241 
213 3Ianures. Guano. So much has of late been said, and 
written, about this celebrated manure, that enquiries become 
more and more frequent, regarding its intrinsic qualities, and 
the methods of best and most profitably employing it. Some 
use it in a liquid state; some, mixed with earthy ingredients; 
and others apply the pure Guano alone. Some too, work it 
into the soil, either generally or partially; others apply it to 
the surface. Regarding quantity, the practice has been equally 
variable ; Guano having been used from one cwt. on an acre, 
even to ten. These discrepances puzzle plain practical men, 
and induce them to neglect that which is worthy of attention. 
Such circumstances are, at present, inseparable from the 
subject ; not alone because this is a newly-introduced article, 
but because we are all young in the knowledge of manures in 
general. 
The compounding of various manures together is a subject 
of much importance ; one that has scarcely been thought of, 
excepting a few of the rudest processes, which have been 
adopted without the guidance of a single idea as to the effect 
likely to be produced. It is well known that the drugs of 
our pharmacopaia greatly assist, or ameliorate, each other in 
their effects on the human body. So, also, is it of the food 
which we ourselves eat ; and so it probably is with the food of 
living vegetables; but, at present, in the science of the nutrition 
of vegetables, men, generally speaking, are merely empirics, — 
knowing almost nothing of the “mode of operation” of the food 
of plants; even whether from the atmosphere or the earth, the 
vegetable collects the greater portion of the elements of its 
solids. It is, however, a gratifying fact, that rays of light are 
darting through the crevices of ignorance, and it cannot be 
doubted but that ere long, although we may not be walking in 
broad sun-shine, we shall be emancipated from the darkness 
which has so long invested this department of natural science. 
Liebeg has risen as a star of the first magnitude; and 
promises, by his light, to guide _^us on our way to regions 
of comparative brightness. 
Although our intention, in this place, is chiefly to bring 
together the leading practical facts which have been elicited by 
the use of a newly-introduced substance, as a manure ; still we 
cannot pass ov.er the imaginings which naturally arise on 
331. AOCTARIDM. 
