THE USE OP GUANO. 
133 
water ; and perhaps this is the most effectual 
mode of developing its power;, for, like all 
concentrated fertilizers, it requires a consider- 
able supply of moisture, and has always exhi- 
bited the most productive results during wet 
seasons. For this reason it is particularly de- 
sirable that the dry mixture, or compost, as 
we shall call it, should be used immediately 
before rain. But, as irrigation is too tedious 
and costly for extensive operations, the liquid 
application is almost necessarily confined to 
the flower and kitchen garden." — Pp. 72, 73. 
We could mention many other practical 
articles, treating on this subject, to show that 
its useful application to crops in this country 
lias been well understood by many writers, 
who have founded their papers on the safest 
of all bases — experience. It may, how- 
ever, be interesting to the English cultivator, 
to know what is said to be the practice and the 
results in the United States. We confess 
there is a vagueness in a large portion of the 
paper we are about to quote — a vagueness that 
is discernible in many random writers : and 
we hardly know whether to believe altogether 
that Mr. Teschemacher has experience enough 
to warrant him in setting up teacher ; at any 
rate, no old cookery-book, which described the 
ingredients of a dish to be applied in half- 
pennyworths, or pennyworths, ever left the 
reader more completely in the dark than does 
this said production of Mr. Teschemacher. 
Our readers may judge for themselves. It 
may be useful to learn how to apply the sub- 
stance if the paper can be only depended upon 
thus far ; but as to the quantity to be applied, 
for all this author aids them, they have it to 
guess, or learn from some other source ; yet a 
very high authority in gardening matters says, 
speaking of these very lessons, "all we have 
to do, is to imitate their practice thoughtfully 
and cautiously ;" and then again, after showing, 
much after the same manner as we have, the 
kind of instruction conveyed by this American 
horticulturist, he says, " This sort of practical 
evidence is worth a ship-load of speculation." 
We cannot account for this highly favourable 
opinion from a gentleman supposed to know 
something about gardening, for we confess 
that, supposing the author may be depended 
upon for facts, all we learn is, that he has ap- 
plied Guano to certain things, but not one 
word about how much ! As instances of 
this vague and uncertain, as well as loose 
mode of giving directions, let us instance the 
application to maize. " Each crop has three 
applications of manure ; the first in a small. 
quantity, at the time of sowing the seed, the 
second a larger application, 'Ike. Can anything 
be more indefinite? what is a small quantily ':' 
And suppose we could learn what that mean-. 
what increase is necessary for the larger ap- 
plication ? Let us look at its application to 
lawns. Before laying the grass down we are 
to apply Guano " by strewing the surface ;" 
vines are to be watered with "a solution of 
Guano." For Pears, the author says : " The 
method I adopted was to draw a deep trench 
with a hoe, to strew Guano (not a word about 
quantity) in the trench, mix it up with the 
soil ; over this put one inch and a half of 
earth, then sow the seed and cover up." For 
Strawberries he " drew a trench with a hoe 
between the rows of plants, about two inches 
deep, put in Guano (not a syllable about quan- 
tity), stirred it up, and covered it over." Boses, 
when forced, are to be " watered twice or three 
times a-week with Guano water ;" never mind 
about strength ; and this is the kind of practical 
evidence which is " worth a ship-load of specu- 
lation." The early papers on this subject, 
written by persons who were altogether ignorant, 
of its nature, ruined many valuable plants and 
crops ; and here we have a man writing as if 
the subject were novel, and that, too, in a 
style calculated to carry devastation among all 
those classes who do not consider the strength 
of the material. The very attempt to follow 
the practice is the most dangerous speculation. 
A very small excess kills plants out right ; 
and here we have first to speculate in the 
amount of "a small quantity," then how much 
ought to be used to " strew the surface," or to 
'•' strew in a trench," then how strong " a 
solution" ought to be ; in short, except the 
application to fruit-trees, which we extract, 
there is nothing to depend on, even if the 
author have credit for veracity. 
" Trees. — ' The experiments with guano on 
trees which have come under my observation, 
including exotics, number about one hundred 
and fifty. The action has invariably been to 
produce large foliage, of a deep, healthy green ; 
or with plants, usually covered with a white 
powder, called glaucous, to increase this ap- 
pearance, and to shorten the joints or intervals 
from leaf to leaf. This last action, as respects 
fruit-trees, is of the utmost importance: 
every one being aware that long-drawn, long- 
jointed shoots are the least valuable or pro- 
ductive, and that the fruit-bearing spurs on 
trees are but branches with shortened joints. 
Hence the production of short-jointed, stocky 
branches, is the production of so much fruitful 
wood ; and if, by proper pruning, the sun and 
rir are admitted so as to ripen the wood, a 
plentiful crop must be the result. The best 
mode of application to fruit trees seems to be, 
first, to eon-icier when' are the young feeding 
roots, — that is, at what distance from the 
stem, and what depth in the ground, — then 
in place the Guano as near them, and aa much 
