No. 6. 



Guano. 



187 



end of vegetable life is to generate matter 

 adapted for the nutrition of animals out of 

 inorganic substances, which are not fitted 

 for this purpose." Hence, we recognize the 

 necessity of vegetable life, before animal life 

 can find support. On the third day of crea- 

 tion the Almighty clothed the earth with ve- 

 getables ; He subsequently created animals 

 to exist upon them. 



We shall now bring under notice, nume- 

 rous facts which have arisen out of the use 

 of guano as manure ; and from these, draw 

 general conclusions for the guidance of fu- 

 ture practice. 



Some of our readers may not, however, be 

 aware of the origin of this substance, there- 

 fore the history of an article which is now 

 become so important in commerce, and so 

 useful in rural economy, should be known. 

 Tlie Spanish author, Antonio di Ulloa, pub- 

 lished his voyage to South America, in 1748, 

 and in 1758 an English translation appeared, 

 in which a clear statement of the benefits 

 enjoyed by the Peruvians from the use of 

 guano, may be seen. These statements 

 seem to have been lost sight of, till the cele- 

 brated traveller ami naturalist, Von Hum- 

 boldt, visited South America, and further 

 described its abundance, its qualities, and 

 uses ; and from whose account most that we 

 know has been collected. 



Its name, guano, or huana, in the lan- 

 guage of central Peru, signifies manure; 

 and, from the existence of this substance over 

 a certain district of that country, chiefly 

 included between the fifteenth and twen- 

 tieth degrees of south latitude, several 

 places have taken their names. Guano is 

 not, by any means, a newly-discovered ma- 

 nure; its use, amongst the Peruvians, in the 

 culture of maize and capsicums, on their 

 sandy plains, is traced back five or six hun- 

 dred years; and, without it, cultivation there 

 would seem to be useless, — the land would 

 be a mere arid expanse. Hence a regular 

 trade between the guano islands of the South 

 Sea, and tlie coast of Peru, has for centuries 

 past existed. A vessel employed in tliis 

 trade, is called a guanero, and so ofiensive 

 is the effluvia arising from it, that it pro- 

 duces nausea and sneezing in the passengers 

 of a ship merely sailing near it. Indeed, 

 one small island, expressly called Islan di 

 Guano, is said to emit so intolerable a stench, 

 that vessels are deterred from approaching 

 its shores. 



The excavation of mountains of this sub- 

 stance, where it has been found fifty or even 

 sixty feet thick, gave rise to the belief that 

 it was a peculiar sort of earth there depos- 

 ited — that it was impossible for such an ac- 

 cumulation to have arisen from the drop- 



pings of birds ; but that such is the fact is 

 beyond doubt. This has given rise to much 

 speculative opinion. It is asked, "Has it 

 originated in the same islands where it is 

 now found, or has it been accumulated there 

 by some revolution of the earth?" Does it 

 point back to an era when the deluged globe 

 was provided with a greater number of aquat- 

 ic birds than at the present time, in the same 

 manner as the coal formation refers us back 

 to a vastly luxuriant vegetation "? Or, was 

 the guano formed under circumstances per- 

 fectly similar to those now existing; and 

 was nothing required to produce such im- 

 mense stratification, but a long succession 

 of ages]" When we look back to the 

 countless years that must have passed away 

 before such accumulations could have taken 

 place, simply by the presence of flamingos 

 and cormorants, it certainly gives rise to 

 unbounded astonishment. One fact, related 

 by Garsilaso, a Spanish author, should be 

 stated. He acknowledges the importance 

 of guano to Peru, and says that under the 

 government of those rulers called incas, in 

 the fifteenth century, it was made a crime, 

 punishable by death, to destroy any of the 

 sea-fowl that inhabited the guano islands. 

 This law has, long ago, been laid aside ; it 

 indicates, however, the estimation in which 

 the substance was held ; and also throws a 

 gleam of light on the means of its accumu- 

 lation. 



It may be asked, why the manure from 

 sea-fowl, which abounds in considerable 

 quantities on some of the rocky islands in 

 the north of Britain, may not equal guano"? 

 or why the products of our own pigeon cotes 

 and hen roosts, may not be of equal value ] 

 Each of these is known to be a powerful 

 stimulant to vegetation, a circumstance 

 which arises mainly from the combination 

 of the solid and liquid excretions of birds ; 

 but that which has been exposed on rocks 

 in Europe, has its most valuable portions 

 washed away, by repeated rains ; whereas, 

 in that immediate part of the globe whence 

 guano is brought, it never rains. The ma- 

 nure is deposited stratum on stratum, where 

 it consolidates, dries, and retains all its 

 powerful ammoniacal and other ingredients. 

 Again, a wide distinction exists between the 

 excrements of carnivorous and granivorous 

 animals; between that of marine birds, 

 which live on fish, and poultry, which live on 

 vegetables. Who amongst us does not know 

 the difference between the oflfensive gases 

 arising from decaying animal matter, and 

 that of hay, or similar vegetables? These 

 gases, which have hitherto been suffered to 

 escape, and are thereby lost, but which it 

 should be the object of the agriculturist to 



