FERTILIZERS. 
267 
probably a very wet season will diminish the profit of its application. It is, therefore, some¬ 
what uncertain in its effects, being dependant upon the season, and the first season is lost; 
much, if not all the ammoniated salts will escape by volatilization, or solution and drainage. 
It is considered that the effects of guano scarcely extend to the third year. In consequence of 
its solubility and volatility, its application in divided doses will be the most economical: far 
south, particularly, an application in the autumn, to winter grain, at the rate of about one hun¬ 
dred pounds per acre; the spring will be a proper time to top dress the crop with another 
hundred weight of the guano. This mode of application, though attended with more labor, 
will save the substance and promote the best results which can be obtained by its use. 
It is impossible to know what course American farmers should pursue in regard to the pur¬ 
chase of guano ; there are contingencies which must be taken into the account, which can not 
be controlled. When the choice is presented between the phosphate of lime and this substance 
there is little occasion to hesitate ; the preference may be given to the former because the con¬ 
tingencies are far less, and inasmuch as this will remain in the soil a longer period, and the 
ultimate results will equal at least those of guano. 
11. Of Fish as Fertilizers. 
On the seaboard, poor kinds of fish are caught for the express purpose of employing them 
directly for manure. The peculiarity of fish consists in the rapidity of their decomposition ; 
this rapid change is due to the nitrogen of their bodies, and the watery condition of their flesh. 
To make the most of them, it is necessary to cover them in compost heaps, with absorbent po¬ 
rous matters, which shall become imbued and at the same time fixed in the particles employed 
to prevent the escape of the volatile matters; farmers, however, have been unwilling to be 
at much trouble and expense, and hence they are usually covered with the earth upon which 
their remains are scattered. At present this kind of manure is confined to the seaboard and 
the vicinity of the great inland bays. The conversion of fish into a species of poudrette would 
render them portable, the interior of the country would, in that case, be benefited by the traffic. 
There can be no doubt but that a profitable business might spring up by the preparation of fish 
to be employed as manures. Plaster and lime might be employed to arrest the peculiar pu¬ 
trefaction of masses of fish. We can not suppose that lime applied to a fish, prior to incipient 
putrefaction, would cause the escape of ammonia ; if so the plaster or gypsum would arrest it 
by absorption- The subject, however, requires experimental investigation : a cheap method 
is the only one which can succeed. The application of fish over extensive fields, as usually 
performed, taints the air to a great distance ; it is not, however, a miasma which occasions 
sickness. A compost is made in Rhode-Island, which is called the fish pie. Fish are thrown 
into a shallow pit, or a heap, and then covered with rock weed and loam or sand—peat would 
be better : fermentation soon begins, or rather putrefaction ; the mass is stirred over and duly 
mixed, and, if necessary, more porous earth added. This preparation is superior to the un¬ 
cooked fish ; indeed there is no difference of opinion in regard to its value, while many dis¬ 
crepant accounts are given of the efficacy of fish, covered and mixed directly with the soil upon 
