1854. 



NEW ENGLAND FARMER. 



279 



For the New England Partner. 



GUANO-PRIVATE CORRESPONDENCE. 



, A'. H , April 28, 185-i. 



Henry F. French, Esq.: — My Dear Sir, — I have 

 bought some ^!/a«o; what shall I do with it, and 

 hoio shall I do it 1 I want to try the experiment 

 up here in th.o country, as I suppose its principil 

 use is as a .sort of gi^nteel eity fertilizer, and not 

 adapted to tlie rural regions. I want to try it, 

 on some corn, potatoes, squashes, cucumhers, &c., 

 and I know no more about it, than I do of the San- 

 critlanguiigo, and as you are au fait in the matter, 

 just develop your resources, for the benefit of your 

 race, and tell me how to make two ears of corn 

 grow, where three would grow without it. * * * 

 Yours truly, r. M. 



Exci-r, N. II., May 1, 18-54. 



JIv De.\r Sir : — I am much at a loss how to 

 reply to your.'^ of the 28th ultimo. My last con- 

 versation with you on the subject of Agriculture, 

 was, I think, in 1852, when you were a member of 

 the New Ibimpsiiire Legislature, and I, as a pri- 

 vate individual, was urging the propriety of some 

 action by your august bod^', in aid of the cause, 

 either by thj appointment of a Commissioner, the 

 creation of a Board of Agriculture, or by pecuni- 

 ary assistance to the Societies. 



Your views, at that time, coincided with those 

 which have prevailed for some years among the 

 farmers, who constitute always a majority in the 

 Legislature of this agricultural State. You verily 

 believed, that scientilic farming is a humbug ; that 

 while in all other pursuits, advances have been 

 constantly made, and men have been greatly bene- 

 fited l)y diligent research, by comparing results, by 

 making known the success and failure of their ex- 

 periments, by meetings for discussion, by exhibi- 

 tions of their products, by understanding accurate- 

 ly the nature of the substances upon which they 

 labor — you verily believed that a farmer's father 

 and grandfather arc the only valuable authorities, 

 and that "the traditions of tlie elders" are of more 

 weight, than all the laws of nature, and all the 

 attainments of science. In short, you seemed to 

 believe, with Dogberry, that "to be a well favored 

 man is the gift of fortune," but that ^o farm, as 

 well as "to read and write, comes by nature." 



And thus by tlic countenance, which educated 

 men like j'oursclf, who ought to know better, 

 have givf'n to the prejudices of ignorant men, 

 against tiio value of accurate knowledge, in this 

 most imj.ortant department, our good old Granite 

 State, which stood foremost in the day of battle 

 for the d(;fence of the soil, and which has done 

 gloriously for the cause of education in her com- 

 mon schools, has fallen far behind her sister 

 States in her zeal for the promotion of this branch 

 of knowledge and while 5lassachusctts and New 

 Y'ork and Maine, and nearly all the other States, 

 are appropriating money liberally for tliis object, 

 wc have neitlier a Commis.sioncr nor Board of Ag- 

 riculture ; and not one cent is contributed to aid 

 the County Societies, in their desperate struggle 

 with poverty, for existence. 



But now you begin to inquire, what you shall 

 do with guiino. Adam and Cain knew nothing 

 about the Cliincha Islands, and our great grand- 

 fathers, consequently, left no traditions on that 

 Bul)jcct,and you really feel a.g if something may be 



learnt, even about farming. I remember an an- 

 ecdote about a farmer, who had a lawsuit, and 

 was told by his lawyer that he had filed a demur- 

 rer in his case. "A demurrer," said the farmer, 

 "pray tell me. Squire, what sort of a thing that 

 is!" It was hopeless to attempt an explanation 

 of a matter so abstruse, and the lawyer would not 

 attempt it. "Go hojne," said he, "my good fel- 

 low, and hoc your corn and potatoes, and feed 

 your cattle; the Almighty never intended you 

 should understand what a demurrer is." 



Now,]my dear sir. I have no doubt that you know 

 exactly what a demurrer is, but I have serious 

 doubts whether it was ever de.'-igned that you 

 should know anything about guano, or anything 

 else connected with agriculture. If it had been, 

 you would not in this last half of this enlightened 

 nineteenth century, be left in such heathenish 

 darkness, as to imagine that anyljody could in a 

 single letter, give you the information you desire. 



Not long ago, I received a letter requesting me 

 just to take the trouble to inform the writer the 

 best mode of planting, rearing, pruning and cul- 

 tivating an orchard ; and another from a stranger, 

 who said he had accepted an invitation to deliver 

 an address before an agricultural society, and as 

 I was in the way of writing on sueli topics, re- 

 quested me to suggest to him a subject and a pihiu 

 for his discourse, and such remarks as might be 

 proper. I have not had time to answer thcso let- 

 ters yet, and it would be a still greater task, to 

 undertake the education of a grown up pupil, on 

 the subject of guano. My advice to you, is, how- 

 ever, to commence with the last five volumes of 

 the Ncio England Farvicr and read all the arti- 

 cles therein contained, on the subject. You will 

 find no less than ten in the volume for 1853. Then 

 read what you find in the Granite Faruirr and 

 Visitor for the past two years. 



But 3'ou ouglit to be more thorough than tliis, 

 and make yourself acquainted, not only with the 

 constituent elements of guano, l)ut of the plants 

 into the coustitution of which, you intend it shall 

 enter. Johnston's Elementsof Agricultural Chem- 

 istry and Geology, is a capital work for you, and 

 Browne's American Muck Book contains a chap- 

 ter of twelve pages on Guano, which you ought 

 to read and understand befure you use an ounce. 

 You would do well, also, to review Stockhardt's 

 Principles of Chemistry, which you probably stud- 

 ied in college without understanding what it 

 meant. 



You will, also, find in the appendix to the 

 American edition of Johnston s Agricultural 

 Chemistry, some very iutiiresting experiments with 

 guano on the various kinds of crops. 



Were you one of that class of the community, 

 who believe that there is some advantage in know- 

 ing how to conduct farming operations, who read 

 agricultural papers regularly, who are members 

 of an Agricultural Society, and a Farmer's Club, 

 and so learn what i\w rest of the world discov- 

 ered long ago, it would hardly l)e necessary to re- 

 fer you to so many books ; but your inquiries 

 make it quite certain tiiat like tiic good lady who 

 visited the White Mountains, and forgot to look 

 at the scenery, you have spent your lile in a coun- 

 try full of tliia kind of knowledge, without think- 

 ing to acquire it. 



Allow me, my friend, a word or two moro la 

 conclusion. Should you pursue your present 



