58 



THE FARMERS' REGISTER. 



guarded against. Notwithstanding this check, 

 the piece dressed with guano now (Nov. 11) ap- 

 pears to be superior to all iheodicr plois excepting 

 that which was dressed wiih dung." 



2. Experiment of Mr. Love, of Castle Farm. 

 — " I have made iriid ol" the guano lor rape and 

 turnips, and in both instances, ( am happy lo in- 

 form you, ii answered my most sanguine expecta- 

 tions. 1 mixed 14 lbs. of it, in the first trial, with 

 2 bushels of ashes ; and although the weaihcr 

 was very dry, 1 could perceive a marked dider- 

 ence in the growth of the plants a lew days aher 

 they made their appearance. Encouraged by my 

 results, I next mixed 28 lbs. with 15 bushels ol 

 ashes, and applied it lor turnips, by sowing it on 

 the furrow, broadcast, and harrowing ii in lighlly ; 

 and, as we had Irequent showers at the time, 

 the seed soon vegetated, and the plant?: grew 



count of the very dry weather at the time of sow- 

 ing, the seed did not come up very soon on any 

 ot' the plots,-but when the ram came the crop ap- 

 peared ; and on the nitrate of soda and guano 

 made more rapid proaress, by a great deal, than 

 on the liirm-yard marmre, and continued lo do so 

 until I was obliged to cut the crop, its luxuriance 

 being such, boih on the guano and soda, that it 

 was all down and lodged, and injured the roots. 



" The second crops on these numures will differ 

 fn point of weight, I have no doubt. At present 

 tlie farm-yard manure lakes the lead ; the guano 

 is next ; but the crop on the nitrate is by no means 

 making the same progress. 



" I have tried the guano on several other crops, 

 in different proportions, and all prove very much 

 in favor of its being a most valuable manure ; and 

 the produce from it, as in the case of fisrm-yard 

 manure, will be in proporiionto the quantity laid 



away from those on each side, and were large <• q . . .. u a 



enough to hoe 2 or 3 days before those on the land on-at least, as far as 8 cwi. to he acre : beyond 

 1 had"manured in my usual way with dung and that, I fear, it would be too powerful lor any crop."* 



mould. In each case I applied at the rate of 

 2 cwl. per acre. Tlie ashes I mixed with it were 

 dry, and such as we usually obtain by burning 

 round the hedgerows and borders of our fields. 

 I have no doubt of its being a very povverful ma- 

 nure ; and, on very poor soils, I think I should 

 put on 1 cwt. per acre more than I did this sum- 

 mer, especially if 1 could not procure ashes in 

 sufficient quaniities to mix with it." 



3. '* iJ/r. fVesicar, of Burnwood, Surrey, ined 

 7.^ lbs. upon 5 rods of land, drilled in with barley 



These are all the experiments ol" which the 

 results have been transmitted to me. Though 

 they leave very much to be desired, yet they are 

 sufficient to show — that in the climate and on the 

 soils of England the guano is fitted to promote 

 vegetable growth nearly as much as on the arid 

 plains of Peru. 



Chemical composition of guano. — To what 

 cause are we to ascribe this extraordinary 

 eflect of guano in fertilizing and increasing the 

 produce of the land 1 What does it contain that 



and clover. Upon other 5 rods he applied , he renders it so grateful to vegetable life 1 We know 



beet farm-yard manure, at the rate of IS loads 

 to the acre, and sowed on these an equal quantity 

 of the same seeds. The result was — 

 From dung, 18 loads to the acre 1 bushel 3 quarts. 

 From guano, 2 cwt. to the acre 1 " 7 " 

 Being a saving of expense in the manure, with 

 an increase in the crop." 



4. " Mr. Smith, of Gunton Park, applied 4 

 bushels, about 200 lbs., of guano to a statute 

 acre ; and on another equal portion of land on 

 the same field, applied 15 bushels (6 cwt.) of 

 bone-dust. Both were drilled into the ground 

 with the seed wheat. The guano gave 6 quarters 

 2 busliels 1^ peck ; the bone-dust only 4| quarters 

 of wheat."* 



6. Experiment of Mr. Skirving, at the Walton 

 N^urseries, near Liverpool. — " Three plots of 

 ground were manured respectively with guano, 

 nitrate of soda, and farm-yard manure; and to 

 a fourth portion nothing was applied. All the 

 four were sown with Italian rye-graes, on the 

 19th of May; and all were cut on the 2d of 

 August, last. The resulta were as follo\vs : — 



Tons 



Guano, 3 cwt. per acre - - 14 

 Nitrate of soda, 3 cwt. per acre 14 

 Farm-yard manure, 20 tons per 



acre - - - - 13 2 96 

 Without manure ^ - 7 108 



that pigeons' dung and the liquid manure of the 

 farm-yard act upon vegetation almost, if not quite, 

 as efficiently i\s the guano; and as this latter 

 substance has precisely a similar origin, we can in 

 some measure understand from analogy only, 

 why it should be so useful as a manure. A clear 

 comprehension, however, of the kind and extent 

 of its action on vegetable life, and of the circum- 

 stances under which it is likely to be most benefi- 

 cial, can only be obtained from the study of its 

 chemical constitution. 



The first analysis of this substance wag, I be- 

 lieve, published by Klaproih (Beitrage, Th. iv, p. 

 299) ; the specimen having been furnished to him 

 by Humboldt. He found it to consist of — 



Per cent. 



cwt. 



15 



13 



Urate of ammonia - 



Phosphate of lime - - - - 



Oxalaje of lime - - . - 



Silica 



Common salt 



Sand 



Water and other organic and combuetibl 

 matter . . . . . 



16 

 10 

 1275 



4 



0.5 

 28 



28.75 



100 



* Ttiese experiments would liave been much more 

 valuable had tho results been given in the state of 

 dry hay instead of ttiat of green grass. The reason of 

 this is, thjt different samples of grass from the same 



Mr. Skirving adds " that the experiment was field yield often very different proportions of dry hay. 



made on poor light black soil, inclining to peat. 

 The land was first dug over, and then the ma- 

 nures spread en it aud lightly dug in. On ae- 



• Communicated by Mr. Macdonald, of St. Mil- 

 dred's Cpurt, Poultry ; as were Nos. 2 and 3 also. 



Thus 100 stones of grass, cut from each of six differ- 

 ent half-acres — treated with different manures — in the 

 same field, near Aske Hall, Richmond, gave respec- 

 tively of dry hay 52, 53, 36, 46, 40, and 36 stones. 

 No accurate conclusion therefore can be dravrn from 

 the weights of the green grass yielded by the several 

 parts of a field. 



