88 Farmers' Miscellany. Jan., 



3. It is liable to great adulteration. In England, vast quanti- 

 ties of stuff called guano are sold, which do not contain a parti- 

 cle of it, but are a vile imposition, and are said to be absolutely 

 useless. It is a remarkable fact, that the analyses of no two 

 samples of guano, from the same locality, agree. This would not 

 be so strange, if the variations were immaterial, but they are 

 really important. I do not pretend to say that these differences 

 result in all cases from adulteration, but it is at least a good 

 cause of suspicion, and if in -England it is carried on so exten- 

 sively, there is no reason why we should not fear that the same 

 thing is done here. 



4. The supply cannot be depended on. It took but a few 

 months to sweep the island of Ichaboe as clean as a floor. The 

 immense cliffs of guano off the coast of Peru are fast dwindling 

 away, and the original manufacture of it by the countless flocks 

 of birds in tropical regions, has ceased. A few more years at 

 most and all will have disappeared, and the farmer will be obliged 

 again to resort to his own supplies at home. 



ON THE CULTIVATION OF INDIAN CORN. 



In relative importance to the farmer, as food for man or beast, 

 the corn crop stands third in the list; wheat and potatoes only ex- 

 ceeding it in value. 



The soil best adapted to corn, is a deep sandy or gravelly loam. 

 Clays of the lighter kinds, may, with heavy manuring, be made 

 to produce tolerable crops, but heavy clays are wholly unfit for it. 



A thick clover sod, well turned over immediately previous to 

 planting, with as much manure, in its green state, thrown into the 

 furrow when plowing, is by many, esteemed the best preparation. 

 Some prefer, when the soil is not of too heavy a nature, fall plow- 

 ing, and repeating it again, once or twice, in the spring. This 

 is undoubtedly a good course, where the soil is of that tender 

 kind, which will be pretty well rotted by the first of April, other- 

 wise it is preferable to defer plowing until spring, and then to 



