202 



Gardens. — Guano. 



Vol. VIII. 



and when we have accomplished it, we have 

 the tangible fruits of our labour before us. 

 We may overrate our own talent, but we 

 cannot be deceived long. The painter may 

 be told he is clever, and may be willing to 

 believe it in the proportion of his ignorance 

 of right and wrong, but the Horticulturist 

 cannot be persuaded that a bad cabbage is a 

 good one. Dame nature may be fickle, but 

 she is not so fickle as dame fortune; and the 

 gardener, with his few rods of cottage gar- 

 den, is as happy in the success of his out- 

 door crops, as the prince in the superiority 

 of his conservatories and forcing houses. 



Industry forms the very base of horticul- 

 ture, and forethought is the first duty it en- 

 gages. Every operation is to provide for 

 the future, and teaches us the necessity of 

 calculating consequences. Every growing 

 crop brings its labour; — we cannot look 

 upon it without being reminded of what 

 should be done — we cannot perform it with- 

 out instantly observing its advantageous ef- 

 fects. Emulation to rival our neighbours in 

 the articles we grow, engages our care and 

 watchfulness, and if we succeed, the reward 

 is sweet. Nor is our neighbour without 

 consolation: for if we have excelled him in 

 one production, he is sure to have excelled 

 us in another. We are right tlien in saying, 

 that a garden and the love of horticulture 

 confer happiness and teach forethought — 

 beget emulation — inculcate the knowledge 

 of the value of industry — because they make 

 even our recreation productive. Look well 

 then, ye owners of the soil, to the cottagers 

 — give them gardens that they may be happy, 

 and teach them enough of gardening to make 

 them emulous; give prizes for the best pro- 

 ductions, that tliey may be industrious and 

 persevering. Be assured that he who en- 

 joys the labour in a garden as a relaxation 

 from other labours, realizes the old saying, 

 that a cliange of work is a holiday; and if 

 he work in the day, amidst the unwholesome 

 vapours of a factory, his garden preserves 

 his health and lengthens his years. Oh ! 

 that we could see every adult enjoying his 

 ten rods of ground, instead of his seat at the 

 ale-house; and his children's first lessons of 

 industry be given in the garden. But this 

 is impossible ; yet how much could be done 

 by the landholder, if he allotted a portion of 

 the soil among the poor at a moderate rent, 

 and encouraged them to cultivate it to ad- 

 vantage. We do earnestly entreat our 

 wealthy readers — nay wealthy or not — those 

 readers who have but an acre of ground to 

 spare, to make sixteen poor men happy, by 

 letting them ten rods each, at 6d. per month. 

 Nay, every body who has but an odd corner 

 of ground that is not wanted for his use or 



ornament, should devote it for that purpose; 

 for every man that can be served with 

 enough land to form a garden, is made a 

 better man, and the father of a better fami- 

 ly. — Gardener and Practical Florist. 



Guano. 



(Concluded from page 188.) 



From amongst observations and experi- 

 ments published by Messrs. Gibbs & Son, 

 on Guano, and from private sources, we se- 

 lect the following information. In the growth 

 of potatoes, two and a half cwt. to the acre, 

 put into the drills, which probably would 

 not be more than an ounce to the yard, its 

 eflcct was superior to a regular supply of 

 stable manure. Sown on grass, at the rate 

 of an ounce to the square yard, which, let 

 it be recollected, is, in round numbers, 300 

 lbs. to the acre, its effects have been proved 

 to be highly productive. It has been used 

 on grass land, even to the amount of a ton 

 per acre, and with still increased success. 

 We have not yet discovered the extent to 

 which it may be applied to grass land, with- 

 out its becoming injurious from excess of 

 quantity. Whenever guano is intended to 

 be spread broadcast over land, it will be the 

 most convenient mode to efi^ect its regularity 

 by first mixing it with three or four times 

 its bulk of fine dry loamy earth; and, of 

 course, using a proportionably increased 

 quantity of the mixture. Sir Thomas Fow- 

 ell Buxton, Bart., applied to grass, guano at 

 the rate of 2 cwt. to the acre ; and soot 4 

 cwt. to the acre. The produce was .56 lbs. 

 from a rod, manured with soot, and 114 lbs. 

 from the same quantity, manured with guano. 



We shall not, here, recapitulate various 

 experiments minutely, but notice their gene- 

 ral results; not, however, omitting any par- 

 ticulars that may seem desirable to guide 

 our readers in the use of guano. 



Mr. Banton, of Siesdon, had a field of 

 wheat, sown in October, which through the 

 winter, he says, was thick and strong, and, 

 in April, rather forward for the season. On 

 the 23rd of April he had six plots, of a quar- 

 ter of an acre each, accurately measured ofl^, 

 and to these respective lots he applied the 

 following manures, at the rate per acre 

 mentioned, and obtained the produce per 

 acre, as stated against each experiment re- 

 spectively, viz, : 



1. Guano, 1} cwt produce, 45 bushels. 



2. Guano and Nitrate of Soda, equal j ^ „ 



portions, ]| cwt. of the mixture, j 



:l. Nitrate of Soda, 1^ cwt 41 " 



4. White caustic Lime, 4 tons, AZk " 



5. Lime 10 cwt.. Salt .5 cwt.. mi.xed a > .,q u 



week previous to its application, \ 



6. No manure, 39 " 



It may be only necessary further to re- 



