THE HYDRAULIC RAM. 



81 



looking into my neighbors' gardens, who 

 have not had a pound of it, that their crops 

 are all sound and regular, and their advice 

 tc me is to stick to the old-fashioned ma- 

 nure. 



What I think ought to be done in a jour- 

 nal so much read and referred to, as I sup- 

 pose yours is, is to say a few words to let 

 those who are ignorant, and have had no 

 practice like myself, know something about 

 guano besides its "wonderful virtues." 

 Let them know, for instance, that it is 

 absolute poison to seeds, if sown along with 

 them, and to roots of everything trans- 

 planted that it comes in contact with. My 

 own opinion is, that unless " homeopathic 

 doses " of it are administered to most 

 plants, that it burns them up in a dry time 

 like a conflagration. There has been 

 enough said in its favor. Let the "sufferer 

 by fire," now be heard. I am, dear sir; 

 yours, with respect, J. S. 



Baltimore, July 12, 1847. 



P. S. My darkey "John," says he 

 " berry glad massa got sick of de pottecary 

 manure; worse dan ole Scotch snuff." 



Remarks. — Our correspondent's experi- 

 ence is indeed melancholy, but not more 

 so than that of many others, both farmers 

 and gardeners, whose experiments we saw 



the first season after the introduction of 

 guano. It was then applied "liberally," 

 in proportion to what the cultivator felt 

 that he could afford to put upon his land, or 

 what he hoped to get from it. The conse- 

 quence was that we saw whole fields of 

 potatoes and onions half destroyed by it. 



The truth is, guano can never be applied 

 safely alone, or in a pure state. It should 

 be mixed with a much larger bulk of earth 

 than is generally supposed necessary, to 

 render it safe to apply it directly to any 

 plants, and we think almost its whole 

 value in this climate is lost, if the season is 

 not a ?noist one. 



There is no form in which guano is ap- 

 plied with results so uniformly good, as in 

 a liquid form. One pound to ten gallons 

 of water is a sufficient quantity, and the 

 effects of a frequently repeated watering 

 with this, are surprisingly beneficial, as 

 our correspondent has with his mode of 

 operation, found them to be injurious. 

 Hence, those whose use of guano has been 

 confined chiefly to green-house plants, or a 

 few choice trees and shrubs, which they 

 have regularly watered with it, are as loud 

 in its praise, as those who have used it 

 mainly in field crops, and perhaps with the 

 disadvantage of dry seasons^ are lukeAvarm. 

 —Ed. 



THE HYDRAULIC RAM. 



We have lately had our attention drawn to 

 that most valuable self-acting water ma- 

 chine, called the Hydraulic Ram ; and as 

 it is comparatively little known in the 

 United States, we think some account of it 

 cannot but interest many of our readers. 



The three conditions most essential to 

 the growth of vegetation, as every one 

 knows, are light, heat and water. There 

 Vol. ii. 11 



is no scarcity, in most parts of the United 

 States, of warmth and sunshine, during the 

 growing season. But there is often very 

 serious difficulty in producing many gar- 

 den crops, and maintaining ornamental 

 grounds in the highest condition, from the 

 drvness of our climate in midsummer. 

 Any means, therefore, of avoiding the mis- 

 chievous effects of summer drouth will,- 



