THE SOUTHERN 



PLANTER. 



75 



the histories of the two sections — will proceed 

 to assume as probably true, that the average 

 'proportions of lime naturally present in the 

 soils of middle Virginia, is greater than what is 

 naturally present in the soils of tide water — and 

 that to improve the former so as to render them 

 remunerative for farming purposes, artificial 

 applications of lime are not indispensable. 



We are now brought to notice, in the next 

 place, some of the most available means of im- 

 provement for many of the soils of middle Vir- 

 ginia, and the first agent in importance, unques- 

 tionably, is Peruvian Guano. 



The immediate action of this fertilizer in pro- 

 moting the growth of every species of vegeta- 

 tion, is so well known and appreciated generally, 

 it needs hardly to be alluded to ; nor would it 

 perhaps be less a work of supererogation to 

 attempt a demonstration of the immediate pro- 

 fit, in dollars and cents, from its use, even at its 

 present high price, on such crops as wheat and 

 tobacco. But these benefits have been thought 

 by many experienced farmers to be after all 

 more apparent than real, and in the opinion of 

 some, guano at least is but a mere stimulant, 

 and acts on the soil just asalchohol does on the 

 human organism, producing temporarily a con- 

 siderable effect, but leaving the soil in the end 

 poorer than it was in the beginning. This is 

 certainly a very simple and convenient expla- 

 nation of the matter. But unfortunately the 

 ▼ery comparison is absurd. Every body knows 

 something of the peculiar effects of alcohol on 

 the Jiving nerves and blood vessels of a human 

 being; but no one ever supposed that the soil 

 had either nerves or blood vessels, or any thing 

 analagous to either of them. All agree, that 

 guano possesses in a high degree nearly every 

 element of vegetable life and nutrition — but no 

 one ever attributed to alchohol any nutritive 

 properties whatever; and hence to call guano a 

 stimulant and compare it with alcohol — to 

 liken the soil to the human organism, and sup- 

 pose it can be stimulated with Guano, just as 

 a man is stimulated with brandy, is ridiculous 

 and absurd. 



But others, who style Guano a stimulant, be- 

 ing more profound in the therapeutics of ag- 

 riculture, explain their meaning in this way: 

 that a chief constituent of guano being ammonia, 

 and the invariable effects of this agent being, 

 to cause a rapid growth of the stalks and a cor- 

 responding extension of the roots of plants, the 

 abstraction from the soil of mineral matter by 

 guanoed plants is greatly increased, and may 

 be so extensive as entirely to deprive it of cer- 

 tain mineral constituents already scarce, and 

 thus leave it hopelessly barren. This objection 

 being somewhat plausible, deserves considera- 

 tion ; but as a passing remark it may be said 

 that even if this were so, and one or two crops 

 of guanoed wheat should be able to abstract 

 all of certain minerals, such as lime and potash. 

 from the sod, it would only prove, as we shall 

 presently see, that these minerals were present 

 in such very infinitesimal proportions that they 

 could never have been of any great importance. 



agriculturally, any way, and therefore as to the 

 policy of applying Guano under the circum- 

 stances, the only question the farmer would 

 have to determine woud be, whether, in the form 

 of twenty-five bushels of wheat and a certain 

 quantity of straw, he would obtain a satisfactory 

 equivalent for his thirty pounds of potash and 

 eight or ten pounds of lime consumed by said 

 crop of wheat — the cost of which minerals , if re- 

 turned to the soil, would not much exceed one 

 dollar. 



But let us now examine more closely the as- 

 sumption that guano, acting as a stimulant on 

 the soil, tends to produce barrenness by e.rhtiust- 

 ing its store of mineral matter. As preliminary 

 to the investigation of this question, the first 

 point to be settled is, how much of this mineral 

 matter is added to the soil in an ordinary appli- 

 cation of guano, and how much is abstracted 

 from the soil in an ordinary crop, say of wheat. 

 This and other kindred matters will require 

 sundry tabular statements, to which the close 

 and patient attention of the reader is earnestly 

 requested. The average composition of good 

 guano, according to Dr. Ure and Prof. Way, m 

 in 100 parts, about as follows : 



Organic matter and salts of ammonia 5$ 



Earthy phosphates 25 



Sand 1 



Alkaline salts 6 



Water It 



led 



Now, suppose the farmer should apply of this 

 guano 400 pounds to an acre of very poor land 

 for wheat, then it appears from the above ana- 

 lysis that there is actually added to this acre of 

 land, oi mineral or inorganic saline matter. 



about as follows : 



Earthy phosphates 100 pouada 



Alkaline salts 26 



Total 126 poundft. 



Suppose now the yield from the acre should 

 be as much as 25 bushels of wheat and 3,000 

 pounds of straw, (a very liberal count.) thea, 

 according to analyses made by Mr. Prideaux 

 and Prof. Johnston, of the entire wheat plant, 

 this amount of crop would abstract from the 

 soil (silica excepted, of which there is always a 

 superabundance in the soil,) in round numbers 



about as follows : 



Potash 29 pounds 



Soda 3 



Magnesia 10 " 



Phosphoric acid 21 ? 



Sulphuric acid 10 " 



Chlorine 2 " 



Lime . . . . ' 8 w 



Total 83 pounds. 



So that in applying 400 pounds of good Pe- 

 ruvian guano to an acre of land, there is added 

 to the soil of mineral matter about 125 pounds, 

 and in taking off a crop of 25 bushels of wheat 

 and 3,000 pounds of straw, there is abstracted 

 from the soil only about 83 pounds of mineral 



