AMERICAN AGRICULTURIST. 
65 
NOTES FROM OUR FIELD-BOOK, 
(At Stonington, Conn.) 
Mexican vs. Peruvian Guano on Wheat, &c. 
We have heard a good deal of the excel¬ 
lence of Mexican guano, and within a y^ar 
have been entertained with an essay to 
prove that the true policy of the cultivator 
is to buy phosphate of lime in this article to 
apply to his lands. We have been told that 
the purchase of ammonia in the shape of 
Peruvian guano was a waste of capital. 
This unique and ingenious pamphlet has al¬ 
ready been noticed in our columns, and we 
are now prepared to furnish the notice which 
mother Earth has taken, the past season, of 
the article in question. 
A dealer in guano kindly furnished us 
with a bag last spring, and as he imported it 
on his own account, and had 400 tuns of it 
for sale, we presume that he sent us as good 
as he had, that it might give a good report 
of itself. It was said to be from Maria Isl¬ 
and, and was accompanied with an analysis 
from Dr. Chilton, stating the proportion of 
its ingredients, and was advertised as an 
article fully equal to the best Peruvian guano. 
It was evidently from a climate where rain 
falls, was moist, and had much the appear¬ 
ance of stump earth. There was no odor of 
ammonia about it. 
We selected an old corn stubble for the 
experiment'; measured off five-eights of an 
acre, and on the 23d of April sowed it with 
Black Sea Wheat. The soil was a gravelly 
loam not in very good heart; so that it was 
in good condition to show the action of 
these fertilizers. One half of the piece was 
dressed with a bag of Peruvian guano, weigh¬ 
ing 145 pounds, and the other half with a 
bag of the Maria Island guano of about the 
same weight. The land was well plowed, 
and the seed and manure worked in with 
the cultivator and the harrow. About a 
week after sowing, the whole was dressed 
with two horse-cart-loads of oyster-shell 
lime. 
The seed came up well and the whole 
piece looked promising. As it was the first 
piece of wheat grown in the neighborhood 
for twenty years, it had the full benefit of 
close observation, and the whole category of 
wheat evils was prophesied upon it, from 
the blast to the weevil. 
The portion of the field dressed with Pe¬ 
ruvian guano soon showed its superiority. 
The line where the dressing began was dis¬ 
tinctly marked by a deeper green and a larg¬ 
er growth; and this difference was main¬ 
tained up to the ripening of the grain. This 
part of the field was so heavy that some of 
it lodged. There was a larger growth of 
straw, longer heads, plumper kernels, and 
more of them. We had to reap the whole of 
this part of the field, while the most of the 
other was easily cradled. The Mexican 
guano was so manifestly “ no where,” that 
we did not think it worth while to accurately 
measure the yield of straw and grain upon 
each part. 
The venders and chemists may speculate 
as they please upon the value of the guano 
from rainy climates ; cultivators will hardly 
receive any speculations that are not con¬ 
firmed in the laboratory of the soil. We 
have seen enough in our experiment to sat¬ 
isfy us of the economy of using Peruvian 
guano, where we go off of our own premises 
for fertilizers. If there is economy in using 
the other varieties, it is a problem yet to be 
proved. 
Our experiment goes plainly to show that 
WHEAT GROWING IN CONNECTICUT 
is at least a possible thing. The yield of 
this plot of ground was ten bushels of hand¬ 
some wheat, as good as the seed we sowed. 
We threshed it with the flail to save it for 
sowing, and there was at least two bushels 
left in the straw. Had the whole been 
dressed with Peruvian guano, the yield 
would have been twelve bushels, o r at the 
rate of twenty-four bushels per acre. Seed 
wheat is now selling at $2.50 per bushel, 
which make $60 an acre for the grain, and 
the straw is worth $10 more. Seventy dol¬ 
lars an acre, we think, is much better than 
the average product of our New-England 
farms. 
We are by no means certain that the time 
has not already come, when wheat can be 
profitably raised again in New-England ; and 
have its regular place in our rotation of 
crops. We see in the discussions among 
the New-Hampshire farmers, that it is 
thought the wheat crop of that State will 
meet one half of the consumption of its pop¬ 
ulation. Very fine crops of this grain have 
been gathered this season in Vermont and 
western Massachusetts. Western Connec¬ 
ticut has been growing wheat cautiousiy for 
a few years past, and all along the seaboard, 
from Maine to Long-Island Sound, we hear 
of successful experiments. Reliable author¬ 
ity gives the wheat crop of the single town 
of Southold, L. I., as twenty thousand bush¬ 
els last year. It is also grown on Garden¬ 
er’s Island, where guano is used and fine 
crops are realized. The eastern demand for 
seed wheat, we think, will be brisk next 
spring. 
FARMING IN IIALLOWELL, MAINE. 
W. P. A., in renewing his subscription for 
the American Agriculturist and the Times, 
closes his letter as follows : 
As a general thing, there are nothing but 
ordinary, and I might almost say shiftless, 
farmers in this section of the country. They 
cultivate, by a vast quantity, more land than 
they can cultivate properly. They have but 
little fertilizing matter, and that they spread 
over a large space of ground, and the con¬ 
sequence is they get but poorly remunerated 
for their trouble; whereas, if they would 
put it upon half, or even one-fourth of the 
space, they would probably get as much, 
with far less labor. Too many are con¬ 
tented to just get crops enough to keep them 
alive, and a little more, and when their farms 
run out and they get discouraged, they pull 
up stakes and are off for some more pro¬ 
ductive quarter, evA to the far west. Thus 
it is that Maine becomes depopulated thro’ 
neglect or a want of careful, thorough tillage. 
We have as good land here in Maine as any 
where ; and if farmers would only study 
the nature of their soils, what they re¬ 
quire, and the best manner of administering 
it, they would have less cause to complain. 
The eyes of some are already beginning to 
open, but it is difficult to turn from the old 
beaten track and commence a new process. 
Just such a paper as your’s is needed by 
all our farmers, and if they would only follow 
out a great many of its ideas, their condition 
would be every way improved. 
GROUND AND UNGR0UND-C00KED AND 
UNCOOKED FOOD, 
-o- 
In a commuication from the Society of 
Shakers, at Lebanon, New-York, in the Pat¬ 
ent Office Report, we find the following upon 
the relative value of ground and unground, 
cooked and uncooked corn for feeding and 
fattening cattle, &c.: 
“ The experience of more than 30 years 
leads us<to estimate ground corn at one-third 
higher than wnground as food for cattle, 
and especially for fattening pork ; hence it 
has been the practice of our society for more 
than a quarter of a century to grind all our 
provender. 
“ The same experience induces us to put a 
higher value upon cooked than upon raw 
meal; and for fattening animals, swine par¬ 
ticularly, we consider 3 of cooked equal to 4 
bushels of raw meal. 
“ Until within the last three or four years 
our society fattened annually for 30 years 
from 40,000 to 50,000 pounds of pork, exclu¬ 
sive of lard and offal fat; and it is the con¬ 
stant practice to cook the meal, for which 
purpose 6 or 7 potash kettles are used.” 
The Shakers are a close-observing, calcu¬ 
lating people, and go in for the practical re¬ 
alities of life, and therefore, in the economy 
of food, must be presumed to be good judges. 
Honev. —Those who wish to see and taste 
really good honey, must visit Messrs. L. & 
R. LI. Thorn, at No. 5 Washington Market. 
We called there the other day to make our 
usual annual examination of the sweet stores 
furnished by M. Quinby, of Palatine Church, 
N. Y., the well known author of the “Mys¬ 
teries of Bee-keeping Explained.” Mr. Q. 
gives the very best evidence that he, at least, 
understands the secret of producing good 
honey, in the fact that he yearly sends to 
the Messrs. Thorne more than four tuns! 
(8,000 lbs.) of the best honey to be found in 
this market. That it is the best, is proved by 
the extra price it commands—311 cpnts per 
pound wholesale, gross weight. One ad¬ 
vantage possessed by this honey, is found in 
the simple, cheap, and convenient cases in 
which it is sent to market. For the form 
and construction of these honey cases, see 
page 120, Vol. XII, of this journal. 
We notice that most of the honey in mar¬ 
ket this fall, from various parts of the coun¬ 
try, is less white and clear than usual. We 
suppose this was caused by the long rains 
prevailing during the honey-making season 
the past summer. 
It is a noble science to know one’s self; 
and a noble courage to know how to yield. 
