MANURE OF PIGEONS. 
333 
an influence on the fibre of wool. No exception 
occurs to us of animals in equatorial regions, pos¬ 
sessing a large, close, and fine covering ; and none 
in the arctic, of such as have thin, hairy coats. 
Nature seems to have made no exceptions to this 
most rational and merciful arrangement. Should 
we not therefore look, with every probability, to 
our fine-woolled sheep sustaining the character of 
their fleece at the north, and to a deterioration of 
the same class at the south, in future generations ? 
We know that the reverse of this is claimed by 
some observing and intelligent breeders of much 
experience, but we apprehend without sufficient 
data. We can easily conceive of sheep removed 
southward, improving the softness of their fleece 
from the increased perspiration and yolk thrown 
into it, from the higher temperature to which they 
are subjected. But this is a forced and unnatural 
effect, which nature, by her slow yet certain 
operations, we think, will effectually exert herself 
in removing from successive generations. By taking 
advantage of the period of conception, and having 
this take place when the parents are under the 
influence of the severest cold of the climate, which 
should be continued with the dam during gesta¬ 
tion, if possible, may we not expect that the foetus 
will have impressed upon it, which it will maintain 
through its maturity, a constitution and covering 
best suited tothe condition of its incipient existence ? 
Reason, we think, must teach us to look for such 
a result; and by this means, the prejudicial effects 
of climate may be arrested, or partially postponed ; 
though in the end, the forementioned result seems 
inevitable. What but the scorching sun of Africa 
has given its present constitution to the negro; 
and the mildness of the temperate zones the char¬ 
acter and constitution of the Circassian and Euro¬ 
pean races ? It is readily admitted, that the moun¬ 
tainous region of the south is not liable to this ob¬ 
jection, as their increasing altitude diminishes the 
temperature, and is a full equivalent to a removal 
north. Nor do I see any reasonable objection to 
the rearing of the fine-woolled sheep on the low 
lands of the south, as any anticipated deterioration 
of staple, may be, in a great degree, obviated by 
the use of bucks reared in the north. 
When the great advantage is considered, of 
the ease and economy of renovating soils and sus¬ 
taining them in a high degree of fertility, by the 
keeping of sheep, I need not urge the system upon 
the intelligent agriculturist. Indeed, where lands 
have been cropped interminably, with wheat, rye, 
and corn, at the north, and wheat, corn, tobacco, 
and cotton, at the south, I know of no other self- 
sustaining system of renovation, that can be 
adopted. Lime and plaster, where economically 
obtained, may do it partially, but other manures 
will be necessary to carry out the work of regen¬ 
eration. Where shall they be procured at a cost 
that will enable their owners to sustain a success¬ 
ful competition with the occupants of newer and 
more fertile lands, somewhat more remote ? We 
can conceive of nothing more suited to the object 
than sheep. They clean the land of almost every 
noxious weed, drop most of their manure on the 
highest lands, where most needed, and require 
little attention, for all of which they pay double; 
first, in the produce of a lamb, and second, in their 
fleece. They are also certain to build up, in an 
intelligent, industrious community, a manufac¬ 
turing policy, which gives a profitable and pleas¬ 
ant employment to a supernumerary population; 
affords an enlarged market for miscellaneous agri¬ 
cultural productions, and, in addition to all their 
collateral advantages, furnishes to the country, 
their fabrics at a cost, lessened by all the expenses 
of a double transportation. Surely, it is needless 
to urge the adoption of a system, fraught with so 
many advantages, upon the intelligent planters of 
the south and west, a people who have, in less than 
half a century, extended the annual production of 
cotton, from 2,000,000 to 600,000,000 lbs. The en¬ 
ergy displayed in augmenting a single crop, three 
hundred-fold, in so brief a time, is adequate to 
the successful adoption of any policy, commended 
to them by so many intrinsic advantages. 
R. L. Allen. 
Buffalo , Sept. 20, 1844. 
MANURE OF PIGEONS. 
While the ships of England and America are 
coursing the oceans in pursuit of guano, I would 
call the attention of our agriculturists, to a manure 
•of similar origin, and possessing the same proper¬ 
ties, that abounds in many places in their own for¬ 
ests ; which may be had for the labor of collecting. 
I allude to the droppings of the wild pigeon. It 
is well known that these birds live together in 
flocks of myriads according to Audubon, that their 
sojourn at a place is not limited by the season but 
by the supply of food. This great naturalist re¬ 
marks that he has seen the earth covered by their 
evacuations, like snow to the depth of several 
inches. The use of this manure is of very an¬ 
cient origin. During the great famine that pre¬ 
vailed in Samaria, in the time of Elisha, (2 Kings 
vi. 25,) the fourth of a cab of dove’s dung sold for 
five pieces of silver. It is highly prized in Persia 
at this day. Many pigeon-houses are constructed 
for the sole purpose of collecting the droppings of 
the birds. It is there used for manuring melons ; 
the finest in the world are raised in that country. 
In Belgium it is applied as a top-dressing to flax. 
They pay for it at the rate of five cents for the 
evacuation of each bird for the year. 
The great value of the discharges of birds as 
a manure, arises from their urine being deposited 
with their faeces. In animals the salts of urine are 
separated by the kidneys in solution in water, the 
secretion passes down and collects in the bladder. 
In birds, on the contrary, the salts of urine are 
separated by the kidneys in a solid form with water 
barely sufficient to convey them through the tube 
to the common outlet. Birds have no urinary blad¬ 
der. The white portion of their evacuation comes 
from the kidney and is essentially the same salts 
that may be obtained from human urine by evap¬ 
oration. The colored part comes from the intes¬ 
tines, and is disposed to undergo fermentation. 
During this change some of the salts are decom¬ 
posed, and a portion is washed into the soil. The 
remainder which will not admit of these changes, 
is the most valuable to the agriculturist. 
