54 



GARDENING FOR THE SOUTH. 



The Peruvian is the only guano rich in ammonia. 

 There are other guanos which contain little ammonia, but 

 are rich in phosphates, some of them as much so as bone 

 phosphate of lime. Among the best of these are the Co- 

 lumbian and Sombrero varieties. If these are finely 

 ground and mixed in equal proportions with pulverized 

 Peruvian guano, the mixture is really more valuable as a 

 manure for most plants and soils than the same amount of 

 pure Peruvian, for ammonia, to be useful, requires the 

 phosphates to be present, and the cost is much less. The 

 mixture contains a sufficient proportion of ammonia for 

 its phosphates, and its effect is more lasting. If the phos- 

 phatic guano is by the addition of sulphuric acid convert- 

 ed into a superphosphate, its value is greatly increased. 

 This mixture is better than the Peruvian guano for main- 

 taining the beauty of lawns, and for the whole cabbage 

 tribe it is greatly superior. 



BoilCS are, when properly prepared, still more useful 

 than most of the phosphatic guanos. They contain sixty- 

 six parts of earthy matter, mostly phosphate of lime, 

 and thirty-four parts of gelatine. Gelatine is rich in ni- 

 trogen, so that in bones are united the most desirable or- 

 ganic and inorganic manures. Applied whole, bones de- 

 compose too slowly to be of much value, and would be 

 greatly in the way of tillage. They may be broken small 

 with a sledge-hammer or crowbar, in a large wooden mor- 

 tar, lined at the bottom with a thick iron plate. When 

 beaten small, the fine dust can be sifted out, and the re- 

 mainder moistened and thrown up in heaps, to ferment a 

 few months. Bones can be dissolved by boiling them in 

 strong lye, or, better, by mixing them with wet, unleached 

 ashes, and when dissolved and dried by mixing with woods 

 earth, burnt clay, ashes, or sand, can be applied broadcast 

 or in the drills. The best way to treat bones is to dis- 

 solve them in sulphuric acid, forming superphosphate of 

 lime. A carboy of sulphuric acid, costing about four 



