266 



Use of Guano. 



Vol. X. 



every penny that is expended, is laid out 

 after close calculation, and all the details of 

 the farm, and all its expenses looked after 

 with a nicety and an anxiety, which, how- 

 ever proper and commendable, would be a 

 most painful duty to an American in the 

 present circumstances of the country. Then 

 the price of labour is so extremely low 

 there, and population so plenty, that a farm- 

 er of even moderate means, can afford to 

 buy the services and appropriate to the dif- 

 ferent operations of the farm, several men, 

 women, or children, as the case may require, 

 without increasing materially his outlay, or 

 endangering his returns. While here, at 

 least, in our free States, and it is in these 

 alone, that agriculture attempts or carries 

 through any improvement, all these things 

 — done in England by so many — must be 

 effected by the farmer himself generally 

 speaking, or left undone. This gives double 

 duty to the American farmer — his whole 

 time is occupied — he cannot afford to throw 

 away a chance — to leave an old long tried 

 system, with which he and those who have 

 gone before him have been successful — and 

 take up any new project, though it conies 

 recommended by very lofty pretensions. He 

 must wait till it has the sanction of experi- 

 ence, before he takes it up. Such being the 

 difference in the character and condition of 

 the art, and the individuals who practice it 

 in the two countries, we can very readily 

 suppose that an English farmer can carry 

 through a series of experiments with more 

 ease than an American, and that although a 

 want of success may be more sensibly felt 

 by the first than the last, yet that they can 

 be much more efficiently and thoroughly 

 performed. As to the climate, which is the 

 next thing to consider, all of us in this 

 country, who undertake to adopt and recom- 

 mend English modes of farming, must re- 

 member that England is the land of rain and 

 fog; that these two succeed each other with 

 such slight and short intervals of sunshine, 

 that a warm day or a bright sky, are com- 

 pliments very sparingly presented by hea- 

 ven to the inhabitants of that great country, 

 but little island. Here, matters are very 

 differently disposed; our climate is always 

 in extremes — we have droughts, that almost 

 dry up realms to deserts; rains tliat would 

 drown us, if they did not stop; cold, that 

 causes us to regret the absence of the sun's 

 fiery influence; and heat, that makes us look 

 with anxiety for an iceberg. These produce 

 wide differences between the climates of the 

 two countries, that it is absolutely necessary 

 for us to consider when we are recommended 

 to adopt any thing that has succeeded in 

 England. Yet we believe it is a fact, that the 



animals which have been introduced here 

 from tliat country, have all, without any ex- 

 ception, been of the greatest advantage to 

 our farmers. The horse, for which v/e are 

 almost exclusively indebted to England, cer~ 

 tainly has not degenerated ; nor the Dur- 

 ham cattle; nor the pig; both of these seem 

 to be at home in many parts of our country; 

 the last especially, in Chester county, ap- 

 pears to have found a climate and food and 

 a general management so favourable, that 

 he takes the opportunity of developing him- 

 self to a size that seems unknown anywhere 

 else. On the whole, then — admitting these 

 statements — however cautious the American 

 farmer should be in adopting the improve- 

 ments of other countries, it does not appear 

 that the difference in climate is so great as 

 to make anything else than moderate cau- 

 tion necessary. In this particular subject 

 before us, it happens that there is no occa- 

 sion lor looking to England alone for its use or 

 usefulness. Guano has been employed in 

 Peru for centuries — a country whose soil or 

 climate bears no analogy whatever with those 

 of England, and very little, except in the 

 extreme strength of the sun, with our own. 

 There it is almost the sole manure; and so 

 highly valued as to be placed under the pro- 

 tection of the Government. We have now 

 attained two strong arguments; the experi- 

 ence of ages in one country, and the results 

 of several years of successful use, in one of 

 the most highly cultivated lands in the world, 

 and where there is the most vigorous appli- 

 cation of mind, science and capital, now at 

 work. So far as these go, they are certainly 

 very much in favour of our making experi- 

 ments with this manure, even if there were 

 no other reason ; yet for the very good one, 

 that our agricultural mind may not appear 

 less active than that of other countries, or 

 our farmers appear more disposed to reject 

 with obstinate indifference, the generous en- 

 deavours made by other countries to advance 

 the science to which they are attached, and 

 urge on the great national interest, to whose 

 iuiprovement they are pledged. They should 

 not be deterred or discouraged either by the 

 idea of the superior qualifications of British 

 farmers, oT their greater wealth ; or any other 

 reasons suggested rather by their fears or 

 their indolence, than by their judgment. In- 

 stead of such motives acting on our indus- 

 trious and enterprising farmers, they would, 

 if they visited England, be surprised to find 

 how nuich reason there was for being proud 

 of their success, even under the di.-courag- 

 ing circumstances of smill capitals and a 

 meagre supply of labour. There is a great 

 deal of bad farming in old England, more, 

 perhaps, when we consider the circum- 



