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THE GENESEE FARMER. 



Recently Discovered Guano Islands in the Indian Ocean. — Much has been 

 said of the recently discovered guano islands in the Indian Ocean ; and farmers in Eng- 

 land have been encouraged to believe that the price of this highly concentrated manure 

 was about to fall, so that its cheapness would place its consumption within the reach of 

 every cultivator of the soil. We regret to learn that the several analyses of the new 

 guano made by Dr. Anderson, chemist to the Highland and Agricultural Society of 

 Scotland, and Prof. Way, chemist to the Royal Agricultural Society of England, do 

 not sustain these sanguine expectations. There are before us tables giving the results 

 of the analyses of nine samples of this lately discovered fertilizer by the chemists named, 

 and in not one of them is there so much as two per cent, of ammonia. The highest 

 yield was 1.87, and the lowest .77 per cent, or three-fourths of one pe^ cent. In phos- 

 phates they are richer than the best Peruvian guano on an average ; the maximum 

 yield was 80.33 per cent.; the smallest 21.88.; and the average about 60 per cent. 

 Should this manure come into our seaports as cheaply as is expected, it will take the 

 place of ground, bones and superphosphate of lime, rather than that of the best guanoes 

 now in use. We have the analyses of thirty two samples of Peruvian guano, in which 

 was found an average of 17.41 per cent, of ammonia, and 24.12 of phosphate of lime. 

 The reason why the latter contains ten times more ammonia than the other is, doubtless, 

 because no water ever falls on the Peruvian guano, while the other is exposed to the 



washings of rains. 



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A Model Farm, — At Myremin, in Ayreshire, Scotland, Mr. Kennedy feeds under 

 cover in the summer months, 220 large oxen, 460 sheep, 20 horses, 150 store pigs, on 

 90 acres of Italian rye grass. Last summer his house-fed sheep fattened better than in 

 the field, and were kept on Italian rye grass four months, at the rate of 56 head per 

 acre ! They likewise received a daily supply of steamed food. But, allowing for this, 

 we find that on this farm each acre of grass keeps about four times as much live stock 

 as the average of cultivated land of similar quality in England. Mr. Kennedy has 

 attained this high state of fertility by the use of liquid manure, distributed over the 

 farm in pipes, and applied to the surface by the force of steam in a jet like a shower of 

 rain. To use Mr. Mechi's graphic words, he can "increase his wet days" as he finds 

 it necessary ; and when other people's fields are parched with drouth, his are glistening 

 with perennial verdure. Having an unfailing supply of water, he can either mix it in 

 his "manure tank with a more enriching substance, and so shower it over the land, or he 

 can sow guano broadcast over the grass, and then wash it in dissolved ; or if nothing 

 but moisture is needed, he applies that only. 



Buffaloes. — A member of Governor Stevens' northern route exploring party, in a 

 long communication to the St. Louis Republican., written from the head of Yellow Stone, 

 relates the following among many other "sights and incidents" of the party thus far: 



On Sunday, after a march of some ten miles, the buffaloes were reached. They were before 

 and on each side of tlio train. For miles ahead it secraod one va^t drove yard. They were esti- 

 mated by some as hi;_';h as 500,000 — 200,000 is considered a very low estimate. Drawing up the 

 train at our usual halt at noon, a larj^e herd were about half a mile ahead. The hunters, six in 

 number, were immediately despatched, well mounted on spare horses reserved for that especial 

 purpose, and the whole train had an opportunity of witnessing a buffalo hunt. The hunters 

 dashed in among the herd, picked out the fattest of the cows, and then separating the selected 

 ones from the herd, soon despatched them. In less than an hour the wagons were sent but a small 

 distance from the route to receive the choicest pieces of tlio buffalo. 



In the next two days' march the liunters were kept some distance ahead, to keep off the buffa- 

 loes ; it Wits the only way the safe passage of the train couM be insured through this sea of flosh. 

 The pack mules and spare animals following on in the train, too numerous to bo separately led, 

 were Hard to control ; and despite every precaution and care, one horse and four mules were lost, 

 they getting mingled with a herd of buff^iloes. Every effort was made to reclaim them — hours 

 spent in their attempted recovery. The efforts were entirely useless. 



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