176 



USE AND ABUSE OF GUANO. 



on its utmost luxuriousness of dark green 

 foliage. 



I have noticed a fact which strongly 

 proves the power of guano in inducing a 

 vigorous flow of sap. Many of my Gera- 

 niums, that had lain dormant for months, 

 upon being stimulated with guano, threw 

 out adventitious buds, clusters of leaf, stem, 

 flower buds, &c., all in a hard knotted ball, 

 varying in size from that of a pea to a com- 

 mon marble, greatly to the surprise of those 

 persons who had never before seen such 

 specimens. 



A Calla ethiopica, in an eight quart pot, 

 by being grown in a damp, warm place, and 

 watered regularly with guano water, twice 

 per week, (using in the water the full of a 

 teaspoon of the guano each time,) threw up 

 a continuous growth of flowers and leaves 

 six feet in height. The leaves were often 

 compared to those of the mammoth Rhubarb, 

 and the flowers were certainly twice, if not 

 three times, the usual size. This plant was 

 not out of bloom from February to August, 

 and was exhibited before the Buffalo Hor- 

 ticultur.ll Society each month. With these 

 plants I have experimented with all the va- 

 rious liquid manures, but with none so suc- 

 cessfully as the guano. 



An Ajmjryllis johnsoni, by a similar treat- 

 ment, bloomed magnificently. It threw up 

 ten flowers on a couple of stems, two feet 

 four inches high, and an inch and a quarter 

 thick, covered with a beautiful bloom ; this 

 was in February. After blooming, it was 

 laid aside for the season, but in July, it 

 burst again, and had six flowers on one stem, 

 larger and finer colored than the first. This 

 stem ran up with great rapidity, growing 

 more than an inch per day. It is now going 

 out of bloom, and maturing its seed, which 

 I intend shall be well taken care of. The 

 reason, probably, why this bloomed so early 



kept at a temperature of sixty degrees in 

 order to forward grapes. 



Geraiiiums arc particularly fond of guano, 

 or the guano is fond of the Geraniums. I 

 never had so fine a bloom from any other 

 means. The plants grew remarkably thrifty, 

 made fine shoots, and the flowers were un- 

 usually large, as compared with others of 

 similar kinds. Very many had seven petals 

 instead of five, and the colors were clear, 

 rich, lustrous, and well defined. 



Roses cap the climax, with guano culture, 

 and, as a juvenile amateur in my garden 

 frequently observed, " they really hop." 

 A small cutting of the Boursault grandi- 

 flora, which I carried home last summer be- 

 tween my teeth, I carefully nursed into a 

 good growth during the season. This spring 

 it shot up astonishingly, putting forth up to 

 this time six canes of vigorous growth, some 

 six to eight feet high, besides a considerable 

 number of fine blossoms. It is now grow- 

 ing completely rampant. A Chromatella and 

 a Solfaterre, which I purchased in New- 

 York in May last, so small that I carried 

 them both in my pocket wrapt in a bit of 

 moss, have done equally well. (I pot my 

 Roses in a mixture of sandy loam, with one 

 fourth fine charcoal, and about the same 

 quantity of decayed wood from old stumps.) 

 These Roses have made great growth, and 

 the guano was soon felt. The Solfaterre 

 has a shoot which measures over six feet, 

 with as splendid a leaf in size and lustre as 

 ever graced a thorn-covered branch. The 

 Chromatella has put forth more shoots, and 

 being different in habit, it is more bushy, 

 but remarkably thrifty. 



I have also experimented upon some 

 seventy or eighty other Roses, and univer- 

 sally find that a judicious application of 

 guano is the sine qua nan in Rose culture. 

 Another fact worth noticing is, that the Red 



in the season, was that my green-house was I Spider, Acarus telarius, which has before 



