270 EUROPEAN AGRICULTURE. 



sion for unnecessarily alarming the prejudices of those whom we 

 wish to serve, or for awakening resistance by command, when 

 we can easily enforce acquiescence by persuasion. 



That the plan is sure to work well where the class of tenants, 

 as in Armagh, are very small tenants, and ignorant withal, is 

 quite plain ; but farmers on a large scale would be likely to 

 reject any direct interference. Yet these men often need 

 instruction. The knowledge of improvements, in some cases, 

 extends itself by slow degrees : oral instruction, coupled with 

 familiar illustrations, is always more interesting than books ; and 

 the employment of an agricultural missionary, of unobtrusive 

 and kind manners, and perfectly competent to impart instruction, 

 to visit a district of country, that he might point out errors and 

 defects of cultivation, and explain the best modes of husbandry 

 adapted to the climate and locality, would prove a most power 

 ful means of awakening attention to the subject, of reforming 

 errors, and introducing desirable and substantial improvements. 



XLV. GUANO. 



Having now completed what I designed to say upon the pro 

 vision for agricultural education in Great Britain, I shall beg the 

 indulgence of my readers in reverting to a topic of a different 

 character, and which, in a more methodical arrangement, would 

 have had a place in a different part of my work. A strong and 

 impatient desire has been expressed that I should give what 

 information I possess on the subject of the recently-introduced 

 and most extraordinary manure called guano ; and I therefore 

 speak of it in this place. 



I do not deem it necessary to go into the history of a sub 

 stance which has been made so familiar by the public discus 

 sions which have taken place in relation to it. That it is an 

 animal deposit, is well established. It is the excrement of sea- 

 birds accustomed to frequent certain islands in the Pacific Ocean 

 and other places in the tropical latitudes. Its use as a manure 

 is not new in those countries where it has been found. In Peru, 



