118 MANURES. 



The manure of pigeons has been a favorite fertil- 

 izer in some countries for more than 2,000 years. 



Market gardeners in England attach much value 

 to rabbit-manure. 



SHEEP MANURE. 



The manure of sheep is less valuable than it would 

 be if so large a quantity of the nitrogen and mineral 

 parts of the food were not employed in the forma- 

 tion of wool. This has an effect on the richness of 

 the excrements, but they are still of very great value 

 as a fertilizer, and should be protected from loss in 

 the same way as stable-manure. 



GUANO. 



Guano as a manure has become world renowned. 

 The worn-out tobacco lands of Virginia, and other 

 fields in many parts of the country, which seemed to 

 have yielded to the effect of an ignorant course of 

 cultivation, and to have sunk to their final repose, 

 have in many cases been revived to the production of 

 excellent crops, and have had their value multiplied 

 many fold by the use of guano. Although an ex- 

 cellent manure, it should not cause us to lose sight of 

 those valuable materials which exist on almost every 

 farm. Every ton of guano imported into the United 

 States is an addition to our national wealth, but 

 every ton of stable-manure, or poultry-dung, or night 

 soil evaporated or carried away in rivers, is equally 

 a deduction from our riches. If the imported ma- 

 nure is to really benefit us, we must not allow it to 



