Bones, Oil-cake, Guano, &c. 259 



cattle-shed. These combinations are best arrived 

 at in the compost heap. The same remarks apply 

 to 



Castor-oil cake, which is coming more and more 

 into use in Ceylon. 



Guano is the excrement of sea-birds, and is 

 brought from the Islands of Chinca, Ilo, Iza, Arica, 

 &c., off the coast of Peru. When exhibited for 

 manuring purposes it has the appearance of a fine 

 brown powder. It contains uric acid, ammonia, 

 potassa, phosphoric acid, a little fat, and silica. 

 Guano is a very valuable manure, its effect being 

 to produce both foliage and crop, but it should be 

 applied with some more bulky substance. 



Wood-ashes, when containing charcoal, and not 

 too much burned, are useful as manure. Mr. Wall 

 informs us : " I have used wood-ashes with marked 

 advantage. This manure has the advantage of 

 being both cheap and abundant. As we use the 

 ashes they contain much soluble alkaline matter, 

 which in England is almost always previously ex- 

 tracted for the manufacture of soap. For this 

 reason ours are peculiarly valuable, and cannot fail, 

 when judiciously used, to give very beneficial re- 

 sults." 



Lime. Ferguson's Ceylon Commonplace Book 

 for 1860 contains the following: "Lime, if it 

 could be procured cheaply and in quantity, is ot 



S 2 



