126 



NEW ENGLAND FARMER. 



March 



two regular sessions under the instructions of Dr. 

 Dadd,of this city, and lie showed by his answers 

 that he is quite at home in all scientific knowledge 

 pertaining to the department of practice that he 

 has chosen. All the gentlemen present seemed to 

 be gratified, not only with the proticiency of this 

 young man, but that wo are, at last, beginning 

 to have educated doctors of animals as well as of 

 the human species. The wonder is that we did 

 not have tliem long ago. 



In a country like our own, that is principally 

 an agricultural one, hundreds of thousands of dol- 

 lars might ])0 saved to tlie farmers each year, if, 

 when their horses and other animals are sick, sci- 

 entific and practical veterinary physicians could 

 at once prescribe for them. iNow in the whole 

 country there are not probably moi'c tlian a dozen 

 such physicians, while in the cityol Lonu,.^ii alone 

 there are 3G0. But the ice is broken, and we 

 shall soon have a supply of good horse doctors. 



At the present moment there is quite a call for 

 such doctors in such places as Springfield and 

 Hartford, and to properly quallified young men a 

 field^of usefulness and profit is opened. We be- 

 lieve Dr. Dadd to be well qualified to prej^arc 

 young men for veterinary practice. — Plouyhman. 



For the New England Farmer. 



ON THE USE OF GUANO. 



Mr. Editor : — I have been looking every week 

 in the columns of the Fanner, to see if I could 

 find any thing from that class of your correspond- 

 ents who, about a year ago, were so anxious to 

 know "how to use guano." Many are those who 

 have made the inquiry, but those who have com- 

 municated tlie result of their experiments, are 

 only as individual cases. Now this is not right ; 

 all of us who cultivate the soil, are interested to 

 know how we can do it to the best advantage — 

 that is, how to obtain the best crop with the 

 least expense. In order to do this, we need more 

 light ; and one way of obttiining this light, is by 

 comparing the result of experiments made by 

 others with those made by ourselves under sim- 

 ilar circumstances ; and if, in the summing up, 

 it appears that such experimeats have produced 

 the same results, it is so much light gained upon 

 that particular point. The farmer, in all his 

 efforts to impro"se his land, is to be guided by his 

 own judgment; aided by observation, at home 

 and abroad, and by the experience and wisdom of 

 others, so far as he is able to avail himself of 

 them. This is why I would ask all those who 

 have made use of guano the past season to com- 

 municate the result, so tliat we may be iiel])ing 

 each other to obtain that light which Ave all so 

 much need. 



I will now give you the result of my own ex- 

 periment with guaao the past season, upon corn 

 mostly. I Ijought a small quantity of it, for 

 which I paid §2,00, and mixed, first, equal parts 

 of plaster and ashes, and to this I put one pari 

 guano. Aftm- my ground was plowed, I sowed 

 this broadctwt, and immediately covered it with a 

 cultivator. I applied it to a sipiare piisce of land, 

 in all respects like the remainder of the field, ex- 

 cept there was no manure put upon it. 1 applied 

 it at the rate of aliout 400 11)S. to tlie acre. IMv 

 com came up well, and looked well the first of 



the season ; but at harvest time it showed very 

 plainly that it had had no manure. 



Wishing to try it in another form, I took some 

 of the above mixture and added four parts of 

 loam. I then selected a single row through the 

 manured part of the field, and put about a spoon- 

 ful of this in each pile, for a fart of the row, 

 then omitted some, and so tiirough the row. 

 This, also, came up well, looked and grew well, 

 and at harvest time showed plainly that "union 

 is strength." Being determined to have it tried 

 in various ways, I gave some of it to three of my 

 neighbors, telling them to make the best possible 

 use of the mite committed to their charge ; but 

 not being posted in such matters, they put it in 

 direct contact with the roots of vines and plants, 

 so that life was at once destroyed, and no light 

 was obtained from these sources. 



Now let all others who have used guano give 

 in their testimony immediately, so th it the case 

 may be committed to competent judges, and the 

 verdict rendered before the time of planting is 

 full upon us again. I am fully aware that if any 

 one decides against guano, he is placing himself 

 on the unpopular side of the question ; yet I give 

 it as my own candid opinion, that it cannot be 

 made to pay, in this part of the country, to buy 

 it at the present price as a manure. If fixrmers, 

 instead of sending abroad to buy manure, and 

 thereby encourage speculation to their own hurt, 

 would make an outlay of one-half the expense in 

 making and saving the manures upon their own 

 ^rms, they would obtain that which would be 

 much more valuable to them than any foreign 

 substances or concentrated manures made by pro- 

 fessors for the market. Tliere are but very few 

 individuals who understand how to use guano 

 froperly, and as few who understand how to avail 

 themselves of what is within the reach of every 

 farmer, ready to be converted into manure, and 

 apply the same to their lands in the most proper 

 manner. 



It was a remark of one of the best farmers in 

 Worcester county, and one who, some would 

 think, saved all his manure, "that he did not 

 make and save more than half he ought to in the 

 shape of manure." But my thoughts have led 

 my pen astray, and I must give you a reason why 

 I have forced myself upon your notice, as an apol- 

 ogy, and then close. As I read over the Fanner and 

 Ploughman week after week, there seems to come 

 up no voice from this section to aid on the good 

 work of improvement ; and, therefore, I have 

 thought /would send you a few lines, which are 

 at your disposal. If they shall see the light, and 

 provoke others to better works, then my oliject is 

 accomplished. But if you do not consider them 

 worthy of notice, I will ^7(a«/i; you for nai expos- 

 ing my weakness ; and, while I endeavor to im- 

 jiruve my land, I will also laljor industriously to 

 cultivate my own mind, so that, at some future 

 day, I may be able to stand in the circle of re- 

 spectable society. Amplificator. 



West Brookfield, Jan. 25, 1855. 



Remarks. — We hope the expectations of "Am- 

 plificator," and those of hundreds of others, will 

 be realized by hearing the result of many of those 

 who have experimented with guano. Let the 

 statements be concise and directly to the point, 



