Organic Manures 



It forms a valuable liquid manure which can be 

 spread on practically any fields in the spring and 

 on land intended for catch-crops. 



Guano. 



Formerly what was understood by Huano-dung 

 in Spanish was the deposits of excrement of sea-birds 

 which lived on fish, the refuse of their meals, and 

 occasionally the bodies of their own species, accumu- 

 lated for ages on the sea-coast or in the islands of 

 Peru, in a hot climate and in rainless regions. 



These deposits were found chiefly in the Chln- 

 chas, a group of uninhabited islands in the Pacific, 

 not far from the west coast of South America. The 

 Incas always employed guano in their agriculture. 

 Van Humbolt was the first to bring it into Europe 

 in 1804, but it was not till 1840 that the first cargo 

 was unloaded in England. This was the first real 

 commercial manure. 



The results from this manure were so unexpected 

 and so marvellous that five years later 300,000 tons 

 were imported. The demand grew with its popu- 

 larity, and so great were the exportations that at 

 the beginning of the seventies the rich natural 

 deposits which attained in places a height of from 

 20 to 25 yards, and were estimated at 10 million tons, 

 were unhappily exhausted. It was an ideal manure 

 of sustained and rapid action. It contained from 

 14 to 16 per cent, nitrogen, so that it was as rich 

 in nitrogen as nitrate ; from 12 to 14 per cent. 

 Ph. Ac, equal to 27 to 30 per cent, tribasic phosphate, 

 making it as rich as many superphosphates ; and 

 from 2 to 3 per cent, potash. 



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