GUANO, IN CONNECTION WITH FLORICULTURE. 
203 
;he fecal deposit of cormorants, gulls, and sea-fowl, that feed entirely upon fish ; 
l.he work of countless centuries, still going on, though slowly progressing, we 
lannot fail to be struck with wonder and astonishment.. There is not, perhaps 
n the whole world, a substance which comprises in a volume so small and compact, 
ill the decomposable appliances of all vegetables. Can it, then, be matter of 
urprise that men, greedy of gain and reckless of principle, should attempt, first 
lo imitate — but failing in that, then to palm off spurious succedanea, resembling the 
rue material in nothing but the colour, and barely in that ? 
Setting aside the question of purity or fraudulent adulteration, which involves 
niich of doubt and perplexity, it must be evident, after what has been written, 
nd all but proved, especially by the late disclosures made in the Gardeners 
Chronicle, that no certainty can be attained by any other means than a rigid 
Analysis of every individual specimen. Such an analysis cannot be at present 
undertaken by practical gardeners ; but any man of sense can determine one point 
if importance which, if established, will go far to prove the excellence or worth- 
essness of a sample. This is done by simply mixing as much guano as will lie 
upon a four-penny piece with half as much quick-lime, fresh from the kiln, or a 
iew grains of potash, and so much boiling water as will , reduce the whole to the 
Consistence of thin paste. Being rubbed together in a small mortar, or on a piece 
if glass, a very pungent odour of pure smelling salts will be immediately extricated, 
f the Guano be genuine and well preserved. If, on the contrary, the smell be 
eeble, the article is spurious, or damaged ; for if the ammonia really exist, and 
i»ecome revealed, it affords evidence, almost amounting to demonstration, of the 
I eal quality of the manure. 
From all that has been stated above, and in the communications of high 
hemical authorities, it must be evident that the floral gardener ought to employ 
he utmost caution in using an article which abounds in salts of most active and 
. Emulating quality. Such salts are produced in nature ; all of them have their 
pecific uses, but then they are strictly specific, and the earth yields them in very 
Qodified forms, and to an extent which cannot be injurious. 
Plants growing in beds and borders select aliment suitable to their individual 
lemperament ; but, in pot culture, we limit their range of pasture, and arbitrate 
he supply of what we still manure. Great errors may thus be committed, and 
onduce to much mischief and disease ; therefore in applying Guano, the quantity 
ised experimentally, whether in bulk among the soil, as top-dress, or in solution, 
hould be almost inappreciably small till experience sanction a more liberal supply. 
I What w^e want, above all things, is a rigid and faithful system of organic 
malyses. Liebig first impressed this great truth, and we believe he is now engaged 
a a course of demonstrative experiments. Till we know the salts which every 
>lant, or, at least, every tribe contains, we act in the dark, and apply our artificial 
■ ombinations empirically. It fortunately happens, thanks to the stimulus which 
las been given to a spirit of inquiry, that an apparatus for organic investigation 
