34 



CU LTlJfK OK Tin: LAIKKL. 



Tiiis year I have only used Guano either 

 (luring a shower, or before a sionn. So 

 used, it always ads like magic. Once or 

 twice, when I was so unlucky as to use it 

 unseasonably — that is to say, no rain, but 

 several hot dry days following, the efTect was 

 bad — the plants suffered, if much was ap- 

 plied ; or the efTect was not to be seen, if 

 only a little was put on. 



I offer these remarks in a very simple and 

 candid manner, because I think it is only 

 by a comparison of experiments that the 

 public v.-ill get to know any thing about the 

 value of Guano. 



My own opinion is, that it is a very pow- 

 erful manure ; a rather dangerous manure 

 in the hands of beginners, and those unac- 

 quainted with it. I do not think it is of any 

 value here, unless applied pretty early, and 

 when a moist season follows; then it is of 

 the greatest value. It is not so good on 

 dry soils as on moist ones, and it will never 

 be worth so much to us as to the English. 

 If we could afTord always to apply it in a 

 liquid form, it would be the be^l way ; as 

 it is, my advice is, use Guano, but only use 

 it in rainy weather. 



Kespectfully yours, Long Island. 



Culture of the Laurel — ^Interesting fact in Horticulture. 

 BY J. J. THOMAS, MACEDON. 



It is well known that the Laurel, one of the 

 most beautiful evergreen and flowering 

 shrubs, will not flourish on most of the fer- 

 tile soils of the countn,', and especially on 

 what are termed limestone, soils. An emi- 

 nent horticulturist of Western New-York,* 

 has lately tried experiments with its man- 

 agement, which have proved completely 

 successful. His operations were founded 

 on the position, that this plant, like many 

 others, will not flourish in soils containing 

 carbonate of lime, — and that where portions 

 of soil have been for centuries subject to a 

 free natural drainage helow, the carbonate 

 of lime has been gradually dissolved and 

 carried away by the insensible portion of 

 carbonic acid contained in the water thus 

 passing downward through the surface soil. 

 Acting in accordance with this belief, soil 

 was obtained from the banks of gulleys, 

 where this filtering Avas supposed to have 

 been m.ost completely effected, and carted 

 to the garden where beds were formed, and 



* David Tliomas, oi' Cnyuga. 



the Laurel transplanted into this newly de- 

 posited soil. The result was entirely suc- 

 cessful, though all attempts on the common 

 and adjacent soil had failed. Whether the 

 theory be correct or not, the practice may 

 be of use in many other cases. 



It may not always be necessary to resort 

 to gulley banks, as knolls and other eleva- 

 ted points of soil may possess similar pro- 

 perties. The character of such soils is of- 

 ten indicated by the nature of the vegetable 

 growth it supports. In the beds of soil thus 

 formed, the common red sorrel \\'^% found to 

 grow perfectly rampant.* It may, perhaps, 

 be familiar to many of our readers, that 

 the red sorrel more frequently flourishes on 

 knolls, hill sides, &c., where this drainage, 

 already spoken of, most effectually lakes 

 place. 



It may also be found, that such plants as 

 the Laurel may be cultivated to advantage 

 by the application to the soil of certain 



* Tills plant, llie Rumtx acetostlla, inu<t iiol Lc couiounilfil 

 with liie wood sorrel, or Oxalis acetostlla^ wliicli flourishes in 

 ritii calcareous soils. 



