +finny multitude, until they can gorge no more, when they retire to the +islands to deposit their excrement, composed of the oily flesh and bones +of their only food, until the mass which has been accumulating for +thousands of years, is so great as almost to exceed human belief.</p> + +<p>Humbolt, in his history of South America, states, some of these deposits +are 50 or 60 feet thick. Many have thought this the "romance of +history," but the actual surveys made by the Peruvian government five or +six years ago, have proved that the guano in many places is more than +twice that depth; and as there is good reason to believe, and as may be +seen by the diagram on page 79, it is probably 300 feet thick in some of +the depressions of the natural surface. And this has been accumulated by +an annual aggregation, so slow as to be scarcely visible from year to +year, until the quantity now exceeds 20,000,000 of tons.</p> + +<p>As before stated, the Chincha islands are three in number; the Lobos +islands two; these are situated off the north part of the coast of +Peru.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_83" id="Page_83">[Pg 83]</a></span></p> + +<p>If the right of Peru to the guano is to be disputed, let it be done by +national vessels and not by armed privateers. If farmers are convinced +that we have made true statements of the value of guano in renovating +the poor and worn out fields of America, let them purchase at once. The +only question to ask is not whether we can go to the Lobos Islands to +get guano—nor whether it would be better to buy it of government +agents, or speculators on private account, but</p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h2><a name="DOES_GUANO_PAY" id="DOES_GUANO_PAY"></a>DOES GUANO PAY?</h2> + + +<p>Because, if it does pay, that is, if the farmer can buy guano at present +prices, and realise an increase of crops more than enough to pay the +expense, it does pay. We think we have shown this fact by +incontrovertible evidence. If the first crop pays for the guano and no +more, the farmer has a certain profit in the improved condition of the +land. If the first crop does not pay, the land will be enough better to +pay cost. Upon this point, Mr. Mechi, of England, whose name has become +world wide known as an improver of the soil, says; "Whether guano will +pay, depends upon the condition of the soil. On poor exhausted soil it +is a ready and cheap mode of restoring fertility. I used it extensively +when I first began farming, and when applied to the grain crops at the +rate of two to three cwt. per acre, it paid well; but now it has lost +favor with my bailiff, which is easily accounted for; my land being at +present so well filled with manure, nitrogen or ammonia, that we can +grow ample crops without it. When the land only yielded two to two and a +half quarters of wheat per acre, it was grateful for guano; but now, +with a produce of five quarters, there is no necessity for its use. Or +rather, the increased supply of farm manure supplies that necessity."</p> + +<p>This is exactly what we have aimed to impress upon our readers; that it +will pay in the crop to which it is applied—it will more than pay in +the soil, because it will bring it into a condition of permanent +fertility. It will pay best upon the poorest soil; because that which +was absolutely barren, becomes fruitful as soon as dressed with guano. +It will always pay whenever and wherever applied to any soil in a fit +condition to be benefitted by manure. It will make not only the soil +rich, but whoever uses it to any considerable extent. It will pay best +when used in the condition in which you buy it, with no additional labor +or expense except breaking the lumps. If it is sown broadcast, not to +exceed 400 lbs. per acre, and plowed in so deep it will not be disturbed +by any subsequent cultivation of the crop to which it is applied, it +will most certainly pay in that crop or the succeeding one. It will pay +upon all plants to which it has ever been applied. Notwithstanding it +will pay best <i>in</i> the soil, it will pay well <i>on</i> it as a top +dressing,<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_84" id="Page_84">[Pg 84]</a></span> if combined with absorbents of ammonia as directed in these +pages.<a name="FNanchor_2_2" id="FNanchor_2_2"></a><a href="#Footnote_2_2" class="fnanchor">[2]</a> That it has paid in ninety nine cases out of every hundred +where it has been used, the author is well convinced, and equally well +convinced that many may profit by reading what he has here said upon the +subject, and with that feeling, these pages are commended to all the +cultivators of American soil.</p> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_2_2" id="Footnote_2_2"></a><a href="#FNanchor_2_2"><span class="label">[2]</span></a> Upon this point, see <a href='#burgwyn'>Mr. Burgwyn'</a> letter in the appendix.</p></div> +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_87" id="Page_87">[Pg 87]</a></span></p><p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_86" id="Page_86">[Pg 86]</a></span></p><p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_85" id="Page_85">[Pg 85]</a></span></p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h2><br /><br /><a name="APPENDIX" id="APPENDIX"></a>APPENDIX.<br /><br /></h2> + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h3><a name="SUCCESSFUL_EXPERIMENTS_WITH_GUANO_ON_LONG_ISLAND" id="SUCCESSFUL_EXPERIMENTS_WITH_GUANO_ON_LONG_ISLAND"></a>SUCCESSFUL EXPERIMENTS WITH GUANO ON LONG ISLAND.</h3> + + +<p>Since the body of this work was in type, the following letters have been +placed in our hands. They contain so much valuable information we are +induced to append them. It will be seen by the dates, that they give the +results of the most recent experiments. The names of the writers will be +recognized as those of reliable, practical men.</p> + +<blockquote><h4><span class="smcap">Letter from Seth Chapman Esq., of Jamaica</span>.—700 lbs. of guano +to the acre, profitable—Lasting benefits of one application—Advantage +of top dressing grass lands with guano—Benefit of guano to all Long +Island soil—Great benefit on turnips.</h4></blockquote> + +<div class="blockquot"><p class='author'>"<i>Jamaica, L. I., Sept. 13, 1852.</i></p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Mr. Theo. Riley, Esq.</span>, Dear Sir:—In reply to your inquiry +relative to the use of Peruvian guano on Long Island, I would say, +forming my opinion from experience and observation that the mode of +tillage—the rotation of crops, and the way of applying guano—are +about as follows: Commence with corn, which is usually on green +sward, after being mowed and pastured from four to six years. +First, plow in the spring as soon as the frost is out of the +ground, which is generally about the 20th of March. Prepare the +ground for planting the 1st of May, by harrowing well two or three +times. Before the last time harrowing, apply about 250 or 300 lbs. +of guano to the acre, sown broadcast, and then mark out with plow, +or lace, about four and a half feet apart, each way; apply a small +quantity to the hill, one third of a gill is as much as will be +safe, and that should be in the form of a ring about a foot in +diameter, and the corn dropped in the center, otherwise it will be +likely to kill the corn by the sprouts coming in contact with the +guano when they first start. It will not do to put the guano in the +hill and plant the corn upon it. It was not uncommon for farmers to +have to plant their corn all over before they become acquainted +with its effects; but as using it in the hill, in a pure state, is +generally attended with some risk, it is the practice in this +vicinity to use yard manure, at the rate of one third or half a +shovelful to the hill; but as that manure is generally weak, they +have adopted the very excellent plan of sprinkling say 50 lbs. of +guano to a wagon load (30 bushels) of manure. As we cart the manure +in the fall to the field where it is intended to be used the +following spring, <a name="FNanchor_3_3" id="FNanchor_3_3"></a><a href="#Footnote_3_3" class="fnanchor">(1)</a> the guano can be mixed through it with but<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_88" id="Page_88">[Pg 88]</a></span> +little trouble, when it is turned and broken up just before use. It +adds very much to the value of the manure, as the difference of +harvesting plainly shows. Muck or pond dirt could be used in the +same way, in place of manure. Some apply it about the hill at the +time of hoeing. It should not be thrown on top, but sprinkled +around the corn at the rate of half a gill per hill. After corn, we +sow oats, or barley, or plants potatoes; if oats, plow once, sow +150 or 200 lbs. of guano, and two bushels of oats to the acre, and +harrow in together. It pays well to use guano for oats, as the crop +of oats will be doubled on ordinary lands; 50 and 60 bushels is +frequently obtained, and the difference in the straw, is worth the +expense of the guano.<a name="FNanchor_4_4" id="FNanchor_4_4"></a><a href="#Footnote_4_4" class="fnanchor">(2)</a> Barley is not much sown; it would require +a little more guano, say 50 lbs. additional. Potatoes, (Mercers) we +plant from middle of March to first of May, after sowing broadcast +from 400 to 600 lbs. of guano per acre, plowed in and harrowed +over; then mark out with plow three feet apart, drop in drills +about a foot apart. Some prefer it in the drills, at the rate of +what they can grasp in one hand to a pace of two and a half feet; +it should be sprinkled so too much will not come in contact with +the seed. After oats or potatoes, sow wheat, about first of +October; if on oats, plow as soon as the oats are off; when ready +to sow, apply from 500 to 700 lbs. of guano per acre, cross plow, +and your ground is ready for the seed. As to the varieties of +wheat, there are several kinds used; the Mediterranean is the most +popular at present—one and a half bushels is generally sown to the +acre, and the land laid down to grass, with timothy and clover. +Some apply less at time of sowing, and add 100 or 150 lbs. per acre +in the spring, just as the grass is starting, say first of April. +If wheat is sown after potatoes, about the same treatment is given, +except 100 lbs. less guano will answer. Some harrow in guano, +instead of plowing it under; but experience shows that it is much +the best to plow it in, as the virtue remains in the ground much +longer, by being covered deep. Peruvian guano will produce the best +wheat of anything we can use, even if we should go to double the +expense with other manures. Crops of 30 and sometimes 40 bushels +have been obtained to the acre with guano. The average crop of +wheat on the Island, is not over 18 bushels per acre, and with 700 +lbs. of guano plowed in pretty deep, the land can be mowed about as +long as from an application of stable manure. But as hay is a most +important crop, after it has been mowed for two or three years, it +is considered profitable to top dress with about 150 lbs. per acre; +this will increase the crop from one ton to two per acre, if a fair +season, and can be mowed two or three years longer. Rye is sown in +many instances, in place of wheat; it gets the same treatment, +except half the quantity of guano is only used. Buckwheat requires +about 100 lbs. of guano to the acre, more or less, according to the +state of the land.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_89" id="Page_89">[Pg 89]</a></span></p> + +<p>For ruta baga turnips, there should be 600 lbs. sown to the acre; +plow twice and harrow well after sown. After you have hoed them +out, give them a light top dressing of more guano. I have raised at +the rate of 700 bushels, managed in that way, to the acre. We have +had one of the most extreme drouths the present season I ever +remember. Crops on which guano was used, have suffered less, and +are now yielding better than where stable manure has been used. +This is quite different from the opinion that some have formed, as +to guano requiring a wet season. To prepare guano for use, it +should first be sifted, to separate the lumps, so that they may be +pulverized, then dampen by sprinkling with water, and mixed through +with a shovel. This should be done a few days before you wish to +use it, so as to allow the dampness to strike through uniform. <a name="FNanchor_5_5" id="FNanchor_5_5"></a><a href="#Footnote_5_5" class="fnanchor">(3)</a> +I have not had any experience with compost, or using it on garden +vegetables, or plants, except I know it should be used in +homeopathic doses, or it will destroy more than it will produce. As +to the soil, guano answers well anywhere on Long Island, although +some parts of the Island has a very different soil from others, +with one exception; that is, it is all hungry for manure. I +therefore do not know the kind of soil it is most applicable to, +since it seems to suit all kinds.</p> + +<p class='author'><span class="smcap">Seth Chapman</span>."</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_3_3" id="Footnote_3_3"></a><a href="#FNanchor_3_3"><span class="label"><span class="smcap">Note 1.</span></span></a> This practice of hauling manure to the field in the +fall, is the worst of all the foolish old fashions of farmers. To +preserve the virtue, of manure, it requires housing about as much as +hay. In fact, it is doubtful which would lose virtue fastest, a pile of +hay or a pile of manure, exposed to the storms of winter. It is no +wonder that it becomes necessary to mix guano with it, to replace that +which has evaporated during its long exposure to sun and storm.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_4_4" id="Footnote_4_4"></a><a href="#FNanchor_4_4"><span class="label"><span class="smcap">Note 2.</span></span></a> This increase of straw, is seldom taken into account in +speaking of the advantage of an application of guano; yet, as Mr. +Chapman says, it is worth enough in the vicinity of a market, to pay the +whole expense. It is also valuable in the interior for forage and +manure.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_5_5" id="Footnote_5_5"></a><a href="#FNanchor_5_5"><span class="label"><span class="smcap">Note 3.</span></span></a> This is an error. Guano should not be damped unless +with water saturated with salt, copperas, or a liberal sprinkle of +plaster over the pile.</p></div> + + +<h4><span class="smcap">Letter from Seth Ravnor, of Manorville to Mr. +Chapman</span>.<br />Successful experiments on grass, oats, corn, wheat and +rye.</h4> + +<div class="blockquot"><p class='author'>"<i>Manorville, Sept.</i> 8, 1852.</p> + +<p><span class="smcap">S. Chapman, Esq</span>.—Dear Sir;—I have received your circular +proposing to gather information from practical farmers of the +results from the use of guano, and to have the same published for +general circulation. Conceiving the object to be a very laudable +one, I will give the result of a few experiments tried with +Peruvian guano by myself, and others which have come under my +observation; but in doing so I think<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_90" id="Page_90">[Pg 90]</a></span> it would be of great utility +to state what kind of soil the guano was applied to. Not being a +professor of geology, I can only use such terms as are familiar +with farmers generally. The soils in this vicinity are heavy loam, +sandy loam, sandy, and occasionally some heavy clayey soils.</p> + +<p>First, as to the nature of guano. It is generally considered to be +more of a stimulant than an enricher of the soil, if applied in its +natural state, and much more durable to be plowed in than to be +harrowed in; and as far as I have tried it, I have not found it to +be injurious to soils—or as some call it, 'kill the soil.' In the +year '49 I applied on the first of April, 176 lbs. per acre on +sandy loam grass ground—yield, about half a ton more than the acre +adjoining. Same year applied about 150 lbs. to the acre, on four +acres of oats, same kind of soil, and the estimated increase was 20 +bushels to the acre. In 1850 plowed under 400 pounds per acre, for +corn, estimated increase, 15 bushels of ears. The season was rather +unfavorable for corn. In '51 composted six bushels charcoal dust to +100 lbs. guano, and plowed under for wheat, at the rate of 500 lbs. +of guano so composted, to the acre, and top dressed with 100 +bushels of leached ashes—yield, 20 bushels. One of my neighbors +applied for three years in succession, 100 lbs. harrowed in with +rye, on two acres light sand—yield, 14 bushels to the acre; 10 +bushels more than the acre adjoining. On the fourth year he sowed +the same ground without guano—- yield, 4 bushels to the acre. We +see by this, that the crop used the whole strength of the guano. +Another neighbor applied one ton to two acres, heavy loam; plowed +under and sowed with turnips (common Russian)—yield, 1,300 +bushels—estimated increase from the guano, 600 bushels. People in +this section of the Island are agreed in this—plow under guano for +durability, and harrow in for present benefit, or present crop. For +wheat, 500 lbs. plowed in is considered a full dressing per acre. +The same for corn. For oats, 200 lbs. harrowed in. For buckwheat, +100 lbs., and 200 for barley. One tablespoonful applied in a hill, +for corn, is quite enough, and that requires to be put some six +inches from the seed; otherwise it will kill it. Some have lost +acres by putting their corn on that little quantity; the only safe +way to apply in the hill for potatoes, is the same as for corn. I +have come to the conclusion from what experience I have had with +the article, that it answers the best purpose to use it for spring +crops, in the manner above stated, or compost it with charcoal +dust, or well decomposed pond mud, to absorb and retain the +ammonia, it being very volatile in its nature. I have not written +this for publication; I have only thrown out a few hints for you to +embody.</p> + +<p class='author'><span class="smcap">Seth Raynor</span>."</p></div> + +<p>Although the above was not written for publication, we prefer to give it +just as it was written, in the plain style of one farmer to another.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_91" id="Page_91">[Pg 91]</a></span></p> + +<blockquote><h4><span class="smcap">Interesting Letter from Edward H. Seaman, Esq., Sec. of Queens Co. +Ag. Soc.</span>—Successful experiments since 1847—Great increase of +straw and wheat—Harrowing in guano, 300 lbs. to the acre, produced 41 +bushels of wheat. Increase, seven bushels for each 100 lbs—Thirty +bushels of wheat per acre on an old worn out buckwheat field—Advantage +of guano in drouth—astonishing effects from top dressing grass.</h4></blockquote> + +<p class='author'><i>Cherrywood, Sept. 11th, 1852.</i></p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Mr. Seth Chapman</span>—Dear Sir,—I forward according to +request, the results of several years use of Peruvian Guano, upon +my farm at Jerusalem, Long Island.</p> + +<p>The first decisive benefit from guano that I shall notice, was +obtained from using it for wheat, as a top-dressing. In 1847, +October 1st, I took a field containing 6 acres of oat stubble, on +which I used some manure, all over the field; top-dressed with +Peruvian guano, at the rate of 300 lbs. per acre, sown (fortunately +just before a storm,) upon the furrow and harrowed in with the +wheat. Four acres of the field were sown with the old-fashioned red +flint wheat, which requires more manure than any other kind among +us. The rest of the field was sown with a soft white hulled wheat, +the name of which I do not remember. July 5, 1848.—Harvested said +field—Red wheat yielded well from straw, 14 sheaves to the +bushel—white wheat 20 sheaves to the bushel—straw very large and +thick. Had 164 bushels of wheat, or 41 bushels per acre; and 58 +bushels of white wheat or 29 bushels per acre; without the guano I +think I could not have obtained much over 20 bushels per +acre.—1848, Oct. 2. Again sowed wheat upon a six acre lot of oat +stubble; seed red flint wheat—manured about the same as previous +year—used 300 lbs. guano per acre, as top-dressing for 4 acres and +moss bunker fish dirt at the rate of 10,000 per acre upon the two +acres, sowed upon the furrow, and harrowed in just previous to a +storm—Harvested the 10th of July 1849. The straw very large, and +wheat heads long, but grain very much injured by fly or +weevil—very little difference between fish and guano top-dressing; +yield 188 shocks—175 bushels; not quite 30 bushels per acre. Same +ground would not have produced more than 18 to 20 bushels wheat per +acre without the guano—or some other more expensive manure. 1849. +Oct. 3. Sowed wheat upon oat stubble field; soil thin and gravelly +upon part of the field—used some barnyard manure, but not as much +as previous year. Top-dressed with 300 lbs. guano and 12 bushels +ground bones per acre—Harvested 12th July 1850—Yield of 5½ +acres 160 shocks; injured some by weevil, and shrunken, but had 145 +bushels or twenty-six bushels per acre. This ground would not have +yielded fifteen bushels per acre without the guano. But the most +decisive result was obtained the next year, upon an oat stubble +field of six acres, a part of which had been cropped, for perhaps +15 years, nearly<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_92" id="Page_92">[Pg 92]</a></span> alternately with rye and buckwheat; (sometimes a +crop of each in one year.) The whole field seemed so far exhausted +that we had failed to get a crop of corn or oats from it after two +different trials; and I underwent no small share of ridicule from +my neighbors, while preparing it for wheat. Remarks like the +following were of daily occurrence—"Ah! Seaman you will fail this +time." "You have not got your old highly manured fields to exhaust +this time by your stimulating stuff!" "We shall now see whether +guano is good for anything—this will be a fair test, because the +land will not produce anything without it, &c." "You may get about +12 bushels of wheat per acre; we shall see." All agreed however, +that if wheat did grow, guano should have the credit for it.</p> + +<p>Well, we prepared the ground in about the usual manner, except +perhaps plowing a little deeper than in former years. A small +quantity of manure was plowed under, and a top dressing of ground +bones given and sowed about the last of September—2 acres with +Mediterranean and 4 acres with the red flint wheat—but owing to a +scarcity of the article, could only get about 420 lbs. of guano, +which was sown across the field upon not quite 3 acres, covering +some of each kind of wheat; it was sown upon the furrow, and +harrowed in with the wheat as usual. In 1851, April 11th, top +dressed the whole field with guano, at about 200 lbs. per acre; +harvested about the 8th July. The 2 acres of Mediterranean yielded +61 bushels; flint wheat straw very large, and thick upon the +ground, but grain much injured by the weevil; yielding an average +of 23 bushels per acre. I may remark, that where the guano was +applied in the autumn, the crop was quite one third greater than +where it only received the spring dressing. The last year I managed +much in the same way, except that I fell short of manure, and +depended entirely upon guano and bone upon a part of the field, +from which part, though I have not yet threshed it, I think I shall +get 18 to 20 bushels. The rest of the field was very large and +considered the best between this place and Brooklyn, on a road of +25 miles in length.</p> + +<p>My <i>good luck</i><a name="FNanchor_6_6" id="FNanchor_6_6"></a><a href="#Footnote_6_6" class="fnanchor">(1)</a> at wheat growing is now a conceded point. Now for +other crops—for corn I have not been very successful; generally +mixing some guano with earth in the hill at the time of planting +and getting but few plants to stand; these, however, generally have +been heavily eared. By mixing previously with charcoal dust I think +this burning of the seed might be avoided.<a name="FNanchor_7_7" id="FNanchor_7_7"></a><a href="#Footnote_7_7" class="fnanchor">(2)</a></p> + +<p>For buckwheat, I used 120 to 150 lbs. per acre, sown upon the +furrow and harrowed in with the grain. For barley, 150 to 200 lbs. +per acre; oats 100 to 120 lbs; turnips, 600 to 700 lbs. plowed +under a short depth, previously to forming the drill; and I find a +decided profit in using guano for all the above crops. I have seen +a field of corn the present season very greatly improved in earing +by the application of about 150<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_93" id="Page_93">[Pg 93]</a></span> lbs. of guano, mixed with 5 parts +charcoal dust, and thrown around the hills a few weeks since during +a rain storm.</p> + +<p>I have also used guano and charcoal dust, five parts coal to one of +guano, in my garden, the past season, and found the beds thus +dressed stood the extreme drought better than other parts of the +garden. One more case of my own and I am done. In 1851, I sowed +about 90 lbs. of guano, on a piece of meadow or mowing ground, +covering a little more than half an acre, from which the timothy +and clover was nearly gone; I took 3 lands across the lot, leaving +about 20 feet between each land. Where the guano was sown, the +timothy grew large and thick and bore the drought, and yielded +about one and a half tons per acre; while the rest of the field did +not produce more than half that amount, and that of an inferior +quality of grass. The corn upon the same field the present season, +shows plainly a better yield from the above top-dressing. From +observation and experience, I would recommend the mixing of guano +with charcoal dust, equal parts, or five parts coal to one guano, +It is much more pleasant to handle when thus mixed, being +completely deodorized and rendered much more enduring as a manure, +by retaining the ammonia for several years, instead of allowing the +greater part to pass off the first season, as is the case when +applied in a crude state, especially as a top dressing.</p> + +<p>Prepared or decomposed muck if used with guano as a retainer of the +volatile gases, in all cases where it can be conveniently obtained +especially in soils where evaporation is so rapid as it is in most +parts of Long Island, will pay.</p> + +<p>That like produces like, is a favorite maxim with me—that it is +necessary to replace the matter, both organic and inorganic, which +we take from the soil in the form of crops, of various kinds—that +by supplying the necessary chemical ingredients, we shall be able +to draw a great proportion of our crops from atmospheric +agents—that the necessity for using such an immense amount of +organic matter as we now use in the shape of barn yard and stable +manure will be partially overcome—that a great saving of expense +will thereby ensue—that guano is one of the most active agents to +effect such a result I am fully satisfied, not sufficient perhaps +of itself, but highly useful even in a crude state—and capable +when skillfully combined with others, to effect an entire +revolution in our system of agriculture.</p> + +<p>If you think the above worth an insertion in the pamphlet you spoke +of, you are at liberty to insert it—if not, you will please return +the letter to me, as soon as convenient, and if you think it will +pass off any better, you may affix the following signature to the +communication.</p> + +<p class='author'> +<span class="smcap">Edward H. Seaman</span>, Recording Secretary,<br /> +Queen's Co. Agricultural Society.<br /> +</p> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_94" id="Page_94">[Pg 94]</a></span></p> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_6_6" id="Footnote_6_6"></a><a href="#FNanchor_6_6"><span class="label"><span class="smcap">Note 1.</span></span></a>—Yes, that is the word—<i>good luck</i>—it is all +good luck. It is astonishing how many farmers there are in this +country who will stand with their hands in their breeches pockets, +fumbling idle dollars, while a neighbor expends his for guano, and +produces a fine crop of wheat upon an old worn out buckwheat field; +at which they stare in stupid wonder at the good luck of the thing.</p> + +<p>What a pity it had not been the good luck of such men to have been +born with common sense enough to profit themselves by their +neighbors good luck.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_7_7" id="Footnote_7_7"></a><a href="#FNanchor_7_7"><span class="label"><span class="smcap">Note 2.</span></span></a>—It would be far better to sow the guano broadcast +and plow it in, or scatter it in drills and turn a light furrow on +it before planting.</p></div> + +<p class='author'>"<i>Hempstead, Aug.27, 1852.</i></p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Seth Chapman, Esq.</span>—Dear Sir:—I believe I was the first +person in Queens County using guano; having imported some from +England in the ship Yorkshire, in 1842. This was from the Ichaboe +Islands. I have since used nearly all the varieties, and consider +the Peruvian the cheapest and best.</p> + +<p>In applying guano, I think by making a compost, the greatest +benefit is derived; say one peck of plaster, one bushel of loam, +two of saw dust, mixed up a month or six weeks before using. From +100 to 200 lbs. of guano is enough for a crop of oats or buckwheat. +I have not found it to succeed with corn or potatoes; probably from +being accompanied by a dry season. The best wheat I ever raised was +from using 350 lbs. to the acre, composted. This was on a light +soil, and returned 31 bushels to the acre, on seven acres, weighing +62 lbs. The grass was poor after it. As a top dresser, I have used +200 lbs. per acre, very early in the spring, on half a lot, which +mowed more than half as much again as the part not dressed. One of +my neighbors has used 300 lbs. per acre, plowed in for potatoes; +the yield, good, so far, having just commenced digging.</p> + +<p class='author'><span class="smcap">John Harold</span>."</p> + +<p>We might give much more evidence of the same kind, to prove that every +barren acre upon Long Island, might be made productive by a judicious +and profitable application of guano; but if there are any persons, who, +after reading these pages, are still doubting, we must say they are most +incorrigably determined not to profit by the experience of others. To +such it would be useless to say more.</p> + +<blockquote><h4><i>Successful Experiment with Guano as a Top Dressing on Wheat, in North +Carolina.</i>—On <a href='#Page_17'><b>Page 17</b></a>, we gave some account of the application of guano +by Henry K. Burgwyn, Esq., since which, we have been favored with the +following letter from his brother, T. Pollock Burgwyn, written, as will +be seen, not for publication, but simply to give the party from whom he +purchased the guano, a detail of his success.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_95" id="Page_95">[Pg 95]</a></span></h4></blockquote> + +<p><a name="burgwyn" id="burgwyn"></a></p> +<p class='author'>"<i>New York, Sept.</i> 20, 1852.</p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Messrs. A. B. Allen</span> &. Co.—Dear Sir:—Having promised +that I would furnish you with the result of my application of the +21 tons of guano which I purchased of you last winter, I proceed +now to do so, and give you full liberty to quote my experience in +favor of the use of that most invaluable manure, to all who are +anxious to profit by the experience of others without incurring any +risk of their own. My object, and it should be that of every one +who has used guano, is to extend the knowledge of its great value +to any owner of poor soil, like the worn out plantations of North +Carolina. I applied 20 tons of this guano as a top dressing to a +field of 200 acres, which had been seeded in wheat under most +unfavorable circumstances. At the time of application, so +unpromising was the appearance of the growing wheat, that my +manager and myself thought it almost a waste of money and labor to +try this experiment,<a name="FNanchor_8_8" id="FNanchor_8_8"></a><a href="#Footnote_8_8" class="fnanchor">(1)</a> but as the rest of my crop did not require +any manure, I resolved to see what would be the effect. I am +confident the field would not have averaged, without the top +dressing, seven bushels per acre—it yielded rather over 13 +bushels, besides securing to me a full setting of clover.<a name="FNanchor_9_9" id="FNanchor_9_9"></a><a href="#Footnote_9_9" class="fnanchor">(2)</a></p> + +<p>My mode of application was as follows; to each 200 lbs of guano I +added two bushels of ashes and a bushel of plaster mixed +intimately, and then sown broadcast, at the rate of six and a half +bushels per acre, harrowed in with a light harrow. This application +was made in March, and the early part of April, and in less than +three weeks after the application, the wheat had undergone an +entire change, from a yellow, sickly color, to a dark luxuriant +green. The application had evidently infused new life and vigor +into the plants, and as the result proved, very nearly or quite +doubled its product. So much for the crop of wheat; but what was +still more valuable to me, in my system of farming, it likewise +secured for me a full crop of clover, which would certainly have +failed but for this application. I also applied one ton of this +guano mixed in the same way, to a small field of oats. I plowed +this under with a small plow, together with the oats; the result +was equally gratifying. My chief object in this last experiment, +was to secure me a small field of clover, near my stables, and in +this I fully succeeded; which I feel assured I should not have done +but for the guano. My brother and myself have made various +experiments of late years, with guano, and concur in the testimony +of all those who have tested its value, carefully and judiciously, +in pronouncing it to be the most expeditious renovater of the soil +within the farmer's reach; and exclusive of the farm yard, the most +economical of all manures. In proof of my conviction of its value +to me, I shall this fall give you an order for 20 or 30 tons more. +I will<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_96" id="Page_96">[Pg 96]</a></span> only add that I consider every wheat grower who would study +his own interest, will find it by trying similar experiments.</p> + +<p class='author'> +<span class="smcap">T. Pollock Burgwyn.</span>"<br /> +</p> + + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_8_8" id="Footnote_8_8"></a><a href="#FNanchor_8_8"><span class="label"><span class="smcap">Note 1.</span></span></a> In a subsequent conversation with Mr. Burgwyn, he +stated a fact which makes this point much stronger. After ordering the +guano, he left home, giving his farm manager orders to apply if to that +particular piece of wheat as soon as it arrived. Owing to the fact that +the seed was injured—that the land was in a very unfit condition from +poverty and drouth to produce a crop of wheat, it had assumed such a +miserable appearance before the arrival of the guano, that the manager +wrote to Mr. B. his opinion of the utter folly of applying anything so +expensive to a crop already struck with death. Not imagining how very +unpromising was the prospect of success, Mr. B. immediately wrote to him +to go ahead as directed. Before the application was completed he +returned home, and his first impression was to stop the work at once and +give up the field as lost; but on examining the effect upon that part +where the guano was first applied, he found it had already infused new +vigor into the plants, for they had put off their sickly yellow color, +and taken on a vigorous green; and therefore he decided at once to go +on, which as will be seen by the result, was a most valuable decision.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_9_9" id="Footnote_9_9"></a><a href="#FNanchor_9_9"><span class="label"><span class="smcap">Note 2.</span></span></a> From personal knowledge of this very field, we are +confident it would not have yielded without the guano, one half of seven +bushels. It is a flat surface, clayey loam, and badly affected by winter +rains, and such freezing and thawing as it had during the last severe +winter. Besides it was a few years since, when it came into the +possession of Mr. Burgwyn, one of those old worn out, skinned-to-death +places, so common in that State, which all the deep plowing and good +farming of that gentleman had not been able to restore, until he luckily +hit upon guano; which notwithstanding the most unfavorable +circumstances, has given him conclusive proof of its inestimable value. +To say nothing of the ten bushels of wheat per acre, which we are +confident he gained, the clover is worth more than the guano cost; and +without it, one might almost as soon expect to grow clover upon Coney +Island beach, as upon that field.</p></div> + +<p>This letter contains testimony of inestimable value. It comes from a +gentleman of intelligence and careful observation, who is devoted to his +profession of a farmer, and who has been one of the most successful +renovators of worn out plantations in the south, and it comes very +opportunely to give our work an appropriate <span class="smcap">Finale</span>.</p> + + + + + + + + +<pre> + + + + + +End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of Guano, by Solon Robinson + +*** END OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK GUANO *** + +***** This file should be named 20168-h.htm or 20168-h.zip ***** +This and all associated files of various formats will be found in: + https://www.gutenberg.org/2/0/1/6/20168/ + +Produced by Steven Giacomelli, Janet Blenkinship and the Online +Distributed Proofreading Team at https://www.pgdp.net (This file was +produced from images produced by Core Historical Literature in +Agriculture (CHLA), Cornell University) + + +Updated editions will replace the previous one--the old editions +will be renamed. + +Creating the works from public domain print editions means that no +one owns a United States copyright in these works, so the Foundation +(and you!) can copy and distribute it in the United States without +permission and without paying copyright royalties. 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