Domestic Notices. 233 



hill about three teaspoonsful more of guano, and watered all freely, as the 

 weather was very dry. On the 11th of July, the tassels appeared, which 

 is about a fonnij^ht earlier than usual. When fit for gathering for the 

 table, I e.Khibiled, at the rooms of the Massachusetts Horticultural Soci- 

 ety, the largest produce of one seed. It had three principal stems, two 

 of which had three heads each, and one two heads, in all eight heads, 

 besides five suckers, each of which showed the silk. The weight of this 

 plant, the roots being cut off, was 8i lbs. At the same time, I exhibited 

 the best produce of one seed out of the hills without guano or manure. 

 One stalk showed one head, no sucker, and weitrhed \\ lb. 



It is well known by cultivators of this corn, that, under the usual cul- 

 tivation, it seldom averages two heads to a seed. In my address before 

 mentioned, the view I took of the action of this manure, and which I beg 

 leave to state I deduced theoretically, from a consideration of the analysis 

 of its contents, was, that it would be more valuable in agriculture than in 

 horticulture, for tliat it was probable that it would diminish the size of the 

 flower, but that it would certainly increase the produce of seed. I con- 

 sider the above experiment with sweet corn alone as considerably fortify- 

 ing these views, and I will mention but one other of my numerous experi- 

 ments: it is purely a horticultural one, but it further supports the same 

 theory, which is very important to agriculture. 



In February, 1842, I repotted two plants, an old woody one, and a 

 young cutting of heliotrope, which were in soil entirely exhausted, and 

 in which they had been about twelve months. The exhaustion of the soil 

 was proved by the leaves turning yellow and dropping off as fast as they 

 appean;d, as well as by the attenuated appearence of the shoots. On 

 repotting, I merely added a teaspoonful of guano to the same soil, and 

 replaced the plants in the same pots. In three months they had both shot 

 out most luxuriant branches, with many clusters of flowers ; and on the 

 older and more woody plant, each cluster produced a good crop of seed, 

 which this plant seldom produces, even under good common cultivation. 

 This seed and luxuriance may therefore be fairly attributed to the guano. 

 In order to pursue this subject to its farthest limits, I considered it valu- 

 able to discover whether any of the ingredients, discovered by chemical 

 analysis of this manure, had found their way permanently into the seed 

 of the sweet corn, with a view of ascertaining its importance in cultiva- 

 tion as an improver of the food either for cattle or man. I therefore for- 

 warded a portion of the seed grown with guano and that grown without 

 on tlie same spot, to Mr. A. A. Hayes, of Roxbury, to whose valuable 

 discoveries and researches on this subject, I have before alluded, and 

 likewise to Dr. C. T. Jackson, who has also interested himself much in 

 these matters.* 



I myself have repeated Mr. Hayes's experiments with this corn, although 

 I have not been able to separate the ingredients in the seed, so as to make 

 a delicate and certain comparison with those of seeds grown without gua- 



*Dr. Jackson I have not yet heard from, but the result of Mr. Haves's experi- 

 ments on the corn I transmuted to him, is, that tlie phospliates in the guamoed 

 corn, are to those in the corn wiihoul i;uano, as 6 to 4 ; in other words, the guanoed 

 corn contains 50 per cent, more phosphates than the other. Now, according to the 

 most recent physiological discoveries, it is aarreed that without the phosphates, 

 neither flesh nor hlood can he formed, and therefore, that the value of food for cattle 

 and man, is dependant on the quantity of phosphates it contains. 

 VOL. X. NO. VI. 30 



