94 



Guano as a Manure. 



Vol. IX. 



which would be considerably greater than 

 that of the ordinary city gas. For very 

 large rooms, however, in which one Drum- 

 mond light would be sufficient, and which 

 are only lighted occasionally, and for a few 

 hours at a time, this would hardly be an ob- 

 jection. The chief item of cost is the oxy- 

 gen gas, which in its greatest purity is made 

 from the chlorate of potash, a salt which 

 costs one dollar per pound ; one pound is 

 sufficient to make about thirty gallons of the 

 gas, which in an ordinary jet would burn, 

 perhaps, five or six hours. To this must be 

 added the small expense of the hydrogen 

 gas and lime, together with the wear and 

 tear of the apparatus, which would make 

 one light, such as that ordmarily used in the 

 exhibitions to which the public have had ac- 

 cess, cost about 35 cents per hour, or some- 

 what less where it was used as a permanent 

 means of illumination. — Weekly Intelli- 

 gencer. 



Guano as a Manure; from Dr. Gard- 

 ner's Essay. 



Manures may be divided into two classes 

 — those that merely forward the growth or 

 developement of cellular tissue, and give 

 dimensions without solidity — and those that 

 yield the inorganic basis of plants, and give 

 firmness. Ammonia and azotized matters 

 belong to the former, whilst bone-eaith, 

 lime, ashes, &c., represent the second class. 

 But farm-yard manure and the excrement 

 of birds, in which the urine and faeces are 

 mingled, contain both essentials, and are 

 serviceable not only in giving luxuriance of 

 growth, but an increased supply of grain. 

 Hence -their value and uniform success. 

 But these complex manures difter much in 

 quality, as they contain an excess of one or 

 other of the bodies enumerated. Practice 

 has not yet determined how much nitrogen 

 is best, but so far as experiments with guano 

 have tended to a solution of this vital ques- 

 tion, it would appear that ordinary speci- 

 mens are not too rich for highly cultivated 

 plants. Now guano may be represented as 

 a compound of 20 per cent, azotized matters, 

 30 per cent, bone-earth, 10 per cent, alka- 

 line salts, and the rest humus and sand — 

 and is worthy of attention as furnishing us 

 with an extremely successful compost, well 

 calculated as a formula for artificial mix- 

 tures. It is (juestionable, however, whether 

 for many plants, such as clovers and grasses, 

 the proportion of nitrogen is not too high, 

 and calculated to produce herbage luxuriant 

 in dimensions, but cellular and loose in 

 structiire, as is known to be the case with 

 sulphate of ammonia. Hence guano uni- 

 formly produces large bulbs in turnips and 



potatoes, and a great increase of straw. It 

 will be found that in poor lands, by which I 

 mean those containing little soluble saline 

 matter, the tendency of the manure is to act 

 in this way — but in well prepared soils it 

 will not exhibit so marked an excess in the 

 proportion of nitrogen ; for the nitrogen, in 

 the form of ammonia, entering the plant, 

 increases the function of nutrition to the 

 highest point, and there is a necessity 

 created for saline bodies of the second class 

 of manures, which, if freely supplied, leads 

 to a firm as well as luxuriant growth, but if 

 not simultaneously introduced, leads to an 

 imperfect developement. On a rich soil, 

 the saline substances will be attainable, but 

 on poor land, badly tilled, they will be want- 

 ing. 



There is nothing specific in the form of 

 gunao that hinders it from being imitated. 

 Pigeon and fowl excrement in a similar 

 state of decay, would produce the same ef- 

 fects. But in making artificial guano, there 

 is one difficulty to be overcome before the 

 great value of the natural article can be 

 produced. The oxalate and urate of ammo- 

 nia yield their base gradually by decay, and 

 not suddenly, as would be the case with car- 

 bonate of ammonia used as a substitute. It 

 is necessary to imitate this gradual produc- 

 tion of carbonate of ammonia before any 

 artificial manure can equal guano, when ap- 

 plied in a similar bulk. To this end there 

 sliould be introduced animal matters with a 

 high per centage of nitrogen, and in a state 

 of rapid decay. Dried blood, hair, horn- 

 shavings, wool, dried muscle and fish, gela- 

 tine of bones, might all be prepared in a 

 state of powder, and liable to quick decom- 

 position by a little attention, and being added 

 to the mineral constituents of artificial gua- 

 no, would produce a compost of the highest 

 value. 



The substance nearest approaching guano 

 in composition is dried urine, which is not 

 at all inferior in agricultural value — the 

 only difference being the presence of urea 

 in place of urate of ammonia, and less phos- 

 phate of lime. Artificial guanos have met 

 with favour amongst English faraiers, and 

 been extensively used — but it is impossible 

 to give an estimate of their value from ex- 

 periments hitherto made: some specimens 

 have attained one half the value of the Pe- 

 ruvian, whilst others fall very far below. 

 The best formula are as follows: 



Mr. Fleming''s artificial Guano. — Bones 

 dissolved in muriatic acid, 224 lbs.; charcoal 

 powder, 224; sulphate of ammonia, 112; 

 salt and gypsum, each 112; wood ashes, 

 560; nitrate of soda, 28; sulphate of soda 

 and magnesia, each 10. 



