CHAPTER VIII 



PERUVIAN GUANO AND OTHER MIXED 

 FERTILISERS 



Origin of the Deposits of Guano — Variation in Composition with 

 Age — Compounds of Nitrogen present in Peruvian Guano 

 — Ichaboe and Damaraland Guanos — Fish Guano — Meat 

 Guano — Dried Blood — Greaves — Rape Dust and other Cake 

 Residues — Manures derived from Faecal Matter — Sewage 

 Sludges. 



The term "guano" (Spanish huano = d\ir\g) is properly 

 restricted to a fertilising material consisting almost 

 wholly of the excreta of sea birds, which has accumu- 

 lated upon certain oceanic islands where rain rarely 

 falls. The original guano came from islands off the 

 coast of Peru between the 7th and 20th degrees of 

 south latitude, and this " Peruvian Guano " still forms 

 the bulk of our importations, although since the time 

 of the first introduction of guano, other deposits, formed 

 under similar conditions of climate and situation, have 

 been opened up. All these deposits, being of similar 

 origin, possess many features in common. The islands, 

 small and uninhabited, are the resort for breeding 

 purposes of enormous flocks of pelicans, albatrosses, and 

 other oceanic birds, which resort to land only in their 

 breeding season. On the favoured spots they nest very 

 closely, and the young birds after they are hatched are 



fed for a month or more with great quantities of fish 

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