MODERN HIGH FARMING. 47 



ground. These tanks should be about five feet square and six or 

 seven feet in depth, and must be carefully lined with good Portland 

 cement. Into these tanks should be thrown the whole of the night 

 soil collected in the neighborhood ; care being taken to keep them 

 well covered by nicely adapted wooden lids, and to exclude the 

 entry of water. The occasional addition of finely powdered 

 slaked lime will assist the drying and effectually destroy all smell. 



GUANO. 



No name is more widely and generally known, even to the smal- 

 lest child, than that of this popular fertilizer, and although it has 

 served for many years as a cloak to swindlers of every kind, who 

 have sold under its name piles of worthless trash, farmers can- 

 not forget their old affection for it. 



There can be no doubt that, for a considerable length of time 

 after its introduction, very marvelous effects followed the applica- 

 catiou of this manure, but the enormous and continual drain upon 

 the production, and the never- varying result of speculation and job- 

 bery, would seem to have told a tale upon it, and the quality is now 

 of a very variable nature, with a tendency to become more and 

 more so, as time goes on. 



The principal sources of supply are Peru, Chili, Bolivia and the 

 South Sea Islands ; and the deposits proceed from a species of sea 

 fowl known as Guanaes, which feed upon the small fish that liter- 

 ally swarm the waters near the coast. 



The high percentage of nitrogen contained in the Peruvian ship- 

 ments of former years, must be attributed to the absence of rain, 

 which characterizes that country; those arriving from other regions 

 having lost a considerable portion of their ammoniacal salts through 

 the action of water. 



The trade in Peruvian guano is monopolized by the Peruvian 

 government, and the immense deposits sometimes attain a depth 

 of one hundred feet. 



This latter fact has induced a great deal of controversy as to the 

 period from which we should date their commencement, some author- 



