40 



THE SOUTHERN PLANTER. 



As the interest on the money invested in 



guano has been charged in the estimate for 



that acre, it should be added to the clear net 



profit, as above, in order to ascertain the rate 



of interest on the capital invested in guano. 



Thus 24 cents added to $3 21, makes S3 45, 



which shows rather more than 85 per cent, for 



one year on $4 05, the money invested in 



guano, after making all the above charges 



except for interest. The above estimate is 



made on the supposition that all the fertilizing 



properties of the guano are taken up in the 



production of the one crop of wheat, which I 



by no means admit, as it is contrary both to 



my experience and observation. 

 But perhaps it may be more satisfactory to 



some, in making an estimate of the profit or 



loss by the use of guano, only to charge for 



the guano, seed wheat, and getting in the same. 



No one can object to these charges, as each 

 acre experimented on had sowed on it an equal 



quantity of wheat, and each had an equal 

 quantity of labor bestowed in getting in the 

 same. It is evident that an acre producing 

 15 bushels will yield more than three times 

 the net profit of one, producing only 5 bushels. 

 To occupy as little space as possible, I will 

 say, deduct from $5 22£ the gross proceeds 

 of the unimproved acre, as above, Si 65 for 

 -seed wheat and getting in the same, which will 

 leave S3 57£: then deduct from the gross 

 proceeds (SI 5 22 &) of the acre dressed with 

 guano $4 05 for guano, and SI 65 for seed 

 wheat and getting it in, then will remain $9 

 52£, from which deduct S3 57£, the net pro- 

 ceeds of the unimproved acre, as above, and 

 $5 95 will be the remainder, which shows 

 147 per cent, on the capital invested in guano. 

 This estimate, like the first, is made on the 



supposition that all the fertilizing properties , p refer ence to the farming of the clown, 

 of the guano are taken tap by the one crop of 

 wheat. 



In the above I have made no estimate as it 

 regards the less liability of loss from rust, on 

 account of the earlier maturing of the wheat, 

 of the better quality of the wheat (as per above 



weights) nor of the improvement of the land ; experience in the "use of guano," particularly 

 by the use of guano. All these combined | as applied "to summer crops/' for publication 

 would not, I think, be over-estimated, if put at I in your valuable journal. That experience 

 half the cost of the guano. has mainly been acquired in the five years 



From the above experiments (not to say last past, during which time I have used it 



USE OF GUANO ON SUMMER CROPS, 



The general opinion in Virginia is that 

 guano will not pay on summer crops. Infer- 

 ring the contrary from a statement made in 

 the Germantown Telegraph by Mr. WBkinson, 

 Principal of the Mount Airy Agricultural In- 

 stitute, we wrote to request his experience, 

 which he has very kindly furnished us in the 

 following letter. 



We are sorry, but not surprised, to learn, as 

 we do in a private letter, that the Agiieultural 

 School at Mount Airy has turned out an un- 

 profitable speculation, and that the Principal, 

 who has been working there and elsewhere 

 for the last eight years without pecuniary profit, 

 is about to abandon the business. So long as 

 it is thought by the agricultural community 

 that farming comes by nature they will not 

 receive much instruction from schools. The 

 sordid bumpkin, ignorant as his beast, and 

 hardly superior to him in taste, grows rich 

 with his narrow income in spite of his bad 

 farming. The man of liberal expenditure 

 cannot, with his good farming, more than ba- 

 lance his outgoings. The result, in a mere 

 pecuniary point of view, is, perhaps, in favor 

 of the former; and men of sense, as if habits 

 and modes of life were to go for nothing, refer 

 the art of growing rich to the possession of a 

 lucky secret, and set down the practices of 

 each class as equally commendable, or give 



For the Southern Planter. 



Mr. Editor, — In reply to a request in your 

 epistle dated December 25, 1852, I would say, 

 that it is my pleasure to communicate my 



anything of more favorable results as reported 

 by others) I would say that on poor land (and 

 especially exhausted land that was originally 

 good, not encumbered with rock nor pestered 

 with sassafras, &e.) a farmer cannot in any 

 other way that I know of, make so profitable 

 an investment as by using guano for wheat. 

 Yours, very respectfully, 



William Irby. 



Lunenburg, Dec. 30, 1852. 



A man's nature runs either to herbs or 

 weeds; therefore let him seasonably water 

 the one and destroy the other. 



more or less on nearly all my crops, and gen- 

 erally with decided advantage— equally as 

 much so on summer, as on winter crops. 



The quantity that I have applied has varied 

 from 200 lbs. to 500 lbs. to the acre. 



I have used but two varieties, viz: the Pe- 

 ruvian and the Patagonian— and I have used 

 no Patagonian for the past three years, having 

 found the use of the Peruvian the most relia- 

 ble and profitable in its results. 



My general practice has been to use guano 

 in conjunction with stable manure, though I 

 have produced excellent crops of turnips, oats, 

 potatoes (Irish), barley, ruta-baga, and even 

 maize, with no other application than from 

 250 to 400 lbs. of guano per acre. 



