USE OF GUANO. 



33 



vegetable growth with wonderful power, 

 rould not but demand the immediate and 

 serious attention of all farmers and gardeners. 



I procured half a ton of the best Guano, 

 in April, 1S45. I applied it at the rate of 

 400 pounds per acre, to fields of corn and 

 potatoes, and to a great variety of garden 

 crops. The season, as all your readers Aviil 

 remember, was an unusually dry one. In 

 the case of my potatoes, that portion of my 

 field to which Guano had been applied, was 

 decidedly injured by its application. The 

 yield was one-third less than an adjoining 

 equal portion of the same field, where com- 

 mon barn-yard manure had been applied at 

 the rate of eight wagon loads to the acre, 

 and even considerably less than another 

 equal portion of the same field, where no 

 rianure whatever had been applied. 



To my field of corn, I gave a top-dressing 

 of Guano, Avhen the blades Avere about two 

 inches high. The benefit was not great, 

 but the field was perceptibly greener, and a 

 little more vigorous than an adjoining one 

 treated in the common mode. 



In my garden, I perceived but little bene- 

 fit from the use of Guano. Peas, strawber- 

 ries, and beans, treated pretty liberally 

 with Guano, showed no improvement what- 

 ever. A large patch of onions, with which 

 Guano had been drilled in, almost entirely 

 failed ; another patch in the same soil, m.a- 

 nured slightly with compost, succeeding per- 

 fectly well. All plants newly transplanted, 

 to which this stimulant had been applied in 

 the soil around the roots, died — even when 

 only a small quantity, previously mixed 

 with soil, was used; and many young crops 

 of vegetables, to which Guano was applied 

 as a top-dressing at the rate of 300 pounds 

 to the acre, were nearly burned up by it. 



So far is but the experience of last sea- 

 son — u single year, and the most unfavora- 

 ble of summers for growth. 



This season, not discouraged by my bad 

 success, I have tried Guano again. Its ef- 

 fects are almost entirely the reverse of those 

 of last year, 



I have applied Guano to the very same 

 crops as last season. In almost every case, 

 its etfects have been all that I could desire. 

 My small fields of potatoes and corn, treat- 

 ed with it at the same rate as in 1845, show, 

 at the present moment, a very different ap- 

 pearance. In short, their appearance is all 

 that I could desire. In several crops, the 

 strength and growth of the crop treated with 

 Guano, is almost double that of those treat- 

 ed in my ordinary way with manure. 



In kitchen garden vegetables, the result 

 is equally satisfactory ; excepting in the case 

 of cucumbers, I do not recall one vegetable 

 that has not been greatly benefited by it — 

 that is to say, in their growth and general 

 aspect. My strawberries, in rows side by 

 side, every other one of Avhich was watered 

 with liquid Guano, show the greatest im- 

 provement in those rows so watered. 



But the effect is perhaps more clearly 

 visible in grass lands. To them, I applied 

 in March Guano mixed with double its 

 bulk of plaster. The growth was so changed 

 in color in one week, that it was noticeable 

 almost as far as the eye could see the field. 

 At the present moment, my men are mow- 

 ing and making hay ; and the yield, judg- 

 ing merely by the loads, is one-third 

 heavier. 



You will naturally ask why this great 

 difference in the results of the two seasons ? 

 I answer, solely on account of the difference 

 in the seasons themselves. Last year was 

 so dry, that the Guano either had no effect, 

 or else it was worse than useless ; acting 

 like caustic, and absolutely burning up the 

 crops. 



Besides this, I learned something I'rom 

 experience in the way of using Guano. 



