80 



EXPERIENCE WITH GUANO. 



this same bed over three times, the last 

 time all went well. Suppose the guano 

 has spent its virtues a little in the soil.] 



April 10th. Soaked some peas twelve 

 hours in guano water, in order to try how 

 much start it would give them ; planted 

 them in rows, and put in at the same time 

 every other row without soaking. 



[Mem. — Very few of the "soaked," vege- 

 tated. About one in four or five grew 

 finally ; of those let alone, all grew and bore 

 well.] 



April 12th. Transplanted some toma- 

 toes and egg plants to-day. Not meaning 

 to over-do the thing this time, I gave the 

 lightest possible sprinkling of the " pulver- 

 ized Peruvian " to the hills, where I put 

 them out, and turned it in well with the 

 trowel before transplanting them. 



[These struggled hard ; but two-thirds 

 of them finally gave up the ghost. On 

 asking my neighbor Smith since, if toma- 

 toes are not hard to transplant, he smiled 

 and said, "it is as easy for them to grow 

 as it is for a Yankee to whittle." It must 

 have been that admirable fertilizer, thought 

 I, though I said nothing to my neighbor 

 Smith.] 



April 15th. Planted Lima beans. Here 

 I think is something that will certainly 

 stand fire. Here is a seed that will be 

 able to take up " ammonia and the phos- 

 phates," and turn them into " greens " 

 without delay. Accordingly, I have plant- 

 ed one-half my hills of Limas with a tole- 

 rable dusting of the fertilizer right under 

 the seeds — intending that as soon as they 

 began to "send out circulars," they shall 

 feel the stimulus that I have given them. 



[Mem. — Sorry to be obliged to say that 

 only a few, a very few, of these beans have 

 sprouted. To be sure, such as have sprout- 

 ed, look green and thrifty. What can be 



the matter of the rest^ I dont well see, un- 

 less they had an over-dose. On digging 

 up those that would'nt come up, I found 

 them quite rotten. The other half that I 

 planted with common manure in the hills, 

 camp up in a few days, every bean of them, 

 and have done finely.] 



April 19th. Made a rosery, and being 

 a little nervous about " ammonia," used 

 some old barn-yard manure. Thought, 

 however, that I would not give up without 

 a fair trial, and put out a half dozen roots 

 of the " Four seasons " Rose, with a cou- 

 ple of handfuls of guano mingled with the 

 soil. [The weather set in pretty dry for a 

 fortnight after, and these half a dozen of 

 plants, though they are still green, have 

 not started a leaf yet ! The others have 

 grown pretty well, and many of them have 

 given me some handsome well-blown 

 roses.] 



I will not trouble you with farther ex- 

 tracts, as on turning over the leaves, I find 

 during the months of April and May, pret- 

 ty much the same running account. I dont 

 know, indeed, as I have in " all my trials" 

 succeeded with a single experiment, except 

 with my grass-plot. This I gave a good 

 top-dressing very early in April, and it has 

 been extraordinarily green and luxuriant 

 ever since. Indeed, as it was not scat- 

 tered over it very evenly at first, it 

 made spots and streaks of green so mark- 

 edly visible, that I was obliged to go over 

 the neglected parts again, to make the 

 whole one uniform pattern. 



I have pretty much struck a balance Avith 

 guano in my own mind. It may all be 

 very well for those who know how to use 

 it, but I am decidedly of opinion that it is 

 dangerous for beginners like me to meddle 

 with. It has put back some of my "truck," 

 and quite destroyed others, and I find on 



