308 



THE SOUTHERN PLANTER. 



stacks made upon elevated places so that 

 the water may pass off without soaking 

 in the ground much ; thereby I keep the 

 pits perfectly dry, which is all important. 

 When I took up my planting last spring, 

 kept as above directed, out of twenty bush- 

 els there was not a half bushel injured. 



G. R. 



Sussex County, Sep??', 1847. 



From the American Farmer. 



EXPERIMENTS WITH GUANO. 



During the present year I have made 

 several experiments with guano, in order 

 to test its value under different circum- 

 stances ; the results of which I present 

 to your readers. The most important fact 

 which I have been enabled to establish to 

 my own satisfaction is, that guano, like 

 every other stimulant, by excess or im- 

 proper use, may prove as detrimental to 

 crops, as its well directed employment 

 will reward the enterprising husbandmen. 

 Guano, however, is not a mere stimulant 

 without partaking in a great measure of 

 the nutritive character, for undoubtedly 

 the essential elements of seeds may be de- 

 rived from its constituent materials, and 

 probably other valuable products in the 

 form of secretions, &c; but as a vehicle 

 for the introduction of common nutritive 

 matter, it takes a permanent rank with 

 other bases and saline ingredients of the 

 soil, thereby promoting vigorous growth 

 in vegetables when sufficient aliment is 

 provided them. If on the other hand the 

 soil be incompetent to supply fresh food 

 so fast as it is disposed of by the organs 

 of the plant, the consequences are disas- 

 trous, if not fatal. During the drought of 

 this season, a portion of my corn, upon 

 which guano was liberally strewed, fired 

 just as when ashes or other stimulants are 

 dropped in or upon the hills; and what 

 satisfied me that it was not the drought 

 which in this case caused the injury, but 

 an insufficiency of pabulum, is the fact 

 that a portion which was freely watered 

 suffered to a considerable extent, but in a 

 less degree ; whereas another patch, far 

 richer in vegetable mould and stable r^a- 



nure, on which the same quantity of gu- 

 ano was spread broadcast, flourished ad- 

 mirably, although it was not artificially 

 watered. I may add, that- the ground in 

 both cases was well worked ; so that I 

 felt convinced that no amount of carbonic 

 acid, ammonia or the vapor of water from 

 the air, will at all compare with either the 

 natural supply, derived from decomposing 

 vegetable and animal matter, the refresh- 

 ing draughts of rain, the penetrating in- 

 fluence of subterranean moisture, or irri- 

 gation. Indeed, during a severe drought 

 it may be questioned whether an expo- 

 sure of the partially moist under surface 

 to the atmosphere does not allow more of 

 the gases and vapours to escape than the 

 ground absorbs in turn; and for this rea- 

 son I hesitated to plough or disturb with 

 the cultivator certain spots, unless the ap- 

 pearance of the clouds indicated falling 

 weather, as I uniformly found that a con- 

 trary course left the field more dr} r and un- 

 promising, notwithstanding an occasional 

 deposition of dew. 



In this connexion I may mention an- 

 other fact which I established during the 

 prevalency of the drought, that one good 

 watering on a portion of some early corn 

 in my garden was worth twice the amount 

 of water applied at different times in small 

 quantities, because in the former case the 

 water soaked in and remained for a con- 

 siderable time available, whereas in the 

 latter, the sun of the succeeding day gene- 

 erally dried it up, if the hill was opened 

 with the hoe, or if not opened, a hard 

 cake was formed on the surface almost 

 impervious to the air, the oxygen of 

 which I regard as serviceable to vegeta- 

 bles as to animals ; at least the oxidation 

 of organic matter in ihe sap or blood is es- 

 sential to their vitality, all the doctrines 

 about the contrast between vegetable and 

 animal respiration to the contrary notwith- 

 standing. The above facts warrant me, 

 I think, in concluding that guano presents 

 in a condensed and therefore convenient 

 form, most valuable materials for vegeta- 

 tive life, and that its use must be regula- 

 ted by the condition of the soil, so that 

 cceteris paribus, more may be employed 

 profitably on good ground than on bad ; 



