SOUTHERN CULTIVATOR. 
263 
niy friends thought I was placed by the communication 
of my friend from Oglethorpe. L, 
Babyioake, July 13, 1859. 
GUANO — REPLY TO J. 31. MERIWETHER. 
Editors Southern Cultivator — In the June number 
of the Cultivator, Mr. J. M. Meriwether writes an article 
on the subject of Guano as an exhauster of the land, in 
which he takes the negative side of that question, particu- 
larly in reference to potash, soda and magnesia. He 
seems to found this opinion in reference to potash par- 
ticularly, on the assumption that the most perfect barren 
sand, at the depth of six inches, contains thirty tons of 
potash per acre. This may be true of some soils, and pos- 
sibly is of the coast of Peru, where guano has produced 
such good results for so long a period ; but there are many 
soils in this and other countries, where, in 1000 parts 
only a trace of potash is found. In soils of this character, 
guano cannot supply all the demands of the soil for cer- 
tain crops, as wheat, for instance, because more potash is 
required for this crop than guano supplies to the soil. 
Prof. Johnston, the great agricultural chemist, of England, 
says that “the only ingredient in which guano is mani- 
festly defective is potash, of which it usually contains less 
than one per cent.” Other chemists, however, have found 
in may samples a deficiency in phosphoric acid, that in- 
gredient so essential to cotton as well as wheat. In 
either case the deficiency is fatal to the manure as an 
ameliorator of the soil, particularly in the rural districts 
of the South. 
In England, where the bones of all animals except 
man are.saved and ground in mills for agricultural pur- 
poses, the phosphoric acid can be easily supplied and 
their soils abound in potash, from the geological forma- 
tions of the country, as well as the fact that every particle 
of potash from wood a'l'hes and other sources, are saved 
and applied to their soils. Here many of our soils are 
very deficient in this salt, particularly those sandy lands 
in which the guano has been mostly applied. The plan- 
ter's who have used it for years in this section are begin- 
ning already to see the need of something above and be- 
yond the simple ammoniacal guanos of Peru. Hence, 
Mr. David Dickson recommends, in his letter to the 
South Countryraan, a combination of the phosphoric 
with the other guano, and an addition of gypsum mixed 
with potash to supply the deficiencies of the Peruvian 
guano. AVe have no objection to this mixture only its 
cost, which will run up to some seven or eight dollars 
per acre, used as Mr. Dickson recommends. He had bet- 
ter apply it, however, and make smaller profits than use 
commercial guano alone. 
Notwithstanding the assertion of your Arskansas cor- 
respondent, we find, from actual analysis, as well as 
practical experiments, that the great deficiency of our 
worn out soils in Middle Georgia is lime, potash and am- 
monia. Two of them is supplied by guano, the other is 
not. VVe do not pretend that this potash has been ex- 
hausted from the soil simply by the removal of crops, for 
much more has gone down into the depths beneath, by 
the leaching rains of this climate, particularly in sandy 
alluvial soils. But it is not there ; and the only means 
we have to reach it is by turning out these old fields to a 
rest of thirty or forty years, that the old field pine may 
send down its tap roots and bring up the potash in its 
leaves and drop them on the surface. Even after this 
friendly intervention of nature the potash oply lasts a few 
years when cultivated again before it is gone, either in 
crops or to the subsoil. But on all these lands a good 
supply of po ash in the shape of wood ashes, makes a 
manifest improvement for years. 
But even in soils where there may be thirty tons of pot- 
ash per acre, on a chemical analysis it may be barren, 
from the fact that it is insoluble, and, consequently, unfit 
for the food of plants. Any amount ot pulverised or dis- 
integrated felspar, which contains much potash, may be 
put on the soil deficient in potash, and not produce a par- 
ticle of effect, because it is insoluble; while the same 
amount in wood ashes would be very mainfest. It takes 
years for these inorganic compounds to be fit for the food 
of the higher forms of plants. They must first pass 
through the lichens, ferns and other lower order of plants 
before they can be appropriated by the higher. There is 
another principle in chemical physiology of which your 
correspondent seems forgetful, that so important a salt 
as potash, in order to perfect a soil, must not only be 
present, but ubiquitous in that soil ; so that every grain 
must contain a portion, however minute, in order that 
each little mouth of the feeders may have a portion to take 
up If not, an imperfect grain will be the result. Hence, 
a soil which, upon analysis, will be found to have potash 
in it, may be greatly improved by adding more, because 
it is not so abundant as to supply the wants of the grow- 
ing plants. And a manure, like guano, which makes a 
great draught upon the soil, and takes up more potash than 
it puts down, will, together with the leaching rains of 
this climate, gradually exhaust the soil of potash, without 
which no perfect grain can be produced in any soil. 
According to an analysis of Dr. Jackson, for every 1000 
lbs. of cotton fibre received from a soil, 2.79 lbs., of pot- 
ash are extracted. For every 1000 lbs, of the seed, over 
13 lbs. of potash are taken. The leaves and stalks yield 
about 16 lbs. to the 1000. Our guano farmers boast of 
making from 1500 to 2000 lbs. of cotton per acre in the 
seed. At the rate of 2000 lbs. there would be removed in 
lint about 11-2 lbs, of potash, and in cotton seed about 
19 1-2 lbs., being 2 1 lbs. per acre — to' say nothing of the 
leaves and stalks eaten and carried off by cattle. Allow- 
ing that a portion of the seed is returned for manure — 
still saying nothing of that lost by leaching — we find a 
constant drain going on of this essential salt, which will, 
we fear, under the cotton culture, do for our lands what it 
has already done for some of the Middle States. Many 
planters in Maryland and ATrginia have ceased to buy it, 
because it has ceased to pay them in wheat as it former- 
ly did. If, however, the stalks, leaves and seed of cotton 
are returned to the soil, the abstraction of potash will be 
very little more than contained in the £uano, and might 
be rendered back, as suggested by Mr. Dickson, without 
adding a great deal to the cost. 
Mr. Meriwether makes Sl for-fetched argument from the 
‘sterile sands along the coast of Peru, which, he says, has 
produced fine crops ofcorn for ages. Admitted, but they 
have to apply much larger quantities than we do, say 
from 3 to 4 cwt. per acre. It has been found that 1 cwt. 
will not produce remunerating crops; besides Indian 
corn does not make such a draught upon the soil as either 
cotton or wheat. But another fuct in reference to the 
climate of Peru, and other countries where it never rains, 
the salts of the soil are never lost by leaching, but on the 
contrary, especially in deep sandy soils, such as referred 
to, the drying effect of the climate, causing an evapor- 
ation of the water from many feet below the surface, 
which brings up the salts in such quantities at times, as 
to whiten the surface of the ground. One fact in our cli- 
I mate is worth a thousand at so great a distance. We 
I will give one as an offset to this. In the fall of 1857 we 
! applied 185 lbs. of guano to an acre of poor soil, about 
i one-eighth of which was very much impoverished. The 
■ crop of wheat averaged well on the other portions, but 
j on this, there was almost a perfect failure. The present 
! year we put it in Indian corn and applied a mixture of 
guano and bone dust, but it is still barren^or nearly so; 
showing, in our humble opinion, a lack of potash or other 
salts, which the guano does not supply in sufficient quan- 
tities to make perfect grain. 
