122 



NEW ENGLAND FARMER. 



March 



economical. 



USSS OF GUANO. 



UANO, once so popular among 

 us as a fertilizer, is now com- 

 paratively little regarded. And 

 yet, when its employment is prop- 

 erly understood, and when obtain- 

 ed at a fair price, we are far from 

 believing that its use is never 

 The evidences of its great power 

 in producing crops are abundant and well au- 

 thenticated. A certain amount added to the 

 soil of the garden, and especially where root 

 crops are cultivated for stock or market, such 

 as parsnips, sugar, turnip or long blood beets, 

 or carrots, would frequently double the crop. 

 In such cases it is important that the crop 

 should be as large as it is possible to make it, 

 because the cost of getting the soil into suita- 

 ble condition, by repeated ploughing, pulveriz- 

 ing, high manuring and tending, is large, and 

 the value of the crop should be in proportion 

 to the cost of making It. 



Whtn all the manure has been put Into the 

 soil of a field devoted to any of the crops 

 mentioned, or into the garden, that can usu- 

 ally be spared, an expenditure of five to ten 

 dollars per acre In genuine guano, would be very 

 likely to add several tiuies that amount to the 

 value of the crop. If the crop were of the 

 cabbage family, some other fertilizer, super- 

 phosphate of lime, for instance, might be bet- 

 ter. 



On a good granite soil, or on a rich, sandy 

 loam, well drained, made fine and deep by 

 ploughing and pulverizing, highly dressed with 

 green manure In the fall and ploughed under 

 the surface three Inches, we have no doubt 

 that from 800 to 1000 bushels of carrots may 

 be got from an acre of land if 400 lbs. of pure 

 guano is applied at the last harrowing before 

 the seed is sowed, and the crop is well tended. 

 "It is only some thirty years since this fer- 

 tilizer was first introduced to notice in this 

 country," says a late English writer, "and 

 now 1 here is an importation Into this country 

 of about one hundred and fifty thousand tons. 

 Few fertilizers ever did, in so short a time, 

 attain so high a degree of popularity, or pro- 

 duce such significant results. In Scotland it 

 has been perhaps more extensively used than 

 in any other portion of the United Kingdom. 

 The f.irmers in some sections of that country, 

 practice manuring on a most liberal scale ; and 



In one county, that of East Lothian, it has 

 been estimated that about five dollars are ex- 

 pended for fertilizers for every acre of the 

 cultivated land. Of guano, about $10 Is fre- 

 quently applied to a single acre." 



In the Journal of the Boyal Agricultural 

 Society, an Instance Is recorded where a piece 

 of rather poorlsh soil was manured with this 

 quantity, and although about Jive dollars per 

 acre was paid for annual rent, the augmen- 

 tation of produce caused by the application 

 was found fully to justify this liberal expendi- 

 ture. 



On land not exhausted, the effects of guano 

 are not so apparent as on soils which have had 

 their productive energies severely tasked ; yet, 

 even on soils of this description, it is by no 

 means without visible effects. Poor soils, or 

 naturally good soils that have been heavily 

 cropped, are the most benefited by Its appli- 

 cation, and if from two to three hundred 

 pounds to the acre be allowed, a fair crop of 

 almost any kind of grain or vegetables may be 

 relied on. And this ought not to cost, besides 

 the expense of applying it, more than five or 

 six dollars. 



The effects of guano are not permanent — 

 little if any benefit being derived from It the 

 second season ; and the same Is the case with 

 most concentrated or special manures. They 

 act prcmptly but not permanently, and Impart 

 no constitutional Improvement to any soli, un- 

 less the Inorganic constituents may be regarded 

 as tending to that result. The phosphates, 

 &c., found in the mass cannot, considering 

 the limited quantities In which they are used, 

 produce any appreciable results on any soil 

 for years, certainly, if they ever do so. 



Many persons have applied guano without 

 noticing any good results ; so they have ma- 

 nure from their stalls, — but that does not pre- 

 vent them from applying the latter again. 

 We do not urge Its Indiscriminate use ; but 

 that there Is great value in It, we have no 

 doubt, and hope it will not be entirely aban- 

 doned. Its sale is a monopoly which we hope 

 will be "crushed out," so that it may be ob- 

 tained hereafter at fair prices. 



— The Berkshire Agricultural Society has voted 

 to abolish all premiums for trotting horses. It 

 has also instructed its executive committee to take 

 measures to protect farmers against imposition iu 

 the purchase of commercial manures. 



