BIRD S DUNG. 127 



we would respectfully beg to say, that in our 

 estimation such a proceeding would amply re- 

 pay the increased cost. 



Bird's Dung. — The dung of all birds has 

 always been esteemed as a valuable manure, 

 and its excellence, in great measure, depends 

 on the quantity of lime it contains. 



In the excrement from poultry, this sub- 

 stance is not equally abundant as in that pro- 

 duced by the sea-fowl, which live entirely on 

 animal matter. 



The excrement of these latter birds, is found 

 on many of the rocky and uninhabited isles of 

 our northern coasts ; but the moist and humid 

 atmosphere of this climate, combining with 

 the heavy rains of winter to wash it away as 

 soon as formed, has prevented an extensive 

 deposite of this substance from taking place. 



in the more genial climes, however, of the 

 tropics, where the sun's raj^s have dried this 

 excrement as soon as dropped, an inexhausti- 

 ble supply exists ; and as its use as a manure 

 has been recommended by various persons, 

 from the time when Sir Humphrey Davy first 

 called attention to it in 1S04, to the present 

 time, a cargo of this substance, known by the 

 name of Guano, has this year (1841) been im- 

 ported, with a view to its adoption here as a 

 manure. 



This substance is collected on the unin- 

 habited and other islands of the South Sea, 

 where sea-fowl in immense flocks have been 

 congregated from time immemorial, and so 

 abundant is it, that the whole soil, in some 

 cases to the depth of many feet, is found to be 



