G8 



NEW ENGLAND FARMER. 



GUANO. 



Though but little has been published respecting 

 this invaluable foreign manure for a considerable 

 time, its use has been extended, and the demand 

 has been increasing, in proportion to the experi- 

 ence which agriculturists have had of its beneficial 

 effects. The failure of the supplies from the Afri- 

 can coast, by exhaustion, has limited the market 

 for some time past to the single accessible locality 

 remaining, viz : the Island of Chinche, in the Pa- 

 cific ocean, 15 miles west of the Port of Pisco, in 

 Peru. Happily the guano of that region is by far 

 the best in the world, and in sufficient quantity to 

 supply any supposable demand for a course of 

 years. 



Experiments , as well as chemical analysis , proved , 

 soon after the discovery of guano, that the Peru- 

 vian retains all its fertilizing ingredients from age 

 to age, in consequence of the absence of rain in 

 that climate, while that heretofore imported from 

 Ichaboe, and other places on the coast of Africa, 

 beino- annually drenched with rain, had its soluble 

 portions washed out and lost. 



The imports of Peruvian guano into England for 

 the last 12 months, will not fall short of 120,000 

 tons, and the United States 40,000, with every 

 prospect of a rapid and continued increase. Every- 

 thing now promises that the increasing demand for 

 this fertilizer will be supplied. The business is en- 

 tirely in the hands of the Peruvian government, on 

 whose account all shipments are made. From 

 seventy to ninety vessels are constantly at Chinche, 

 loading ; and a large number of laborers, chiefly 

 Cliinamen, are at work upon the immense mass of 

 material, the deposits of countless flocks of sea 

 birds, which made the spot their abode for ages. 

 The abundance of fish in the waters around the 

 island of Chinche furnished them with food ; and, 

 although they have been driven from their old 

 haunt by the sailors and workmen, the upper parts 

 of the land are covered with their excrements, to 

 the depth of eighty feet. 



Agriculturists well know the saving made by 

 ushv T a small quantity of highly concentrated 

 manure even at a considerable price per hundred 

 weight instead of an immense heap of the common 

 kinds which, although of little cost nominally, 

 must be carted and spread at considerable ex- 

 pense. . 



Anion"" the comparative estimates made of guano 



with stable manure, it has been stated, that 300 

 lbs. of the former, is equal in effect to thirty cart 

 loads of the latter ; and though, in some cases, the 

 cost may be a few dollars more of actual outlay in 

 money, the expense of transporting and spreading 

 the latter, at almost any price, will throw the 

 balance much against it. 



( ! uam > is applied to land cither in water, by which 

 portions of it are dissolved, or mixed with various 

 substances, as coal ashes, bone dust, or five parts 



of loam to one of guano, or sprinkled pure in pow- 

 der, either in drills before sowing, or as a top 

 dressing in moist weather. On the different modes 

 of applying, and the results on various crops, much 

 has already been published from the best authori- 

 ties ; and scientific and practical experiments have 

 united strongly in favor of this manure, for differ- 

 ent soils and almost every kind of useful plant cul- 

 tivated by man. 



In Virginia the use of guano has raised the value 

 of lands in several districts, long ago exhausted and 

 almost abandoned, from $1 an acre to $10; and 

 the use of it is fast extending in the South as well 

 as in the New England States. 



The Peruvian government has recently appointed 

 Theodore Riley, Esq., of New York, their agent 

 for the United States ; and we understand that the 

 consignments already received will be followed by 

 regular and probably sufficient supplies for our 

 farmers and gardeners who desire to avail them- 

 selves of its benefits. 



The farmer's principal reliance, however, must 

 be upon his well-managed heaps at home ; those 

 must be his permanent banks, from which shall 

 issue constant and fertilizing streams to gladden 

 all portions of his farm. Special manures are ex- 

 cellent as auxiliaries and convenient and profitable 

 helps to those entering upon impoverished lands, 

 before they can establish the manure heap by the 

 common course of farm stock. Resorted to in this 

 way as a secondary matter, large quantities of it 

 may be used with advantage, by being properly 

 applied, in small portions upon each farm. 



For the New England Farmer. 

 SEEDLING POTATOES. 



BY J. M. WEEKS. 



Mr. Editor: — I received from Mr. Bradstreet, 

 of Danvers, last spring, half a bushel of his seed- 

 ling potatoes, and as the product of this half 

 bushel of seed seems with me to excel all other va- 

 rieties that we have tried, for hardiness, quantity, 

 and good quality, both for stock and the table, 

 should be more generally known There seems to 

 be four different varieties, one of which is a pale 

 red and appears the most hardy, quite large on 

 good land, very few small ones, ripe early in Sept. 

 when planted early in May ; they are found quite 

 compact in the hill and have not rotted any this 

 year. The three other varieties are white ; one is 

 rather small, but very early. The other two kinds 

 are of good size, yield well, and are ripe by the 

 middle of August. 



In comparing the qualities of all these white va- 

 rieties with the Carters, Mercers, Shannuks, Peach- 

 blows, and other choice table potatoes, none are 

 found so desirable for eating as Mr. Bradstreet's 

 white varieties ; but these are more liable to rot, 

 as we found half a dozen diseased ones in digging 

 twenty-two or twenty-three bushels. Even the 

 red variety, we think, are fully equal to the Peach- 

 blow for eating, and is not shy like the latter, 

 seeking repose out of the hill, so as to compel tin tse 

 who dig to work the ground all over to find them. 



