45 



Peruvian Guano. The first commercial fertilizer known to 

 the people of the South, now totally exhausted, came from the 

 Chincha Islands, off the coast of Peru, and is believed to have 

 been derived from the excrement of the fish eating bird, known 

 on that coast as the Guano. Owing to the total want of rain 

 the ammoniacal and other valuable salts which are soluble, were 

 preserved. Genuine guano was exceedingly light, weighing 

 only sixty-eight to seventy-two pounds per bushel. 

 And its average composition was about 



Water expelled at 212 12.42 



Organic matter and ammoniacal salts 52.98 



Yielding ammonia 1721 



Phosphate Lime and Magnesia 25.06 



Alkaline salts 8.26 



Insoluble matter 1.50 



From the above analysis we perceive that this substance was 

 remarkably rich in fertilizing materials, all of which were in a 

 readily soluble condition. It is to be regretted that these 

 deposits are totally exhausted, the mining having extended 

 down to the rock, so that the last shipments made contained 

 over thirty per cent, of rock. 



Other localities have been discovered yielding the same sub- 

 stance, but of a less valuable composition, as the Guanape 

 islands, off the coast of Ecuador, were, owing to the heavy dews 

 and occasional rainfall, the ammoniacal and soluble salts are 

 considerably diminished in quantity. While it may be obtained 

 to analyze fourteen per cent of ammonia, its amount of soluble 

 phosphorie acid is small. Nor does it appear to compare with 

 the Chincha Island Guano, as a fertilizer, at all relatively to 

 their analysis. 



Lower down the Coast of South America, off Chili, islands 

 are found containing quantities of guano nearly entirely desti- 

 tute of ammoniacal and soluble salts, owing to the frequent 

 rains. Quite recently another deposit has been discovered on 

 the Falkland Islands and off the West Coast of Africa, of the 

 same character. 



All of these are the raw materials which enter into the 

 manufacture o/ commercial fertilizers. 



For the manufacture of superphosphates alone in this coun- 

 try, the South Carolina and Navassa phosphates are the on ly ones 

 almost exclusively used. The source of ammonia for the manip- 

 ulated fertilizers is chiefly a material called Azotin, which is 

 composed of the dried flesh of animals ; dried blood is also a 

 limited supply. In these materials the nitrogen does not exist 

 in the form of ammonia, but is converted into that compound 

 by decomposition. 



The different preparations of fish which are found on the mar- 



