330 



Guano. 



Vol. VII. 



eighteen months. The quantity left for next 

 season, would not cover more than 100,000 

 acres ; and I hear little more is comimy, the 

 loss being heavy. The farmer can scarcely 

 expect it at a lower rate than it is at pre- 

 sent; and if the London speculators get hold 

 of the present stock — and we understand they 

 are in treaty for it all — they may monopolize 

 guano, and raise the price to double its pre- 

 sent rate, as they did nitrate of soda three 

 years back ; when it may be adulterated, as 

 nitrate of soda was at that time. 



I would recommend every farmer to get 

 it through a respectable agent in Liverpool, 

 who will see that he gets the genuine guano, 

 direct from the Queen's bonded stores, as 

 imported from Peru; then he will have no 

 fear of his crops failing, if properly put into 

 the soil. 



Guano is well suited to the humid climate 

 of Great Britain, and especially Ireland, as 

 by its peculiar chemical and attractive am- 

 moniacal concretes and properties, it feeds 

 the growing plants faster, which will enable 

 the British farmer to get in his crops earlier; 

 thus securing a longer period and many more 

 chances of fair weather to get in his produce 

 from the ground. At all events, it is well 

 worthy of further and extensive use. Farm- 

 ers should not be so timid. A few pounds 

 would secure acres of large and good crops. 

 Guano is considered, by all the accounts I 

 have heard or read, as a treasure in Peru, 

 and one of the valuable gifts of Heaven, 

 that enables them to grow food for man and 

 beast, from the barren sea-side, up to the 

 rocky rude mountains, five, ten, twelve, and 

 even 15,000 feet above the level of the sea. 

 Without this guano, the Peruvians could 

 not have raised crops to feed 15.000.000 ot 

 people that once inhabited Chili, Peru, &c. 

 No doubt it must be one of the treasures of 

 Peru, we say again, when the agriculturists 

 there are complaining to the Peruvian go- 

 vernment, and protesting against its exporta- 

 tion, for fear they should be short of a sup- 

 ply. The English, they state, have taken 

 all our gold, and now they are taking all 

 our guano also. However, the Peruvian 

 government do not let it go for nothing; 

 they have obtained £200,000 lor allowing 

 ;e and England to take it for one year 

 only from their country. I understand the 

 in, Dutch, German, and French agri- 

 culturists are using the guano mailure form- 

 ation, as well as our own farmers in England, 

 Ireland, Sco$and and \\ ale§, and that con- 

 siderable shipments have been made to the 

 , as well as the Last Indies and 

 St. Li 



Guano is the best compound (a dry com- 

 posl) fertilizer and nourisher of soils j i - 



covered, and can only be drawn out by the 

 growing crops, in a course of years. In 

 Peru, they have in the mountains, almost 

 perpetual humidity, rains and dews near 

 nine months in the year, and the sun only 

 shines at intervals. 



It was stated in July last, there were 3000 

 acres covering weekly, and that 1| to 2 cwt. 

 per acre, was the only outlay necessary; the 

 guano to be well mixed with clean yellow 

 sea-sand, ashes, old mould, charcoal, night- 

 soil, scrapings of the roads, and common 

 deal, or any kind of saw-dust; four parts of 

 any of these to one part of guano, to be well 

 mixed, and the guano first to be finely pow- 

 dered, then to be thrown on the land, just 

 before showers commence, broad-cast. In 

 high districts, or dry weather, it is highly 

 desirable, when convenient, and in all cases, 

 to irrigate the land with a water-cart, that 

 the guano may quickly get to the rootlets of 

 the plants, as it can scarcely be put on the 

 land in too small a quantity. In Peru they 

 put it round the plant with finger and thumb, 

 like pinches of snuff (guano is very like 

 snuff.) and wafer it afterwards. In some 

 cases it would be best to put it on in a state 

 of solution ; 12 gallons of water to 4 lbs. of 

 guano, for hot and green-house plants, fruit, 

 trees, &c. 



Naturalists disagree as to the origin of the 

 guano formation. This is of little moment. 

 In some parts it is like the sand of the de- 

 sert, fine as the finest powder; in other 

 islands, hard as the solid rock, 20, 30, and 

 40 feet deep. In the soft portion, all sorts 

 of animals burrow in it like rabbits, thus 

 living and dying in the guano. It is the 

 best compound in nature, ready for the Eng- 

 lish farmer. Surely if the British farmer 

 labour and toil to make his compost from his 

 own stable and farm-yard manure, he would 

 prefer to give the finish and polish to the 

 earth, to induce dame nature to give her in- 

 crease in due season, rather than run the 

 precarious risk of his own compost failing, 

 cither from its being washed out of the soil 

 by the rains, or not being properly com- 

 pounded for the crops he may require. 



The results from guano arc highly satis- 

 factory for all crops. A more or less quan- 

 tity may be put on any field, according to 

 the kind of produce required, the soil to be 

 manured, and the condition of the land. 

 And every farmer should study these points: 

 he should read works on Agricultural Chem- 

 istry, '• reology, Meteorology, Electricity, &c., 

 as ail the actions of nature, with the wea- 

 ther, I need not tell the scientific farmer, 

 bear upon his success as an agricultu 

 And if he will carry his business to perfec- 

 tion, he should consult his neighbour and 



