1854. 



NEW ENGLAND FAllMER. 



501 



fancy sketch, neither is the picture over-drawn, 

 for the half is not told yet of the social, moral, 

 and religious advantage of our position, and I 

 could but think while reading your "City Me- 

 chanic's, No. 1," how many of his class might 

 better their situation by coming to the country 

 and " setting up " as farmers. I am in one of 

 the best portions of Vermont, 18 miles fiom rail- 

 road, with a strong soil and good society ; and 

 farms can be bought for from 20 to 30 dollars per 

 acre. Vermonter. 



Sept. 22, 1854. 



For the New England Farmer. 



IMPORTATION OF GUANO. 



Mr. Editor : — I have before me the Report of 

 Mr. Riddle, from the Select Committee of the 

 House of Representatives of the United States, 

 upon the memorial of two thousand agricultur- 

 ists of the State of Delaware, asking the action of 

 this Government with respect to the importation 

 of Guano from Peru. The memorial and report 

 relate to a subject of immense importance to the 

 farmers of this country, and contain much valua 

 ble information. The result of the whole is that 

 Guano might be furnished in the ports of this 

 country at from $30 to $35 per ton, paying at 

 the same time a large revenue to the Peruvian 

 Government. The contract heretofore existing be- 

 tween that Government and certain Anglo-Peruvi- 

 an mercantile houses, which have made large ad- 

 vances to that government, and enjoj'ed the mo- 

 nopoly of the trade in Guano as security, will ex- 

 pire in 1855. 



It is believed that some new and more fivora- 

 ble arrangement may be made l)y this government 

 with that of Peru, and that no time should be lost 

 in effecting it. I would suggest, that in further 

 ance of this object, so vital to the interests of this 

 country, petitions should be prepared and numer- 

 ously signed by the agriculturists of New Eng 

 land, and transmitted to Congress at the opening 

 of the next session. The farmers of Delaware, 

 Maryland and Eastern Virginia seem fully awake 

 to the importance of the subject, and monopolize, 

 through the Peruvian agent in Baltimore, a large 

 portion of the Guano shipped to this coun 

 try. The suT)ject is equally important to the 

 farmers of New England. Shall we not then unite 

 with our Southern brethren in urging upon the 

 government, immediate and strenuous efforts to 

 secure the object. I send you a copy of the pcti^ 

 tion from Delaware, which may serve as the ba^ 

 sis of a memorial from the farmers of New Eng' 

 land, unless something better should be sug 

 geated. 



memorial. 



The Memorial of the undersigned citizens of Del 

 aware respectfully represents — 



That, Your memorialists are all engaged or di 

 rectly interested in the ancient, honorable and in- 

 dispensable pursuit of agriculture ; that most of 

 your memorialists have tor many years been stri- 

 ving and toiling with earnest industry, and their 

 utmost skill in the cfl'ort to resuscitate a soil, 

 which, though once generous and fruitful, had 

 long been exhausted of ita fertilities ; that some 

 six or eight years ago many of your memorialists 

 had begun to despond of accomplishing their lau- 

 dable enterprise, when the almo.'sc miraculous suc- 



cess of experiments with Peruvian Guano upon 

 their depleted soil, came to your memorialists as 

 the harbinger of hope and future triumph ; that 

 although the price at which this valuable fertili- 

 zer came to the consumer, seemed from the first 

 extravagant, yet it was sufferable in view of a 

 reduction which it was believed would be soon ef- 

 fected, through the influence of a commercial com- 

 petition ; that so far, however, from being in- 

 dulged in the realization of this hope, your me- 

 morialists have been compelled to pay, at almost 

 every successive purchase of this manure, a price 

 higher than the last, until at length, the demand 

 has reached the exorbitant sum of fifly-four dol- 

 lars per ton, and even at that rate, it can only be 

 obtained in small parcels, as an especial favor, 

 from the Peruvian agent ; whilst your memorial- 

 ists are informed and believe that there is enough 

 at the Chincha Islands to supply the world for 

 more than twenty generations. That your memo- 

 rialists, from the best information they can ob- 

 tain, believe that this evil springs not out of any 

 normal law of trade, but is the oppressive exac- 

 tion of an odious Anglo-Peruvian monojjoly, 

 which for mere caprice or mean selfishness, deals 

 out to the American consumer, a stinted, but 

 costly supply of an article, which if left to be regu- 

 lated by the principles of a liberal commerce, 

 might come in abundance, and at a moderate 

 price. 



Your memorialists are frank to admit, that no 

 manure known to them is so well adapted to a 

 speedy renovation of worn out lands as the Peru- 

 vian Guano. Yet it is equally true, that at the 

 prices now demanded for it, the larger portion of 

 the crop on which it is applied, is consumed in 

 the expense of that a})plication. So tliat the for- 

 mer, in part, derives but litlo benefit from it, save 

 the mer« gratification — if it can be one — of seeing 

 liis land improved at the expense of his for- 

 tune. 



From this intolerable grievance imposed upon 

 your memorialists, in conunon with thoir fellow- 

 citizens of other States, Ijy the ^monopoly before 

 alluded to, your memorialists respcctiull3'- suggest 

 that they know of no other means of deliverance, 

 except the intervention of a government in whose 

 enlightened liberality and justice they hare un- 

 wavering confidence. 



Your memorialists furtlier suggest that they be- 

 lieve allegiance and protection to be correlative ob- 

 ligations. They trust that they belong to a class 

 of citizens, than wiiom there are none more loyal. 

 That class, too, embraces seven-eighths of the pop- 

 ulation of the Union ; and yet, whilst otiier class- 

 es of their fellow-citizens have demanded and re- 

 ceived the action and aid of their government, the 

 farmers of this country have seldom or never be- 

 fore invoked the attention or assistance of the Ex- 

 ecutive, or of Congress, and it is only l)ecause they 

 are oppressed "to th.it point beyond which for- 

 bearance ceases to be a virtue," that they at this 

 time reluctantly venture to make known their 

 complaint to a government, the blessing of whose 

 protection and parental concern Ought, "as the 

 dews of heaven, to descend upon all classes alike." 



I have omitted two paragraphs from the above 

 memorial on a. -count of its length. I would res- 

 pectfully suggest that the annual meetings of the 

 agricultural socicti.-s, wliicli are about to occur, 

 will afford suitable occasions lor presenting this 



