USE AND ABUSE OF GUANO. 



175 



ON THE USE AND ABUSE OF GUANO. 



BY THE VICE-PRESIDENT OF THE BUFFALO HORTICULTURAL SOCIETY 



Much as has been said and written, pro and 

 con, as to the merits of guano as a fertilizer, 

 still, as an amateur florist, I would beg your 

 permission to add my experience to the list. 

 I would ask leave, at the outset, to say a 

 few words of censure to very many profes- 

 sional florists, whom I have met and con- 

 versed with on this subject ; and who were 

 deeply prejudiced against its use. One 

 says, " I have used guano, and it has burn- 

 ed up my plants." Another: " It has not 

 met my expectations, and therefore I find it 

 useless." The most patriotic objector is a 

 writer in the Agriculturist, who exclaims, 

 " 'TVs a national sin to be importing foreipi 

 fertilizers,'''' &c,, &c. Upon inquiring as to 

 their mode of application, the sequel is soon 

 told ! Some have used it in a crude state, 

 merely intermixing a quantity with the sur- 

 face soil in the pot, as a top-dressing ; ano- 

 ther has sprinkled the surface only, and left 

 its essential volatile parts to evaporate. 

 Others mixed it with water till it reached 

 the color of Brown Sto7it, and kept the soil 

 saturated, and even, in some cases, syringed 

 the plants with it. And others, again, adopt- 

 ed the principle, that if little was good, much 

 must be better. And thus it is, that one of 

 the greatest aids to the green-house and 

 conservator}'-, has been anathematized and 

 condemned, from ignorance and misapplica- 

 tion, by the very individuals that should, 

 and would, under proper management, be 

 highly benefitted by it. 



And while here I might stop to lament 

 the fact, that so few of our florists and gar- 

 deners are sufficiently educated and liberal 

 to draw conclusions, and judge aright any 

 innovation in the routine of their labors, 

 which the skill and genius of the few may 



produce for their benefit. Many of them are 

 good practical mechanical men ; they can 

 mix a compost according to the old receipt, 

 and grow tolerably well the plant, but phy- 

 siologically and theoretically know but little 

 of either plant or compost. A professional 

 florist showed me the other day, a pot sowed 

 with tender and valuable seed, which was 

 placed immediately under the glass in order 

 to get light, that it might assist and ensure 

 its germination ! not recognizing nature's 

 forcible lesson of fallen leaves, &c., to hide 

 and shade the seed from light, which would 

 retard those chemical changes so necessary 

 to stimulate its vital powers into action. 

 Another was sorry that he had dabbled with 

 books ; he would not give a fig for all the 

 periodicals in the country to assist him ; he 

 cultivated better before he began to read, 

 than he has since ; and dates his bad luck 

 from the period when he began to read books 

 and use guano ! These then are the oppo- 

 sers of guano, and I assure \'0u the illustra- 

 tions are not over-wrought pictures, but ema- 

 nating from men who have extensive ranges 

 of both glass and grounds. They seem to 

 adhere rigidly to the old maxim, " This is 

 the field my father grew his barley in, that 

 his oats; I do so likewise." 



My experiments prove satisfactorily to me, 

 that if a plant is in a proper medium to 

 grow, that is, sufficient light and heat, with 

 a light loamy soil for its roots to work in, 

 the judicious application of guano will 

 make it perform miracles, compared to any 

 other fertilizer that can be applied to it. It 

 seems to give new energy to every part; the 

 vital forces of the plant are directly acted 

 upon ; the obscure axillary buds, that have 

 lain dormant, now burst, and the plant puts 



