SOUTHERN CULTIVATOR. 
75 
THE GUANO QUESTION. 
Editors Socthern Cultivator — We are pleased to 
see that Dr. Lee, in the January number of the Cultivator, 
has sustained all that we have ever contended for on the 
subject of guano. We are only sorry that our article 
which he quotes, from the Central Georgian, should have 
been so badly printed as to make us say what we did not 
intend. One of these typographical errors, in justice to 
myself, I deem it important to correct : “The purchase of 
guano ten years hence,” (not tivo as quoted,) we said 
“will be much smaller than now.” This 1 wrote editori- 
ally in the Georgian twelve months ago, and reiterated it 
as correspondent in the article referred to by Dr Lee. 
Nine more years will test the validity or fallacy of my 
prognostication. 
We wish also to correct a mistake in point of fact 
which it seems we made. When we wrote the general 
impression everywhere among planter was, that the rust 
had ruined the cotton, and the guano would not pay. 
This, at one time, was the opinion of Mr. Daniel Dickson, 
Col. Turner, and Hon. T. J. Smith, who buy guano ex- 
tensively. The fall, however, proved so favorable in 
every particular, that since gathering the crop they have 
changed their minds and so have we. But it is strange 
that in all the applications of guano, so few reliable ex- 
periments are made as to its real value as a fertiliser. 
Our opinion is, that rich men who have abundance of 
lands to rest, may, by a judicious policy, make it pay 
longer than ten years and may continue to purchase it, 
but when we take a broad national view of the subject ; 
when we look to husbandry, our population and renovat- 
ing our lands, we consider the guano question as a great 
curse to the country. The truly philosophical axiom of 
le^s land o.nd more labor is scouted as “tom foolery.” The 
making and husbanding stock manures, the hauling in 
of muck and vegetable matters, to give basis to and re- 
cuperate worn out soils, is denounced by these guano 
farmers, as a one-horse system, and everything is on the 
stretch to make cotton out of the land as fast as possible 
by the stimulation of the Peruvian dust, v/hich is equal, in 
the estimation of many, to that which comes by harder 
digging from California. 
Let these guano farmers remember what Dr. Lee says 
in his article, and what we have, in effect, so frequently 
announced before, that “When, from the long use of 
Superphosphate of Lime or Guano, one has exhausted the 
potash and magnesia in his old fields, their sterility is far 
more hopeless and forbidding than it would have been 
had a wise system of tillage and husbandry been earlier 
adopted.” 
We do not wish to be misunderstood, as we have been 
misquoted more than once. We do not say there is no 
ready money in the purchase and application of guano. 
Practical men attest it after several years experience. All 
we have ever contended for is what Dr. Lee expresses in 
his article — that it will, after a series of years, exhaust the 
land of its most invaluable salts. If this be true, we say 
it is bad policy to use it so extensively. It will hasten 
the decrepitude of the South, delude our farmers into a 
neglect ofhome manure, permanently and almost hopeless- 
ly injure our soils, depreciate our population and trans- 
fer to Peru and the North nearly all thr profits of the 
slave labor of the South. If this is not making money 
over the left, we know not what is. 
E. M. Pendleton. 
Sparta, Ga.,Jan, 1859 
A small piece of paper or linen, moistened with 
turpentine, and put into the wardrobe or drawers, for a 
single day, or three times a year, is a sufficient’preserva- 
tion against moths. 
GUANO, 4fec. — CENTRAL RAILROAD. 
Savannah, Dec. 13th, 1858. 
Transportation of Guano and other Manures, and of Lime 
and Salt, for Agricultural purposes. 
Hereafter Guano and other Manures, and Lime and Salt, 
for agricultural purposes, will be transported to all points 
on the Central Road and Road to Eatonton, at two dol- 
lars per ton of 2000 lbs ; provided, at least 16,000 pounds 
(a car load) is offered at one time, for one consignee, to 
one station. Parties, to avail themseves of the advantage 
of this regulation, must give notice when they begin to 
send a lot of Manures, &c., of the quantity to be sent, 
and must satisfy the Superintendent that the Manures are 
not for sale, but strictly for planters’ use, as this regulation 
is intended for the benefit of that class only. 
G, W. Adams, 
General Superintendent. 
We invite special attention to the above notice, emanat- 
ing from that prince of good fellows, and model Railroad 
Superintendent, George W. Adams. We hope other 
Railroads “will go and do likewise.” The soil of Geor- 
gia, in many localities, impoverished by unskillful culture 
needs resuscitation. If our Railroads would put the rates 
offreight for manures at the lowest point which would 
pay expenses they would be doing a service to the plant- 
ing interests of the State, which would be some compen- 
sation for the exclusive privileges which they enjoy. — 
Atlanta Intelligencer. 
WHY USE CUT FEED ? 
An intelligent farmer asks for the philosophy of cut- 
ting hay. He can understand that it is useful to cut corn 
stalks and coarse fodder, because the cattle will eat them 
better. But when the cattle will eat good English hay 
perfectly clean, why should it be passed through the hay 
cutter? 
Our friend evidently supposes that the stomach does its 
work upon everything that passes into it, with eqnal fa- 
cility, and without any tax upon the rest of the system. 
This is manifestly an error All food has to be ground up 
before it can be assimilated and pass into the circulation 
of the animal. If food is not artificially prepared by cut- 
ting, grinding, or steaming, the animal has to prepare 
it himself so far as he is able. Certain kinds of food will 
pass through the system, imparting to it only a part of 
their nutriment, because the teeth of the animal have not 
perfectly masticated it. Whole kernels of corn or of oats 
are often seen in the fseces of an old horse 
The more perfectly food can be prepared, the more com- 
pletely will be the system appropriate its nutriment. If 
the whole labor of grinding up the food is thrown upon 
the animal, it is a serious tax upon the vital energy, 
which every good farmer wants for other purposes. In 
the case of the horse and ox, you want the strength ap- 
plied to locomotion and draught. 
Whatever strength is applied to grinding food, is so 
much taken away from their capacity for labor. If three 
or four hours of stiong muscular labor are spent in work- 
ing up hay and straw into a pulp, there is a great loss of 
strength and of time. 
In the case of fattening animals, you want the aliment 
to go to the formation of fat and flesh. This process goes 
on successfully, just as the animal is kept quiet and com- 
fortable. No useless labor should be expended in the 
grinding up of food. The straw-cutter, working up the 
hay into fragments of half an inch in length, or less, per- 
forms a good part of the working of the jaws, and makes 
the feeding of the animal a light matter. If the hay 
could be ground up into a fine meal, it would be still bet- 
ter; as it would make the work of the animal stil lighter, 
and would more completely yield up its nutriment. If it 
