THE SOUTHERN PLANTER. 



/ 



93 



shall not say a word against one of them — 1 

 but, apply to them in the lines of the Ro- 

 man poet — 



" facies non omnibus una, 

 "Nec diversa tamen, qualem decet esse 



sororum." 



All are good, and my heart and hand are 

 ready for them all. 



Would that our means were adequate 

 to accomplish them all. But they are not 

 We must make an election between them 

 or do nothing. Do nothing? My friends, 

 we have done too much, to do nothing 

 row. Even goodness pines and dies if it 

 do nothing. Remember . the nursery 

 lesson : 



* Satan finds some mischief still for idle hands 

 to do." 



'Tis true of children ; and just as true 

 of men. We have scented the sulphur of 

 the old fiend already in former meetings. 

 Men cannot come together for good, that 

 the devil does not set them by the ears 

 for evil. Agricultural Societies have no 

 perpetual lease of life. Their history 

 shows them to be shortlived — like many 

 other children of enthusiasm. We know 

 not that ours will be an exception. We 

 must appropriate our money ourselves, or 

 let others appropriate for us. In twenty 

 years it will all be gone for something;. 



hearts 



Shall we who gave it, when our 

 were full, say — what it shall go for — or 

 learn others to decide when we have 

 passed away? Allow me to remind you 

 that " a good farmer attends to his own 

 business." God grant, that you may de- 

 cide aright. But decide as you may, I go 

 with you and stick to you, while you work 

 in the noble cause of Agricultural im- 

 provement. 



MEXICAN GUANO. 

 Many of our readers -will remember that this 

 is the name of a substance which, a few years 

 since, was imported into this country from some 

 islands in the Gulf of Mexico, in considerable 

 quantities. The traffic was engaged in by a 

 company, the members of which resided in 

 New York and Boston. A pamphlet was got 

 out under their auspices, setting forth, in an 

 exaggerated manner, the valuable properties 

 of the article. This document was recom- 

 mended to the public by some (so-called) agri- 

 cultural papers, as an " interesting work." The 

 most strenuous efforts were made to make far- 

 mers believe that this Mexican guano was the 

 cheapest ^manure they could use. Dr. A. A. 

 Hays came before a meeting of fanners at the 



State House, and extolled it as superior to 

 Peruvian guano,— saying he had "no confi- 

 dence" in the manurial value of the ammonia 

 of the latter. Subsequently, the Mexican 

 article is said to have been used as the basis of 

 the noted " Chilian Guano," manufactured near 

 Newark, New Jersey. The Mexican was re- 

 tailed in this city at "$30 to $40 per ton. We 

 have in many instances requested farmers who 

 have bought it, to inform us in regard to its 

 operation. Their statements have in no case 

 shown that it has proved a profitable article, 

 and in a majority of cases, no visible effect has 

 been produced from it. 



It is probable, however, that Mexican guano 

 has some value, as manure, and to show what 

 this value is, we refer to a comparative esti- 

 mate made by Prof. Nesbit, the Principal of 

 the Agricultural and Chemical College, Ken- 

 nington, near London. In a lecture lately de- 

 livered by this gentleman, he stated, as the 

 result of careful investigations which he had 

 made, that Peruvian guano might be put down 

 at £13 12s. ($68) per ton ; Bolivian guano, £7 

 19s. ($39 75) per ton ; a good sample of super- 

 phosphate of lime, £6 18s. ($34 50) per ton; 

 " a substance lately introduced into commerce, 

 called 'Mexican guano,'" £2 9s. ($12 25) per 

 ton. 



The value here put on Peruvian guano is 

 somewhat more than the market price of the 

 article in this country, but the comparative 

 value of the articles named is not affected by 

 this estimate. It will be seen that the value of 

 Mexican guano is less than one-fifth that of 

 Peruvian. And yet this value of the Mexican 

 is said by Prof. N. to be "practically lessened 

 by the large quantity of carbonate of lime con- 

 tained in the sample." It has therefore been 

 sold in this country for more than thrice its 

 real worth, and in England at a still higher 

 rate— £8 to £9 ($40 to 45) per ton. 



Prof. Nesbit gives the following table as com- 

 prising the nearest approximate value of the 

 several manuring matters in the articles above 

 mentioned : 



Multipliers of Value. 

 Nitrogen - £70 ($370) per ton. 



Ammonia 60 (300) " 



Phosphate of lime - - 8 (40) " 

 Phosphate of lime made 



soluble 24 (120) " 



Organic matter - - 1 (5) " 

 Alkaline salts - - 1 (5) 

 Sulphate of lime (gypsum) 1 (5) " 

 Silica - No value. 



Carbon of lime - - No value. 



The following rule is adapted by Prof. N. in 

 calculating the value of manures: 



"Consider the analysis to represent the com- 

 ponents of one hundred tons. Multiply the 

 respective amounts of each ingredient by the 

 price per ton in the preceding table, add up 

 the several products, and the sum will repre- 

 sent the value of one hundred tons. Divide 



