AMERICAN AGRICULTURIST. 
851 
vegetable matter, lime, gypsum, sand, coal- 
dust &c. 
In estimating the value of the first class 
of manures i. e., those costing one cent per 
pound, the analysis, on which the valuation 
rests, is sufficient, if it reveal how much 
ammonia and phosphoric acid be present, 
and prove that but little potash exists in the 
sample. The analyses of the second class 
of manures—those costing less than one 
cent per pound, must be more full, because 
the less the price of the manure, the greater 
is the relative value of the cheaper ingredi¬ 
ents. 
Guanos. —A specimen of No. I Peruvian 
Guano, newly received from the Govern¬ 
ment Agent, New-York City, contained 15 
per cent ammonia, and 14f per cent phos¬ 
phoric acid. As a specimen of the calcula¬ 
tion of the value of a manure, the following 
example may serve. The worth of 100 lbs., 
is found by multiplying the percentages of 
ammonia and phosphoric acid, by the values 
of those ingredients respectively; thus 15 
pounds ammonia at 16 cents is $2.40 : 14i 
pounds phosphoric acid at 2 cents is 30 cents, 
adding the two gives $2.70 as the value of 
100 pounds and 20 times this is $54, the cal¬ 
culated value of a ton. The dealer’s price is, 
or was, $54 to $56 per ton. 
This sample of guano was an excellent 
one, but contained about 2b per cent less of 
ammonia than the average of the best Peru¬ 
vian Guanos. It ought to be well known 
that guano is very liable to deterioration by 
exposure to air and moisture. It may then 
lose one-quarter of all its ammonia during a 
single winter. Last spring an article was 
extensively advertised under the name of 
Pacific Ocean Guano, and was represented 
“ to be nearly if not quite equal to Peruvian 
Guano.” This manure had various ill omens 
attending it. in the first place it hailed from 
that small part of our planet called the Pa¬ 
cific Ocean.” So indefinite a name seemed 
applied to cover up something. Again, it 
was heralded by an analysis, according to 
which it contained 
Phosphate of Lime.42.48 
Carbonate of Lime. 2.26 
IJrate of Amnonia ; 
Phosphate of Ammonia > .20.54 
Carbonate of Ammonia &c. > 
Chloride of Sodium r 
Chloride of Potassium >.14.46 
Sulphate of Soda &c. ) 
Undecomposed Organic ) « OR 
Matter, Feathers, &c. J. 
Silicious Matter. 5.10 
Water andLoss.12.00 
100.00 
Such an analysis is also obviously intend¬ 
ed to cover up something. The unchemical 
reader might very easily get the impression 
that this Guano yielded 20.54 per cent of 
ammonia. But in fact we have no informa¬ 
tion as to the amount of ammonia, and for 
the purpose of estimating this most valuable 
ingredient of a Guano, the analysis is worth¬ 
less. The analyses of Twining and myself, 
made on a sample sent by the importers to a 
Hartford firm, gave 2.7 per cent ammonia, 
and 26. per cent phosphoric acid. The cal¬ 
culated value was then 'ore $19.20 per ton; 
the advertised price was $50. 
The other Guano examined was called 
Ichaboe Guano. Its largest ingredient was 
sand, of which it contained 65 per cent! 
Besides, it contained 3 per cent of ammonia 
and lb per cent of phosphoric acid. Its cal¬ 
culated value was $12.20 per ton. The sel¬ 
ling price was $40. 
Ta Feu. —This fertilizer is manufactured 
in New-York City, and is stated in the ad¬ 
vertisement to consist of three-fourths night 
soil and one-fourth Peruvian Guano. From 
what we know of the extraordinary fertiliz¬ 
ing power of human excreta, we should be 
ready to expect that this mixture would rank 
foremost among manures. The analysis 
however, shows that it contains 50 per cent 
of sand, coal dust and other insoluble and 
worthless matter! But 3 per cent of ammo¬ 
nia, and 5 per cent of phosphoric acid are 
present! Its calculated value is $11.60. 
Assuming one-fourth of it to be good Peru¬ 
vian Guano, as stated in the advertisement, 
there is no ammonia, and but 1.6 per cent of 
phosphoric acid in it, beyond what the added 
Guano would alone contain. The night soil 
then does not contribute enough to its value 
to pay for mixing the two together, and ma¬ 
terially diminishes that value by increasing 
the cost of transportation. 
What is the reason of this 1 In my form¬ 
er article on this question it was made evi¬ 
dent that the night-soil of cities as usually 
collected, is comparatively worthless. This 
is due chiefly to the facts that it has under¬ 
gone fermentation whereby its ammonia al¬ 
most completely escapes in a short time ; it 
is exposed to rains and waste water from the 
water works which wash out its valuable 
matters, and finally, it is mixed with all 
manner of refuse, especially with coal-ashes. 
In fact, it can not be expected that city night 
soil will form a concentrated fertilizer, un¬ 
less all these sources of deterioration be 
avoided. 
The lower-priced Poudrette of the Lodi 
Co., N. Y., I have not analysed, and can 
not speak of its value. 
The Poudrette of the so-called Liebig Man¬ 
ufacturing Co., of East Hartford, Conn., was 
analysed, but as it is a cheap manure being 
furnished at $1.50 perbbl., and having but 
a local sale, I need only say of it, that it has 
a manurial value three times greater than the 
best horse manure, and its fineness and uni¬ 
formity of texture recommend it, especially 
for garden use. 
Superphosphates. —No artificial fertilizer 
has been so extensively manufactured of 
late years as the so-called Superphosphate of 
Lime. The characteristic ingredient of this 
fertilizer when genuine, is phosphoric acid 
existing in a form that is readily soluble in 
water. A good superphosphate ought rea¬ 
sonably to be expected to contain 10 per cent 
of insoluble phosphoric acid, and if it be pre¬ 
tended to have any ammonia in its composi¬ 
tion—to be improved nitrogenized, or am- 
moniated—it should yield 3 per cent of that 
substance. 
In England, Superphosphates of this quali¬ 
ty have been made and sold at $30 per ton 
of 2,000 pounds. None of the Superphos¬ 
phates analysed by me the past summer have 
come up to this standard. 
DeBurg's No. 1 Ammoniated Supervhos- 
phate, gave 25b per cent of phosphoric acid, 
of which 2i per cent was soluble. It con¬ 
tained 31 per cent of ammonia. Calculated 
value $25.00. Were the percentage of sol¬ 
uble phosphoric acid raised to 10 per cent, 
the calculated value would be $30 per ton. 
Of Coe's Improved Superphosphate, manu¬ 
factured at Middletown, Conn., four different 
samples were analyzed. They showed a 
remarkable uniformity of composition, and 
were scarcely inferior to De Burg’s. Cal¬ 
culated value $24. 
The other Superphosphates turned out very 
poorly. One contained 10£ per cent of phos¬ 
phoric acid,one per cent of which was solu¬ 
ble in water. Its ammonia was 3£ per cent 
and its calculated value $16 50 per ton. 
Another brand yielded 31 per cent of solu¬ 
ble and 4 per cent of insoluble phosphoric 
acid, and 2i per cent of ammonia. Its 
value is accordingly calculated at $16.20 per 
ton. Last and least, must be mentioned a N. Y. 
specimen containing but 51 per cent of 
phosphoric acid, none of which was soluble, 
and 1 per cent of ammonia. Its calculated 
value was $41 per ton less than the sale price ! 
The Fish Guano and the Fish Compost of 
the Narragansett Co., R. I., were also ana¬ 
lysed. Of the former it only need be re¬ 
marked that it contains 4.1 per cent of am¬ 
monia and 10 per cent of phosphoric acid. 
Its calculated value is $17 per ton. There 
is no practical difficulty in making a manure 
from fish at least nearly equal to the best 
Peruvian Guano. In fact this has been done, 
as is mentioned in my article on fish manure. 
But it would appear that there is room for 
new efforts in this direction, and there is not 
the smallest doubt that with a proper combi¬ 
nation of capital and scientific skill, a busi¬ 
ness of this kind can be founded, that will 
prove highly remunerative to the manufac¬ 
turer and satisfactory to farmers. 
The Fish Compost was found to contain 
53 per cent of sand and insoluble matter, and 
one per cent each of ammonia and phospho¬ 
ric acid. It is not more valuable than good 
horse dung ! 
Some other manures are under investiga¬ 
tion and the results will be made public in 
due time. 
There is satisfactory evidence that the 
rapidly increasing class of farmers who use 
concentrated fertilizers, have a reasonable 
confidence in the ability of chemical analy¬ 
sis to protect them from deception. This 
demonstrates a high appreciation of Agricul¬ 
tural science. 
Samuel W. Johnson. 
Yale Analytical Laboratory, 
New-Haven, Ct. Nov. 5, 1856. 
A certain lawyer had his portrait taken in 
his favorite attitude, standing with his 
hands in his pockets. His friends and 
clients all went to see it, and everybody ex¬ 
claimed 
“ Oh! how like the original. It’s the 
very picture of him ” 
“ Tain’t like,” said an old farmer. 
“ Just show us where it’s not like him,” 
said they. 
“ Tain’t, no ’tain’t,” replied the farmer ; 
“ don’t you see he’s got his hands in his own 
pockets ? ’T would be as like again, if he had 
his hands in somebody else’s pockets.” 
