THE FARMER'S MAGAZINE. 



43 



distances, so as to extend their use, while at the same 

 time the disadvantages attending it will be removed. 

 So will the United Kingdom be rendered iudopeudent 

 of the foreigner for manure. To render it independent 

 of him for food was once the great object of agricul- 



tural ambition. The former undertaking has not yet 

 succeeded ; for the food-consuming powers of the 

 country keep far ahead of its production of food, though 

 ont of the capabilities of the soil for producing it. 



ALLEGED DISCOVERY OF GUANO. 



The Spanish Consul-General presents his compliments to 

 the Editor of The Times and begs to forward the translation 

 of an article relative to the probable discovery of guano on 

 the southern coast of the island of Cuba, which appeared 

 in the Madrid Gazette of the 23rd ult., in hopes it may prove 

 of sufficient interest to merit insertion. 



JOSE J. DE MORA, Consul-General. 

 Consulado General de Espana, en la 

 Gran Bretana, 1, Cushion-court, 

 Old Broad-street, June 3. 



" Havannah, March 24. 



" We have lately spoken of the discovery of a deposit of 

 guano upon the Keys (Cayos) adjacent to the island on 

 its southern side. We announced the appointment and de- 

 parture of a commission deputed to make a detailed survey 

 of the said rocks, and also notified the fact of the arrival of 

 some cases of samples sent from Trinidad by tiie commis- 

 sion, from which place, according to the intelligence pub- 

 lished in our number of last Sunday, it was announced that 

 the guano had been met with in abundance and of fine qua- 

 lity. We, this day, propose to occupy ourselves more fully 

 with this discovery, entering (although briefly) into its his- 

 tory ; for we are of opinion that the facts which have come 

 to our knowledge, and which we are now about to relate, 

 will not be found wanting in interest, more especially since 

 the recent publication of the decree of his Excellency the 

 Governor-Superintendent. 



" According to our information, then, the existence of a 

 species of guano upon the Cayos, adjacent to the island, and 

 even upon some point of the island itself, was a circum- 

 stance that had been long since ascertained. One of our 

 friends assures us that, happening to be some years back at 

 Trinidad, he had been commissioned by a merchant of Ha- 

 vannah to withdraw from the stores of that city certain 

 bags of guano, v^ith the object of remitting the same to 

 France for the purpose of its being examined with a view 

 to ascertain whether its shipment to that market would be 

 likely to prove advantageous, subsequent to which he had 

 learnt that its transmission having taken place, the answer 

 which had been returned was that the guano was found to 

 he of excellent qualit}'. Again, we learn that D. Tranqui- 

 lino Sandalio de Noda has declared that among his youth- 

 ful recollections he remembers that upon the occasion of his 

 sailing towards Batabano from the direction of VeultaAbajo 

 his vessel, having to make her escape from the pursuit of 

 pirates, had been obliged to take refuge upon one of the 

 southern Cayos, where the passengers found they could 

 scarcely sustain the bad odour emitted from the soil, which 

 strong smell, he presumed, must have proceeded from an 

 abundant deposit of guano. But, at all events, we are not 

 aware that up to the present moment any serious investiga- 

 tion has been made of the matter, although it is certain that 

 very powerful reasons exist to lead us to suspect that the 

 greater portion, if not the whole, of the guano which for a 



long time has been consumed in the United States, under 

 the name of Mexican guano, has been taken from the Cayos 

 upon our southern coast. 



" However this may be, in the course of the past year 

 Captain Green, of the American brig Moncure, succeeded 

 in convincing the firm of Tyng and Co., of this city, that 

 guano in large quantities did actually exist upon the Caj'os 

 of Jardines and Jardinillos, and that a large profit would 

 be derived from its exploitation, if permission could be ob- 

 tained to work it. The house of Tyng and Co. applied to 

 his Excellency the Superior Civil Governor, Captain- 

 General and Superintendent of Finance, requesting such 

 exclusive privilege for a certain term, and presenting a 

 sample of the substance in question, submitting that they 

 had established a right to claim that or an equivalent 

 reward for the information, which might be conceded with- 

 out prejudice to the State, since from the before-mentioned 

 Cayos alone as much as 150,000 tons might be annually 

 extracted. 



"As it may naturally be presumed, our supreme autho- 

 rity gave immediate orders that the sample of guano should 

 be analyzed, committing this task to the care of the intel- 

 gent Director of the Laboratory of Chyinical Investigations. 

 Those who are acquainted with the activity and scientific 

 attainments of that distinguished professor will not be sur- 

 prised to learn that this commission was promptly and 

 conscientiously performed. Although the analysis did not 

 furnish results entirely conformable to the qualities which 

 had been attributed to the sample of guano submitted, it, 

 on the other hand, gave others more than sufficiently satis- 

 factory and valuable to render it highly advisable to con- 

 tinue the investigation; for although no guano equal to 

 that of Peru had been found, still the substance which had 

 been examined possessed qualities, as a manure, of an ex- 

 ceedingly valuable nature, which would render its employ- 

 ment in our agriculture highly profitable, and even aftord 

 ample returns to the Exchequer by the granting licences 

 for its exportation, which would not have been so earnestly 

 sought for v/itliout well-grounded reasons for counting upon 

 a profitable return. 



" The sample submitted to examination was a substance 

 which, taking the result of its qualitative analysis, was found 

 to contain sulphate of lime or gypsum, traces of salt, or 

 chloride of sodium, phosphate of lime with oxide of iron, 

 carbonate of lime with indications of magnesia, silica and 

 silicate of iron, vegetable organic matter and water com- 

 bined ; the quantitative analysis showing that the sulphate 

 of lime and the traces of salt entered into its composition 

 in the proportion of 40 parts in the 100, the phosphate of 

 lime 20 parts, the carbonate of lime 12, the silica and 

 silicate of iron 2, organic vegetable matter (5, and water and 

 loss 20 parts. Mr. Casaseca very justly called attention to 

 the comparison of this analysis with that of the guano of 

 Peru, from which the sample examined materially differed, 

 since the latter contained neither uric acid, urate of 



