42 



THE SOUTHERN PLANTER. 



diately with a common horse hoe, or cultivator, 

 incorporating the guano with the soil. This 

 completed, the same process was repeated by 

 passing through the crop the other way, and 

 applying 75 lbs. more of guano, making a total 

 of 300 lbs. guano per acre. The crop was 

 subsequently cultivated four times with a new 

 cultivator, which I used for the first time in 

 this crop. It is so arranged that the earth 

 may be turned to or from the hills at pleasure, 

 and complete the operation by passing it but 

 once between the rows. The hand hoe was 

 not used in the culture of this crop, and yet it 

 was kept in perfect order. The yield was 

 about seventy bushels per acre of beautiful 

 sound corn. I do not think the land would 

 have produced more than fifty bushels per acre 

 without the guano, which was all the applica- 

 tion that it had, save the large amount of 

 grass, (the product of the first application of 

 the guano,) which was at ploughing time suffi- 

 ciently large to have cut a good swarth. 



I claim that much of the guano used by the 

 usual mode, that is, by applying large quanti- 

 ties at once, is lost, and the benefit derived 

 from its use not in proportion to the quantity 

 applied. Plants, like animals, require a cer- 

 tain amount of food every day throughout 

 their lives. No farmer would think of placing 

 before his horse at one time food sufficient for 

 a year, taking the chances for its waste or pre- 

 servation, and expect the animal to be as well 

 and economically kept as if the proper amount 

 of food was daily administered; and yet the 

 general practice is to supply to the soil an 

 amount of vegetable aliment, almost entirely 

 resolved into an available form, sufficient for 

 the crop in all stages of its growth, and in 

 case of disappointment in the crop it is attri- 

 buted to "badluck," " unfavorable season ," "adul- 

 terated manure? or something else as foreign 

 to the true cause as either of the above, allow- 

 ing nothing for the dissipation or waste of a 

 large proportion of the volatile food supplied 

 before it is needed or can be taken up by the 

 plants it was intended to nourish — and yet 

 this occurs in most soils with the application 

 of almost all substances used as fertilizers, 

 but more especially in the use of guano; hence 

 I am induced to endeavor to feed my plants 

 and animals on the same principle, e. g. I ap- 

 ply the guano at two or three different periods 

 of the growth of the crop. I have tested this 

 system by applying small quantities of guano 

 (prepared as above) on grass land at three 

 different times in one season and in the same 

 field, applying the same quantity at once, and 

 the direct effect from an application of 66 per 

 cent, over the amount applied in three feeds 

 was no more apparent, and the ultimate pro- 

 duct far less, than that when the same amount 

 was applied in three feeds. In order that a 

 crop should have a proper supply of food 

 during all the stages of its growth, those sub- 

 stances designed for its pabulum should be so 

 distributed through the soil that the roots in 

 their ramifications in pursuit of food may 



come in contact with them, and the fertilizers 

 applied should be of such a character, if all 

 deposited in the soil at one time, that it will 

 be gradually resolved as required, that no 

 waste may result from so copious a supply 

 being administered at one time. 



Hoping that you will esteem the above 

 worth publishing, and that your subscribers 

 will consider it worth reading, it is submitted 

 with the profound respect of 



Your obedient servant, 



John Wilkinson, 

 Ml. Airy Ag. Institute, Germantown, Pa. 



For the Southern Planter. 



ON THE USE OF SINGLE MANURES. 



Mr. Editor, — Observing the increasing de- 

 mand for single manures, such as super phos- 

 phate of lime, guano, &c. my mind has been 

 directed to a question of some importance as 

 to the tendency this will have to the fertilizing 

 of our lands. It has often been observed that 

 the use of these manures for one crop does 

 admirably well, but if cJover fail, no one can 

 see any benefit. For two years past this has 

 been the case, arising from the drought of 

 summer in killing out our clover after the 

 wheat has been taken off, especially on poor 

 land. Let any one, for example, sow 200 lbs. 

 of guano on very poor land, especially if there 

 is little mould, and all he will ever get is the 

 little crop of wheat. But as these single ma- 

 nures do not contain all the elements of a 

 crop, then a further demand has been made 

 on what was in this poor land to its greater 

 depletion; and just as a man who has money 

 can make money, so will the land that has 

 the power to make clover make more clover; 

 but the power given to such land has been 

 only equal to making one crop and has left it 

 minus two. Now this would not have been 

 the case had a sufficient quantity of stable 

 manure been put on, because all the elements 

 of fertility are in it. Now suppose 300 lbs. 

 of guano had been applied to such land, it is 

 probable that you not only supply the wheat 

 crop, but you have a power left to extract 

 from the minerals in the land of a refractory 

 nature a supply of alkalies which will give a 

 good crop of clover, but then it follows that if 

 the clover be taken off, especially by grazing, 

 you still keep up the depletion, for it is a fact 

 that grazing is worse than mowing. The roots 

 on an acre of good clover being weighed (dry) 

 have been ascertained to be 3,630 lbs. while 

 the weight of roots from a portion of the same 

 field, which had been pastured, gave only 

 1,433 lbs. Now if all the clover be returned, 

 you give to the land not only the organic but 

 likewise all the inorganic elements which are 

 needed for future crops, and thereby convert 

 into a rich mould what was before a barren 

 field. I would now suggest the only plan I 



