GUAJ'O. 



GUINEA GRASS. 



gredients found in guano in nearly the average 1 A few general rules may be here given for 

 proportions; and Mr. Johnston believes it is ' the application of guano. 1. When used, as it 

 likely to be at leat as ethYueious as the natural commonly is, m a dry state, it should be in fine 

 OIUAO tor all the crops to which the latter has powder, in order to secure which, sifting must 

 hithrrto b,-,u applied. 



s d 

 * 



be resorted to. 2. When employed in a liquid 

 form, dissolve in the proportion of 1 Ib. in 4 



3ir, II,. (7 bushels) of aone dust, at 25. JW. per | gallons of water, and sprinkle from time to 



i ...... - 19 i time by means of a watering-pot, over young 



100 Ibs. of sulphate of ammonia, containing 35 _ | tobacco beds, or other plants, grass or grain 



.- :,iii.ii,,ni:i, afJOa. a CWt. - - - 18 I 

 5 ll>8. pearl ash - 

 100 Ibs. of common salt - - 

 11 Ibe. of dry sulphate of soda 



1 

 o 2 



o i 



| fields, sought to be benefited. 3. For most 

 field crops it is best applied broadcast, scat- 



&*U Ibs. of artificial guano cost 



-210 



The quantity here indicated may be inti- 

 mat.'ly mixed with 100 Ibs. of chalk, or dead- 

 lirn.-. and will be fully equal in efficacy, I be- 

 lieve, to 4 cwt. of guano, now selling at 5. 



In the preceding observations and experi- 

 mental trials, Peruvian guano is alone referred 

 to. This is unquestionably much the best guano 

 known, but its high price, and the monopoly of 

 its trade, by a company of English merchants 

 who purchased of the Peruvian government the 

 exclusive right of taking it away, has induced 

 a search for this fertilizer in otter places, from 

 which thousands of shiploads are now received 

 into England and th United States. That sup- 

 plied by a small island called Ichaboe, situated 

 on the west coast of Africa, though very different 

 in appearance from Peruvian, comes nearest to 

 it in its excellent qualities. But this is nearly 

 exhausted, and the other African guanos, from 

 Saldanha and Algoa Bays, sold in England from 

 $15 to $20 per ton, are very inferior, and 

 chiefly composed of hard lumps difficult to ma- 

 nage. Large quantities of guano are brought 

 from Chili and Patagonia; but the deposits 

 being considerably farther south are subjected 

 to rains, by which some of the most fertilizing 

 constituents of the bird-excrements are washed 

 away. The urate and other soluble salts of am- 

 monia are the most important of these, and 

 their retention in Ihe Peruvian guano, from its 

 never being washed by rains, greatly contri- 

 butes to its superiority; cold water dissolves 

 about 3-5ths of this guano, which if exposed 

 to rains would thus lose more than half its best 

 ingredients. 



As guano is now used to a considerable extent 

 in the United States, and undoubtedly destined 

 to become one of very great consumption, it 

 is important that some legal inspection should 

 be established to protect the agricultural inte- 

 rests from frauds and impositions to which they 

 must otherwise be exposed, not only from the 

 introduction of inferior kinds of guano, but 

 from adulterations, imitations, and misrepre- 

 sentations of dealers. Most of those in the 

 Jish market have been analyzed by Pro- 

 fessor J. F. W. Johnston, who found in these, 

 per cent., 



tered as evenly as possible, either just before 

 the plough, or on the rough ground before the 

 harrow; the great object is to have it speed- 

 ily, but not too deeply covered. 4. Previous 

 to sowing it may be useful to mix 1 bushel 

 of ground plaster of Paris, or the same quan- 

 ;ity of powdered charcoal, or both, with 100 

 bs. of guano. 5. When applied in the fall or 

 spring as a top-dressing to growing grain or 

 grass, it is well to follow with the harrow and 

 roller. 6. When applied by the drill, or in the 

 lill to corn, &c., it should be previously well 

 nixed with 5 or 1 parts its bulk of light vegetable 

 mould, or soil, and then well sprinkled. It must 

 not come in immediate contact with the seed, or 

 lie in a dense layer immediately beneath it. 

 Half an ounce of guano to the hill, supposing the 

 hills 3 by 4 feet apart, will give 150 Ibs. to the 

 acre. 7. As a general rule, 10 Ibs. of Peruvian 

 guano is more than equivalent to an ordinary 

 load or cubic yard of barn-yard manure, and on 

 light land, 300 Ibs. guano spread broadcast, will 

 produce better crops than 40 or 50 loads of rich 

 manure, and last quite as long. It is seldom 

 if ever profitable to spread ahove 400 Ibs. to 

 the acre. In dry seasons, the fullest effects of 

 guano artf not to be expected, any more than 

 from barn-yard or other manures, to which 

 the same observation will apply. See PHOS- 

 PHATES. 



GUINEA-CORN (Holcus sorghum, Linn.), 

 an exotic vegetable, growing on the coast of 

 Africa; its stalks are large, compact, gene- 

 rally attaining the height of 7 or 8 feet, and 

 producing abundance of grain. It may be ea- 

 sily raised in sheltered situations, especially 

 in exhausted hot-beds and other loose soils, 

 where its seeds should be sown early in the 



spring, as the large flowery tops appear in June. 

 In Tuscany, Syria, and Palestine, the flour 

 made of this grain is mixed with other meal, 

 and converted into bread; which, however, is 

 generally brown, tough, and heavy. Hence 

 the former is better calculated for milk por- 

 ridge, that is equally wholesome and nutri- 

 tive. The juice exuding from the stalks of 

 the Guinea-corn is so agreeably luscious, that 

 it affords excellent sugar, by a process simi- 

 lar to that adopted with the sugar-cane ; the 

 seeds furnish nourishing food to poultry and 

 pigeons, as well as for horses and hogs. (Dom, 

 Encyc.) 



GUINEA FOWL. See FOWLS. 



GUINEA GRASS. A valuable species of 

 herbage, thus denominated, as it was first dis- 

 covered on the coast of Guinea, whence it was 

 brought to Jamaica. In point of real utility, 

 this plant ranks, in Jamaica, next the sugar- 

 cane; for the breeding farms throughout the 

 island were originally established, and are stilt 

 supported, chiefly by means of the Guinea 

 grass, which bestows verdure and fertility on 

 lands that would otherwise not deserve to be 



