22 TRACTS ON VARIOUS SUBJECTS, &c. 



These results decisively prove the great advantage of manuring 

 the lands, which would evidently repay the additional expense, 



h use, which measured one rod in breaJtii, and twelve rods in length. This was divided 

 into twelve equal parts, or square rods, and numbered progressively froiii 1 to 12. The 

 guana was reduced to a powder, and sifted ; and upon Number I a quart of this powder 

 was evenly strewed by the hand; this is at the rate of five Winchester bushels per acre ; 

 because 160 square rods, or an acre, would have required that number of quarts, oi 

 exactly five bushels- In the same manner Number 2 had two quarts, Number 3 three 

 quarts, and so on to Number 12, which liad twelve quarts, or at the rate of 60 bushels 

 per acre. 



From the 29th of July there were, daily, drizzling rains until the 5th of Angu^t, when 

 the eflfect of this invaluable manure began to appear. On the following day tiie whole ex- 

 tent of the 12 rods became highly verdant, and exhibited such a contra--t to the unma.iured 

 part of the lawn, that it had the appearance of having been newly turfed witli a finer kind 

 of sod. The effect gradually increased ; and in the first week of October, that is, in little 

 more than two months, the higher numbers, from 6 to 12, (having from o" to 60 bushels 

 per acre), excited the surprise of every person who saw them, being covered with the most 

 exuberant grass that can be imagined, and having iiiore the resemblance of a crop of 

 young wheat, very thickly sown, than of any gra^s I ever beheld. 



This is the more remarkable, as at that time, the copious rains which fell in August, 

 and the spring season had made no visible effect on tiie adjoining part of tne lawn. 



It was from a frequent and careful inspection of the above e.xpiriments tliat I have 

 estimated S5 bushels of guana per acre to be equivalent in effect, upon grass lands, to 

 70 loads of good rot-dung. 



I have been informed that guana is sold at Lima, and at other towns on the coast of 

 Peru, for a dollar a bag, of 50 pounds weiglit, and that it is much in use there for manuring 

 fruit treas and gardens. 



It is certainly one of the most powerful of manures ; and therefore it is necessary to be 

 cautious in using it. 1 have observed, when too much is laid upon grass, that it hums 

 and destroys it. — I would therefore recommend, to those who may try it on fruit tr es, to 

 begin with not more than three quarters of a pint to each tree, and to trench it, about a 

 foot deep, all round the roots. If the first a[)plication be found insufficient, a stcond, or 

 third, may be given at intervals of two or three months; or, a betier mode, perhaps, of 

 determining the quantity of guana proper for each fruit tree, would be to select about a 

 dozen trees of the same kind and size, and to vary the quantities, by an easy progression, 

 from three quarters of a pint, to one or two quarts, or more, to each tree. 



A. B. 



