56 



THE FARMERS' REGISTER. 



powdered alum, and in a short lime a ecum will 

 be seen rising lo the surlace, in appearance like 

 dirly I'roili. Skim this ofl as it rises. This ecum 

 will rise lor hall an hour or more. These direc- 

 tions are [)laia and easil}' complied with, and one 

 trial will be saiislactory. Persons, by Ibllowing 

 llieee directions, will save more ihan one hall Ihe 

 usual labor ol making candles, besides having 

 betier canJIt-s. I speak Irom atiundant experience, 

 and iherelore wiih lull confidence. E. M. 



KENTUCKY BLUE GRASS (GREiiKSWAUD, POA 

 I'HATENSIS.) 



From the Nashville (Tennessee) Agriculturist. 



The best time lor sowing is as soon as you get 

 ready alter October, but il' you sow belore the 

 middle of March, you may expect a goud siand, 

 particularly il' the season is wet. 



Land.— Old fields, wliere the sun can exert ail 

 his powers, produce blue grass in the greatest 

 abundance, and always of the best quality. The 

 past fall we visited Mark K. Cockrill's I'arm, and 

 saw old fields on which Ibrmer occupants were 

 threatened with starvation, yielded the richest 

 grass. It was remarkable that his mareii and 

 sucking colts, on these pastures, vviihout grain, 

 were latter, it possible, than we ever saw " the 

 noble animal" on other treatment. But inasmuch 

 as cultivated grounds are generally used lor other 

 purposes, the beginner is inlormed that woodland, 

 particularly where the limber is not too loose, will 

 produce good grass. 



Preparation. — If you intend old land (or pas- 

 ture, break up the fields, and sow them in oats in 

 February. Then put ten lbs. of blue grass seed, 

 a half a gallon of red clover seed, and if a little 

 timothy or orchard grass be sprinkled on so much 

 the better. The clover, limoihy and orchard 

 grass will give a quick pasture and afl'ord protec- 

 tion to the blue grass lill it gets a strong hold, alter 

 which no other grass can contend with it. If 

 woodland is lo be sown, take oH' the logs, brush, 

 leaves, &c., and if the undergrowth could be 

 taken out, it would be much betier. After the 

 land is cleaned, harrow il well, then sow your 

 grass seed at the rate of ten or twelve pounds to 

 (he acre, but if you put on fifteen or twenty 

 pounds, you will scarcely ever regret il. The 

 rains will sufTiciently cover the seed to insure ve- 

 getation. 



ON GUANO.* 



By James F. W. Johnston, F. R. S , Stc, Hon. Mem. 

 of the Royal English Agricultural Society. 



From tlie Journal of the Royal Agricultural Society of England- 



Of the natural occurrence of Guano. — Gua" 

 no, according to Humboldt, is the European 



* Perhaps some readers may deem the subject of 

 this article, however curious as a matter of history 

 and of natural science, of no practical value, and 

 therefore not worth the space it will here occupy. 

 But the subject is not only one of interest as a very 

 remarkable, and until now unexplained, fact in na- 



pronunciation of the word " huanu," which in 



the language of the Incas means dung or manure. 

 The substance long kiioivn by this name occurs 

 at various points along the coast oi' Peru, be- 

 tween ihe 13th and 21st degrees ofsouih latitude, 

 both on the main land and on the numerous 

 islands and rocks which are sprinkled along this 

 pan of ihe shores of South America. It lorms 

 irregular and liniiied deposites, which at limes 

 attain a depth of 50 or GO (eel (Humboldt,) and 

 are excavated like mines of iron ochre. It is not 

 known to exist in any quantity north of 13° or 

 south of 21° ; though the flocks of cormorants, 

 flamingoes, cranes and other sea-/bwl (from the 

 droppings of which it has been derived,) appear 

 to be ecjually numerous along both ihe more 

 southerly coast of Aiacama and the more north- 

 erly shores o( Arequipa. 



Mr. VVinterteldt. who appears to have more 

 recently visited the west coasi of South America, 

 has published the following additional informa- 

 tion ill Belfs Weekly Messenger of the 11th of 

 September, 1841 : — 



" There are three vaiielies of guano — the red, 

 the dark-gray, and the white. The first two are 

 met with in the isles of Chincha near Pisco, at 



tural history, but the circumstances, as now explained, 

 throw important lights on agricultural science. That 

 the excrement of sea-birds, a substance among the 

 most putrescent, and consequently elsewhere of fleet- 

 ing existence, should have remained in mass for ages, 

 and in the torrid zone, was of itself sufficiently re- 

 markable. And the fact had been of enough impor- 

 tance to be recorded in history, because of the im- 

 mense value of the manure, and the great use made 

 of it, by water transportation, by the ignorant .abori- 

 ginal inhabitants of Peru, and by their Spanish con- 

 querers and their indolent descendants. Added to these 

 facts, the deposites of excrements were so enor- 

 mously thick and extensive, as almost to amount to 

 the importance of a geological formation. 



It now appears that the absence of moisture (from 

 rain) prevents putrefaction, in a great degree ; and 

 this most remarkable, because vast effect, of a well- 

 known law of fermentation, will serve to show to 

 farmers, in all regions, that without moisture their ma- 

 nure loses nothing by the sun and air. The great richness 

 of guano, and its value as manure, after all the actual 

 waste of its most volatile parts for centuries, shows 

 strongly the great value of ammonia, no matter from 

 which of the many sources it may be obtained; 

 and the importance of preventing its waste from all 

 manures which evolve it during putrefaction. And 

 in addition to these general theoretical truths, of va- 

 rious and extensive application in practical agricul- 

 ture, it ma]/ be that the products of this immense mine 

 of manure in the Pacific ocean, may hereafter be brought 

 to benefit American, as it has already done British 

 agriculture. This may be still the more strongly 

 counted on, now that it is ascertained that the most 

 recent guano is far more rich than the ancient, which 

 is what has been mostly exported heretofore,— 

 Ed. F. R. 



