151 
pottthebn cultivator. 
MEXiCAN GTJANJ. 
Wk are requested to write an article descriptive of thf 
properties and value of Mexican guano, as compared with 
kruvian guano, winch is so.d at much higher price. 1 he 
latter is better known to the public, having been longei 
used in this country and in F.ngland, and found to yieh. 
large and jprofitable returns in favorable years. As an 
ardcF ofdoinraerce, Mexican guano is only beginning to 
establish a reput, ition ; and purchasers have to rely mam 
ly on its analysis by reputable chemists to wan-ant tnem 
inu.dngitto any extent as a fertilizer. Judging of its 
value from its alleged composition, it is worth nearly, per 
haps quite, as much per ton as ground bones, t le phos- 
phate of lime constituting more than halt its weight. It 
four or five times richer in phosphoric acid than Peruvian 
guano; while it contains not more than one fourth or fitti' 
as much ammonia. It is the absence, or comparative ao 
sence,ofthis volatile alkali, (which is worth Irom ten 0 
twelve dollars per 100 lbs. for agricultural puiqmses,) tha. 
makes Mexican so much cheaper than Peruvian guano 
The l.itier is formed in a reg on where rains are almost un 
known: so that the excrements of birds, seals and rep 
tiles, which have accumulated in vast qu mtities m tv 
present and past ages, on a few islands lying near the 
coast of Pei u, have never been washed or leached , to the 
seiious injury of the manure. That which exists on 
islands in the Gulf of Mexico, or on the main land near U 
has not been exempt from this deteriorating process ; so 
that much of the soluiile elements of fertility, (salts of 
ammonia, potash, soda and magnesia) have been washed 
away. Bones, which will lie for years exposed to the 
weather on our fit'lJs without dissolving, are the giand 
staple of Mexican guano; and it ought to be bought in 
Charleston and Savannah at > bout ^2.5 a ton to be prohi 
able to the planter or farmer. Although its durability i 
an advantage in one view of the question, yet in anothe 
view, it is a disadvantage, for it proves the manure to be 
very sparingly soluble in t!ie soil and equally unavailable 
as food for and needy crops. Salts of ammom? 
last only for one m- two crops ; but they tell powerful ot 
suen as really imbibe the fert lizer. If a concentrated 
manure lasts five or ten years in the soil, no one crop can 
obtain more than a mei e taste of it. 
Both the art and science of feeding agricultural plants 
are little ;■ tiidied, and less understood. If we were able to 
purchase Pt-ruvian and Mexican guano at fair prices, we 
should prefer to mix them in equal parts fora common 
manure, to applying eilhei* separate; and ?impiv Oecaio 
the first named is defective in phosphates, and the last 
named in ammonia. For turnips and grass, the Mexican 
would doubtless give a better return on the investmeni 
than the Peruvian guano; but we doulit whether on corn, 
wheat and cotton any itaiiv would be realized by giving 
a preference to bone-earth over ammonia. The true inerii> 
of both kinds of commercial manure can only be decided 
at the South, and for the South, liy careful experimeni.- 
made by competent persons, for the express purpose of 
learning the value and powers of Mexican guano and Pe- 
ruvian guano Sooner or laier, all sensible cultivators wili 
see the importance of having experimental farms to de- 
termine tbe practical value of every constituent used by 
man and nature to build up those living structures which 
form, in some way, both the food and clothing of all civil- 
ized nations. Knowledge is what we all lack ; and alas, 
how little are we all doing to increase our present stock 
into rural economy 1 
As a commercial fertilizer that has been' washed bv 
rains is worth only half as much per iOO lbs. as one llv<i 
has escaped such washing, does not this fact strikingly 
illustrate llie folly of allowing our stable and yard manure 
to be exposed to the leaching influence of many rains be- 
fore it is applied to the soil 1 On a fair average such 
manure is worih something less than half price. 1 he 
same principle that makes a piece of meat rot sooner than 
a piece of wood, induces the nitrogenous parts of the 
droppings ofal! animals first to escape, unless such drop- 
pings are placed under peculiarly favorable circumstances. 
Itis'^mainly this liability to loss that renders ammonia 
worth seven times more per pound than phosphate of 
lime, or bone- earth. 
GKASS CULTUSE AT THE SOUTH- 
Judging from the letters which we have received on the 
subject, and the earnestness with which it is discussed 
in-agricultural prints. Grass Culture commands no incon- 
siderable attention even in the best planting districts of 
the South. This is on encouraging indication, for it 
ihows that sensible men begin to appreciate the import- 
ance of diversifying the agricultural industry ot the plant- 
ing States. They see the value of good stock, and the 
necessity of an abundance of grass or other forage for 
their improvement, and highest profit. An esteemed cor- 
respondent writing from Pickinsviiie, Ala , says : “Iain 
just from Tennessee, and have brought tome Blue grass 
Herds and Orchard grass seed, but have no experience in 
raising grass, and de.sire advice from some one familiar 
with the busine.ss, as to soil, and whether the grasses 
named wiii do well this far South 1” 
If the soil in Pickins county is naturally fertile and not 
deficient in lime. Blue and Herds grass may flouri.di there, 
Having failed in our experiment with Orchard grass, and 
never having seen it succeed in the hands of others at the- 
South, the balance of evidence known to the writei 
against it. Wiih better treatment in other districts it 
lave given satislactory results. We have seen capital 
made of Southern grown Herd’s grass ; and on rich l|||^ 
toms and intervales in Upper Georgia, 'nothing appears 
easier than to grow large crops of it for hay or grazing. 
Blue grass is also grown, but mainly for pasturage. Like 
.all English, and most indigenous plants of this numerous 
family (one distinguished European botanist lias enumer- 
ated nearly forty thousand species) Blue grass requires a 
rich calcareous soil to develop its highest capabilities. So 
far as we are able to judge of the land in the vicinity of 
Athens, Gd., it is too poor for the cheap production of 
the best forage plants. It will jirobably give a better re- 
turn in Bermuda grass for the keeping of stock, il'not tor 
making hay to be pressed into bales, and sold in compe- 
dtion \kth Northern bay in all Southern markets. To 
drive imported hay out of the Soutli by the production of 
a cheaper and better article at home, is an ol jecl not un- 
worthy of Southern agriculture. A liiile well directed 
enterprise will stion attain this end, and raise a suiplus 
for export to the Wb,'St India Lslands. I he f-umeis of 
Ohio send lar>^e quantities of hay to New Orleans, Texas, 
Cuba and other distant parts. If the writer could obtain 
lime at a moderate price, he would have a nfidence in an 
attempt to transform an old field of poor upland into a 
valuable and profitable meadow ; but without lime, and 
with guano at SbO a ton, nothing but a fair setting with 
Bermuda grass appears worthy of trial. To sirengihen 
the -natural resources of poor land, especially the red clay 
of Central Georgia, we know nothing better for the cost 
than deep fill plowing, that frost and atmospheric influ- 
ences may develop tlie latent powers of the subsoil. A 
crop of peas and a dose of Mexican guano still farther to 
improve the land, will prepare it for any grass seed that 
one may prefer. The soil should be as thoroughly pre- 
pared for the seed as it ever is for wheat, or cotton. Cul- 
tivated in this way. grass will yield crops worth having, 
lut not otherwise, on poor land. Mexican guano can be 
iinnght for about half the cos^ of Peruvian, and usually 
contains more than twice as much of phosphates, although 
much less ammonia. We prefer the Mexican lor glass, 
