AMERICAN AGRICULTURIST. 
57 
ment of my experiment with guano on buck¬ 
wheat. I had a piece of land, as near an 
acre as I could make it by pacing ; not very 
good land, as you know, on which I raised 
buckwheat last year. Judging that I could 
not get a second crop without manure, I 
bought a bag of Peruvian guano, weighing 
123 pounds, and harrowed it in after plow¬ 
ing. I left aj strip, about one rod wide, 
through the middle of the piece, without 
guano. This was hardly worth cutting; 
while the res.t was handsome buckwheat. 
The crop was 15 bushels, which, at the price 
I sold for, was worth $12 50. The guano 
cost $3 50, leaving about $9 for the labor. 
The quantity of seed sown I can not say, 
probably between two and three pecks. I 
believe,"if it will always do as well on poor 
land as it has this year, it will be profitable 
to use it; for I think I should not have got 
much more than the seed sown, without ma¬ 
nure, judging from the strip I left. 
John Avery. 
In this opinion, we entirely concur. The 
buckwheat straw was at least an equivalent 
for the seed, and the nine dollars is the own¬ 
er’s profit on the bag of guano. Without it 
he would have lost his labor, as he has a 
great deal before on those old plains. Al¬ 
lowing a handsome compensation for labor, 
there is at least a profit of one hundred per 
cent on the guano. Last summer was an 
unusually dry one, and it requires abund¬ 
ant rain to Aofull justice to guano. A worse 
season for a fair test of guano, or for the 
, buckwheat crop rarely occurs. There can 
be little doubt that, on all exhausted soils, 
guano is a profitable manure. It is safe for 
farmers to invest their capital in it. On 
soils in good condition, the results are not 
so manifest, and so large profits will not be 
realized. But almost anywhere in the soil, 
it will pay better than money at six per cent 
interest. 
LITHOGRAPH OF GRAND DUKE AND DUCHESS 64. 
Mr. Samuel Thorne has presented us with 
beautiful colored lithographs of the above 
famous animals. They were sketched from 
life and drawn on stone by Mr. Francis M. 
Rotch, who, to great knowledge of breeding, 
unites the happy talent of sketching and 
drawing animals. These are not fancy 
pictures, but accurate portraits, and are 
therefore particularly worthy of the atten¬ 
tion of breeders. They are hung up in our 
office, and we shall be happy to show them 
to all who may favor us with a call. 
BOOK NOTICES. 
BOTANY OF THE SOUTHERN STATES, ill two 
parts. Part I—Structural and Physiological Botany 
and Vegetable Products. Part II—Description of 
Southern Plants, arranged on the Natural System, 
preceded by a Linnaen and a Dichotomous Analysis. 
By Prof. John Darby, A. M. A. S. Barnes & Co., 
New-York. 
This is a very valuable volume of 600 
pages, and supplies a desideratum long felt. 
Prof. Darby deserves the thanks of all lovers 
of this beautiful science, for the untiring 
zeal and great amount of labor he has de¬ 
voted to accomplish the work he has so long 
been occupied with. Most of the popular 
works upon botany in this country have 
given the greater portion of their pages to a 
description of northern plants. This occu¬ 
pies much ground usually left untouched. 
Every one in the southern States at all in¬ 
terested in the subject, as well as those at 
the north who wish anything like a complete 
library on botany, will eagerly embrace the 
first opportunity to get a copy of this book. 
THE FLOWER G ARDEN ; Or, Brock’s Book of Flow¬ 
ers, in which are described all the various hardy 
herbaceous perennials, annuals, shrubby plants, and 
evergreen trees, desirable for ornamental purposes, 
with directions for their cultivation. By Joseph 
Breck. Boston: John P. Jewett & Co. 
AMERICAN FRUIT BOOK—Containing directions for 
raising, propagating and managing fruit trees, shrubs 
and plants, with a description of the best varieties of 
fruit, including, new and valuable kinds. Embel¬ 
lished and illustrated with numerous engravings of 
fruits, trees, insects, grafting, budding, training, &c. 
By S. W. Cole. Boston : Jno. P. Jewett & Co. 
We have received a copy of both of the 
above books from the enterprizing publish¬ 
ers. As they have been some time before 
the public, they do not need further notice 
at this time. 
The Knikerbocker, for April, is at hand, 
and fully sustains its character. The “ Ed¬ 
itor’s Table ” exhibits a rare collection of 
nice hits, which always leave the reader in 
excellent humor. Samuel Hueston : New- 
York. 
For the American Agriculturist. 
FARMERS SHOULD 3E INDUSTRIOUS READERS. 
The importance of study to the agricul¬ 
tural portion of community, is not sufficient¬ 
ly appreciated. Many suppose that knowl¬ 
edge lacks practicability to the farmer. It 
has been supposed that success in agricul¬ 
ture—that productive fields and abundant 
harvests, were dependent wholly upon phys¬ 
ical labor and propitious seasons, and owed 
nothing to intelligence. Fortunately this 
idea is losing somewhat its force ; and well 
it may, for those who cultivate their fields 
with the most intelligence—in reference to 
thorough manuring, preparation of the soil, 
and judicious rotation of crops—are reaping 
the most profitable harvests. 
Agriculture, underlying as it does every 
other vocation and profession, should cer¬ 
tainly be coupled with the highest, degree of 
intelligence. However important other pro¬ 
fessions may be, or however indispensable 
the variety of arts, the products of the agri¬ 
culturist nourishes and supports them all. 
The merchant, the mechanic, the profes¬ 
sional or the literary man, would make but a 
sorry figure in the world without the sus¬ 
taining influence of the products of the farm. 
If knowledge be important to others—if in¬ 
dustrious reading and a thorough posting in 
matters pertaining to business be necessary 
in other avocations, it is even more so in 
that most important and fundamental of all 
employments, agriculture. If by increase of 
intelligence and skill two blades of grass can 
be made to grow yvhere but one grew before, 
millions of additional wealth would be the 
result, and the suffering poor would find it 
easier to procure an abundance to satisfy 
their natural wants from the surplus pro¬ 
ducts. 
It has long been supposed that, cultivation 
of intellect and refinement of taste were ac¬ 
complishments designed for other classes, 
and entirely superfluous to the farmer. All 
the departments of agricultural labor have 
long been, and si ill are to a great extent, 
routinely performed, without the exercise of 
very much thought or judgment. But, hap 
pily, in this age of improvement, farmers 
are, to some extent, arousing from their 
lethargy, and becoming imbued with the 
spirit of progress ; the majority, however, 
are probably treading in the beaten paths of 
their ancestors. Book knowledge is thought 
to'be unprofitable, and reading is but spar¬ 
ingly indulged in. The bearing which sci¬ 
ence has upon agriculture is not appreciated. 
The great storehouse of book and periodical 
literature, as it pertains to farm interests, is 
left unexplored, and the pleasures of a culti¬ 
vated intellent and a refined taste, are unen¬ 
joyed and unappreciated. 
Physicians, lawyers, and clergymen, have 
usually respectable libraries, and are in the 
regular receipt of journals and reviews ; and 
unless informed by thorough study in mat¬ 
ters pertaining to their professions, they are 
universally considered unprepared for their 
responsible duties. If the ministrations of 
ignorant physicians are deleterious to health 
and destructive of life, the labors of ignorant 
agriculturists are alike inimical to the high¬ 
est degree of animal and vegetable vigor and 
productiveness. 
It may be objected, that the professions 
above mentioned are learned, and that agri¬ 
culture has no such demands for books, 
journals, and papers, and can not, like them, 
convert knowledge into utilitarian purposes. 
Such an objection, however, is certainly void 
of force ; for there are no good reasons why 
agriculture should not take rank with the 
professions, and, from the circle of sciences 
and the record of experience, cull facts po¬ 
tent for its own advancement, and contribu 
tory to profitable results. 
It maybe objected again, that the vocation 
of the farmer is one of labor and not ofstudy ; 
one requiring and dependent upon physical 
and not mental vigor. The force of this ob¬ 
jection is wholly imaginary ; for there are 
but few agriculturists but have as much leis¬ 
ure time for reading, if they would but im¬ 
prove it, as the physician or the lawyer. 
The majority of farmers labor less than 
twelve hours a day, on an average, and con¬ 
sequently have three or four each day, if 
systematically improved, for reading and in¬ 
tellectual advancement; at any rate, their 
evenings are always at command. Not so 
with the professions : Subject to the de¬ 
mands of others, the odd moments interven¬ 
ing are all that they can command for then- 
own individual purposes. He is employed 
physically and mentally from early morning 
until often late at night. His business re¬ 
quires mental as well as physical employ¬ 
ment. Not so with the farmer; though 
physically engaged, his mind is at liberty to 
pursue any train of thought that his present 
reading or study may suggest. A portion of 
each day, free from excitement of business, 
he is at liberty to spend in the retirement of 
his own family. Of all vocations of labor, 
his is perhaps as free from perplexity, and 
gives as many hours of leisure as that of any 
other. 
Those who fancy they have no time for 
