39 



largest and proportionately cheapest crop that -we have seen, was 

 manured with guano at the rate of over a ton and a half to the 

 acre. In a poor and poorly tilled soil, the roots will not only 

 be small, but irregularly shaped. The white Belgian variety 

 grows very large, and is much esteemed. 



To avoid weeds, some farmers plant carrots on land that has 

 been kept clean, with one or two crops of corn. Others plough 

 an old pasture very deep, with a Michigan plough, use fine manure 

 and harrow lightly. 



It is impossible for us to say how much guano has been used 

 this 3^ear, only that large quantities have been employed in some 

 towns, scarcely any in others, and that its use is rapidly increas- 

 ing. Men begin with a bag or a few hundred pounds, experi- 

 menting cautiously, feeling their way along, and usually with 

 decided success and encouragement.* One neighbor after another 



* We have received tlie following note from Mr. Charles Breck, of 

 Milton, one of our most accurate and intelligent experimenters : — 



" I have been conducting a small experiment with guano as a top dress- 

 ing for worn-out grass land, for the last three years, with very good success. 

 In 1840, a crop of rye was taken off the land, after which the stubble was 

 ploughed in, and grass seed sown ; the scattering rye again came up, and 

 grew well, and, could it have been easily separated, would probably have 

 yielded a good half crop. It was mowed with the grass early, and used for 

 fodder, since which time the field has been constantly mowed and fed, 

 without any top dressing. From this you may conclude, that the land was 

 as nearly run out as it could be, although it is naturally a mellow, pro- 

 ductive soil. 



" In the spring of 1854, I staked off two square rods, which, to appear- 

 ance, were as nearly equal as they could be, and lying side by side. On 

 one rod I put twelve cents worth of guano mixed with one and a half peck 

 of sand from the road-side. On the other rod nothing was put. In July, 

 the grass was mowed, well dried, and carefully weighed. On the rod which 

 had no manure, there were six pounds of hay. On the rod on which the 

 guano was used, were twenty-six pounds of hay. 



" In 1855, on the first rod were only three pounds of hay, and on the rod 

 with guano there were nine pounds. In 1856, I mowed and dried the grass 

 carefully. On the first rod I had three jiounds of liay, and on the second 

 nine pounds, making, in three years, a gain of thirty-two pounds, equal to 

 5,120 pounds to an acre, by the use of guano, that would have cost nineteen 

 dollars and twenty cents, with a fair prospect of its continuing some time 

 longer, besides improving the quality of the hay very much. 



" In answer to your enquiries about plaster, I would observe, that I have 

 never seen any good effects from its use as a manure, although I have seen 

 it tried many ways." 



