340 



NEW ENGLAND FARMER 



APRIIi 34:, lS4j 



From the Magazine of Horticiiliure. 



GUANO— ITS ACTION ON THE GROWTH 

 OF VARIOUS PLANTS, FRUITS, &c. 



I have already stated that I had numerous ex- 

 perini'int? in progress which were destroyed by 

 fire : as there is no prospect of my resuming them 

 at present, 1 will offer a few ideas upon which sev- 

 eral of them were based, in order that those who 

 have leisure may pursue them. 



The ultimate object of vegetable life appears to 

 me to be the production of seed. To this purpose, 

 and to accumulate the properties and ingredients 

 for the formntion and perfection of this seed, the 

 root, stem, leaf and flower are devoted — each per- 

 forming its destined gradual part, until by their 

 united efforts, brought into action by soil, Hglit, 

 heat and moisture, this object is attained ; exterior 

 vegetable action then declines until another sea- 

 son. Experiment has shown that plants grown on 

 mere sand, with the assistance of water, will throw 

 out stem, leaf and flower, nay even the forms of 

 seed, but these will be mere integuments, empty 

 vescicles or little bladders ; — also, by constantly 

 stimulating, with peculiar manure, we can throw 

 plants into such uninterrupted luxuriance of shoots 

 and foliage, that often the flowers, and more often 

 the seeds, do not appear within the limits of the 

 season. Combining these views with others on 

 the production of double flowers, and with some 

 suggested by various experiments on guano, it 

 seems highly probable that certain manures are 

 particularly conducive to a luxuriant growth of 

 stem and foliage, while others are peculiarly so to 

 the production of numerous and well filled seeds. 

 As it would be impossible for me, at the present 

 moment, lo develop all my ideas and experience 

 on this subject, I will endeavor briefly to elucidate 

 it by a supposition, which, like those in algebra, 

 may or may not be near the truth. 



Suppose the nitrogenous (ammoniacal) and alka- 

 line (potash and soda) manures to be those chiefly 

 instrumental in producing stem and foliage, then 

 nitrate of soda will be valuable for this purpose; 

 and if the soil itself contain the ingredients of the 

 seed in a fit state for absorption, the plant thus 

 thrown into a state of luxuriance, will be enabled 

 to draw from it sufficient lo make plenty of good 

 seed. But if the soil in itself contains them very 

 sparingly, then this excess of stem and foliage, al- 

 though containing a quantity of nitrogenous and 

 palatable food for cattle, will be deficient in rich 

 seed. Now we know that phosphate of lime and 

 of magnesia, with sulphurous compounds, exist in 

 all seeds useful to man and animals — these, how- 

 ever, do not form part of nitrate of soda and pot- 

 ash, hence the latter can only assist the plant in 

 extracting them from the soil. 



Suppose, secondly, we use a manure combining 

 the nitrogenous principles in tho shape of urates, 

 &',c., with the alkaline phosphates, sulphates, mu- 

 riates, &c., then even on the poorest soil, while 

 the ammoniacal portion is performing its ofl!ice of 

 causing luxuriance in foliage and stem, the ingre- 

 dients of tlie seed are ofl^ered in abundance to the 

 root. This is exactly the predicament of guano — 

 most of the salts in which are soluble in water — 

 and those which arc not, such as the phosphate and 

 oxalate of lime, become so when combined near 

 the roots with the carbonic acid furnished by the 

 humus, as well as by other portions of the manure. 



The use of a solution of guano in water, is 

 therefore good, when the seed is not required ; but 



where it is, the deprivation of the insoluble phos- 

 phate of lime is very injurious. 



Hence, from the proper use of guano, a luxuriant 

 vegetation is followed by the production of a large 

 crop of fine seed. As a farther elucidation of my 

 views, I will state that the manure made use of for 

 the purpose of producing double flowers, is the 

 highly nitrogenous stable manure, which is used in 

 such quantity as to prevent the roots from coming 

 into contact with that part of the soil containing 

 the ingredients of the seed : this manure being 

 then chiefly favorable to the production of foliage 

 alone, if continued through many generations, will, 

 by degrees, convert the stamens, pistils, and the 

 parts destined by nature to prepare tlie seed, into 

 leaves or petals, and finally obliterate the seed. 

 These flowers, if grown in a poor soil, scarce in ni- 

 trogenous substances, will again, as is well known, 

 revert to their normal single seed bearinn- state. 



Several of my experiments with guano proved to 

 me that it shortened the internodes, or portions of 

 the stem between each leaf: this was particularly 

 evident in seedling orange and lemon trees, and is 

 a sure indication of fruit or seed bearing: indeed, 

 the spurs, which are well known as the fruit-pro- 

 ducing parts of many trees, are but shortened 

 branches, where the internodes are reduced to a 

 mere nothing, and where, consequently, the axilla- 

 ry action is concentrated into a small space. I 

 havo, therefore, no doubt of the beneficial action 

 of guano on fruit trees. Many experiments are, 

 however, yet desirable. Such as whether guano 

 acts beneficially on tlie receptacle of the seed, 

 which is the fruit of the strawberry or raspberry ;* 

 whether on the extoriar covering of the seed, 

 which is the apple, peach, plum, &.c. ; or on the 

 kernel or nut, or on the pulpy envelop of the seed, 

 as the gooseberry, grape, melon, gourd, &c. I 

 hope that these ideas will give rise to numerous 

 experiments this year, and that those who make 

 them will not hesitate freely to communicate them 

 for the general beneht. 



I will merely add farther, that I should consider 

 it advisable, in all experiments on fruits, to try 

 both the guano itself as well as a weak solution of 

 it in water. It is highly probable that the solution 

 will be efficacious where the receptacle or the ex- 

 terior of the seed is most valuable; whereas in 

 corn, peas, beans, &.C., those phosphates which are 

 insoluble in water, and are very necessary, would 

 ba thus lost to the plant. 



At another period I may possibly resume this 

 subject, as it seems to me that these ideas open 

 new views on the physiology of plants, and cer- 

 tainly show of how much importance it is for those 

 who study this subject, to become better acquaint- 

 ed, from personal observation, with the action of 

 the sdils on vegetable life. It is from the want of 

 this knowledge tliat the greatest errors have been 

 proposed and propagated as truths, by scientific 

 men. Yours, 



J. E. TESCHEMACHER. 



Boston, March, 1844. 



*Mr T. requests us lo correct an error here, which oc- 

 curred ill the haste of composition. The fruit of the 

 raspberry is represenled as the receptacle: he iniended 

 to invite attention to tins fruit as being a specimen of 

 tlie berry, (acinus.) — Eb. FiR. 



When we take people merely as they are, we 

 make them worse ; when we treat them as if they 

 were (vhal they should be, we improve them, as 

 far as they can be improved. — Goithe. 



DANA'S PRIZE ESSAY ON MANURES 



Section Thirteenth. 



Manures Composed chiefly of Mould. 



These are of vegetable or animal origin. A 

 first, of animal mould. Here we shall find tliat 

 come perhaps better prepnrnd to undprstand t 

 part of our subject than either of the precedi 

 classes. We have explained the principles whi 

 enable us to understand why it is that animal a 

 vegetable substances produce, by decay, idcnti 

 matters. Tho only difference consists in the qui 

 tity of these matters. Let me here, reader, call 

 your remembrance the facts we stated respect 

 the two classes of food, and the two classes of si 

 stances formed from that food by animals. A c 

 tain portion of that food contains none cf t 

 principle which forms ammonia. This portion 

 food makes fat. Another porton of food conta 

 the substance which forms ammonia. This f 

 of the food forms flesh and blood, and tha ol 

 parts of the body, skin, hair, feathers, bristles, wi 

 horns, hoofs, nails and claws, thews and sine 

 Now, when a body dies and decays, the mo 

 which it forms will be rich manure, or poor i 

 nure, just in proportion as it contains more or 1 

 of the substances formed out of that poriioi 

 food which furnishes flesh and blood. The 

 therefore, in animal mould, plays a very infe 

 part lo that acted by the flesh and blood. It 

 word, as I wish to dismiss the fatty matters fi 

 our present consideration, I may do this, reai 

 by stating to you all that you need know, thai 

 decay, fat forms chiefly carbonic acid. If, thf 

 fore, you call to mind what we have said about 

 action of that, you will see how fat acts in i 

 nure. But the flesh and blood, and the siibstan 

 formed from it, give precisely the same things 

 vegetables do when they decay, that is, wa 

 mould and salts. The great difl'erence betw. 

 the decay of animal and vegetable matters, is tl 

 that as the animal bodies are far richer in the s 

 stance which forms ammonia, so they affon 

 richer source of manure. Tho animal body c 

 tains that element, in quantity enough, not onlj 

 fill the pores of its own mould, but also enough 

 impregnate a large quantity of mould from ot 

 sources. The vegetable body, on the contri 

 contains scarcely enough ammonia to fill its c 

 mould. Vegetables differ in the quantities of 

 elements of food which can furnish fiesh i 

 blood, and hence those vegetables are best for i 

 nure which furnish most ammonia. We have 

 ready remarked on the difference, in this respi 

 between straws, grasses, and clover. But with 

 going further into this comparison, which can hi 

 no other practical bearing than to show you 

 immense difference in value, in animal and ve| 

 table bodies, in forming manure, we may here 

 solve the subject into one great principle. 1 

 substance which forms flesh and blood, whet 

 derived from plants or animals, alone forms ami 

 nia during their decay, and the mould thence a 

 ing, is rich or poor manure, just in proportion a 

 contains the substaiic^e fit to form flesh and bio 

 Starting from this principle, we find that anil 

 substances, as flesh, fish, fowl, the body genera 

 including its various forms of covering, hair, wi 

 feathers, nails, hoofs, horns, claws, &c., afford, 

 the process of decay, about ten times more ami 

 nia than the straAvs and grasses tisually enter 

 into the compost heap. 



The animal bodies give more volatile alkali tl 



