41 



Similar instances, too numerous to be detailed, seem to show 

 that guano is available in many different soils, and for various 

 crops ; that if its effects are less permanent than those of other 

 manures, their duration may be proportioned to the expense, 

 "while the comparatively small amount of labor required for its 

 application, furnishes an argument in its favor, easily appreciated 

 by those who pay the present wages of farm help. 



In those places where the least attention is paid to agriculture, 

 of course the least interest is felt in this or any other manure. 

 But where guano is most used it is most highly prized. In one 

 town, two public spirited individuals introduced a large amount of 

 guano, a few years ago, which was used with satisfactory results, 

 but Adthin a year or two several experiments have been made 

 with super-phosphate of lime, in that place, with results still more 

 satisfactory to the parties interested. 



In one town almost wholly devoted to mechanical pursuits, we 

 could not hear of any person who had used guano. We found, 

 however, an excellent farmer, whose only reason for not using it 

 was a very good one, namely, that he had a plenty of barn-yard 

 manure. 



Not a few are puzzled to understand how three or four hundred 

 pounds of guano can maintain land in as good order as the four 

 or five cords of stable manure Avhich they have been in the habit 

 of using. It is of comparatively little consequence whether the 

 fertihzing properties of manure are distributed through a large or 

 small quantity of matter, provided they are distributed uniformly. 

 If the essential elements of six cords of stable manure could be 

 compressed into one cord, and evenly distributed and buried in 

 the field, the advantages of the manure would be secured at less 

 expense. The mud, straw, hay, leaves, roots, corn-stalks and 

 weeds that compose the bulk of the manure, are comparatively 

 inert as fertilizers, and in the most favorable view, require a long 

 season of fermentation to develop their quahties. They are 

 receptacles of ammonia and other fertilizing agents contained in 

 the solid and liquid animal excrements. Hence, if guano con- 

 tains these fertilizing properties in a concentrated form, and if it 

 can be furnished and ai)pHed cheaper than an equivalent amount 

 of barn-yard manure, it will be used in preference. 



The barn-yard manure contains all the properties that the 



