622 SELECTIONS FROM ADDRESSES. 



strong, and will mix it with loam or other substances, and turn 

 it over and over until one half the ammonia has evaporated in 

 the air, as I shall presently show you ; it is then weak enough, 

 and they have got rid of one half the substance without any 

 return, on the quantity of which in the original guano its mar- 

 ket value depends. You will now I hope see the reason why 

 it is proper to finish off each addition to the manure heap by a 

 few inches of this sweetened peat muck; it absorbs and retains 

 the gases arising from the manure. 



It is no longer necessary for me in 1851, as it was in 1845, 

 to detail the advantages of guano. Its use is reviving the worn 

 out lands of the southern sections of the States. In several 

 parts of Virginia, land, which but a few years since was in vain 

 offered at five dollars the acre, is now worth and selling for 

 fifty dollars per acre, this change solely arising from the crops 

 produced by the application of this manure. In these northern 

 sections we have been quite behind hand on this subject, al- 

 though I believe that those who have judiciously applied guano 

 here have had no reason to repent. In England, where its use 

 is best known by the practical experience of twelve years, the 

 importation for the first seven months in 1849 was 51,481 

 tons; first seven months in 1850 was 69,937 tons ; and the 

 importation for the first seven months in 1851 was 131,009 

 tons, in value about six millions of dollars, or nearly double. 

 These are from late official documents. So that on the sub- 

 ject of the efficacy of this manure, no doubt can exist. It is 

 even coming into use in China, where it is sure to find its true 

 value. The cost at which it can and will be sold here, and in 

 the other large ports of the United States, is about $45 per 

 ton, or two cents a pound. Now 350 pounds is ample for 

 one acre ; consequently the cost will be %7 per acre for the 

 manure. 



The only trouble that remains is the method of its applica- 

 tion, and although more maybe learned by practical experience 

 than any other way, yet some assistance may be afforded by 

 verbal information. I have read with surprise the various 

 recommendations for its application, in the periodical publica- 

 tions of the day. Some recommend ploughing in the autumn 



