53 
AMERICAN AGRICULTURIST. 
of different construction. The economical 
builder would save all the old material pos¬ 
sible, such as wood, stone, brick, nails, &c., 
and these he would use in the new struc¬ 
ture, wherever they could be made available. 
Another, of less prudence, would, perhaps, 
suffer all the old materials to be carried 
away by oilier parties, while he would be at 
rlie expense of procuring new articles from 
abroad at a heavy outlay. 
Just so, one cultivator allows his old stock 
of decaying straw or animal manure (which 
is only a mass of vegetables rendered more 
perishable by passing through the digesting 
organs of animals,) to decay upon the sur¬ 
face of the ground, and be stolen away by 
the atmosphere, or washed out by rains, 
while he sends away to Peru, or elsewhere, 
for guano or other fertilizers, which are 
neither more nor less than decaying animal 
or vegetable material. His neighbor, on 
the contrary, secures these same materials 
on his own domain, and saves as profit, what 
the other has expended for foreign materials, 
or done without, at the risk of far less re¬ 
munerative crops. 
But there is much to learn by every one, 
as to how these home materials are to be 
better preserved, how they are best applied 
to growing crops through the soil, which are 
best, what foreign additions to the farm 
manures maybe made profitably, &c. These 
are practical topics which we are to dis¬ 
cuss. 
WHAT MANURES TO PURCHASE. 
In order to answer several present in¬ 
quiries, from those who are now looking 
about for their Spring fertilizers, we will 
here drop the regular order of discussion 
until our next issue. As a short answer we 
will here say, that the only manures we 
would recommend any one to purchase, 
aside from those obtained from the stables 
of animals, are those in which animal mat¬ 
ter is the chief element. 
Finely ground, unburned bones are prob¬ 
ably the cheapest fertilizers, where they 
•can be obtained in sufficient quantity at the 
present prices. They contain much animal 
matter, which if they are finely pulverized, 
is quickly yielded to growing plants Bone 
dust or saioings can be applied directly to 
seeds or roots, where they are most effect¬ 
ual, without any fear of injury. The supply 
is, unfortunately, limited. 
Next to bone-dust, we esteem good Peru¬ 
vian Guano, which consists of partly decom¬ 
posed bodies of birds and their excrements. 
We have seen no other brands of guano, so 
called, which we consider half as valuable 
as the Peruvian. Much, nay, most of the 
articles sold as guano, with sundry appel¬ 
lants other than Peruvian, are little better 
than a mass of mineral matter. There is a 
great deal of stuff sold as Peruvian which 
is not genuine. The smell or appearance is 
no guide in purchasing. It is just now a 
common practice, among the unscrupulous 
dealers, to buy the genuine, and mix it with 
poorer guanos, or other materials, and 
sell the whole in ‘ government bags ’ as un¬ 
adulterated No. 1. The only safe guide is 
to get it from respectable dealers, who are 
known to be reliable and to obtain their sup¬ 
plies direct, or from those who buy direct 
of the accredited agents of the Peruvian 
Government. No guano is genuine which 
will not lose one-third to one-half its weight 
when heated to redness in an iron spoon or 
on a shovel. Great caution is required in 
applying good guano, as it will destroy seeds 
and plants when brought in direct contact 
with them The best plan is to pulverize 
and pass it through a sieve, then mix it well 
with five to ten times its bulk of dry earth, 
a week to a month before using, and put the 
mixture into the soil a few days before add¬ 
ing the seed ; or the mixture may be sown 
broadcast as a top dressing Used in this 
way it is a powerful fertilizer, for most crops, 
and on most soils. The general rules 
which we shall give in our next, for using 
various manures, will also apply to guano. 
The price is very high—far higher than it 
ought to be—but still we cannot do other¬ 
wise than recommend it, even at the present 
rates which the Peruvian Government is 
pleased to ask for it. 
Next to guano, we would name those 
superphosphates made by dissolving unburn¬ 
ed bones in sulphuric acid. A preparation 
of this kind, well and honestly made, is, 
doubtless, very valuable. We are not aware 
what manufacturers even profess to use un¬ 
burned bones, besides DeBurg, of Williams¬ 
burg, and Coe, of Middletown, Ct. Almost 
all profess to use more or less Peruvian 
guano in their preparations. The more of 
this and unburned bones the better, because 
these furnish organic matter. The sulphu¬ 
ric acid employed in all genuine superphos¬ 
phates may serve a useful purpose, in at¬ 
tracting and retaining ammonia from the 
air, and in fixing what is added in the guano. 
Others attach considerable value to the 
phosphoric acid developed in dissolving 
the burned bones, which enter largely into 
the ordinary manufacture of superphos¬ 
phates. We do not, from the considerations 
given in the first chapter of this series. 
A new preparation is now being made in 
this city, (or at Barren Island,) by Mr. 
Schwager, from the remains of dead ani¬ 
mals. So far as this consists of animal 
matter only, it will be found valuable. 
The preparations of the Lodi Company 
have met with considerable favor among 
many farmers, and so far as they consist of 
unmixed, unwashed human excrements, they 
are valuable. 
A Brooklyn Company has been recently 
organized, for the purpose of preparing the 
night soil gathered in that city. As our 
Brooklyn neighbors are not blessed with 
Croton water, to wash out the sewers, cess¬ 
pools, &c., this Company have the opportu¬ 
nity to gather large quantitiesnof very ex¬ 
cellent fertilizing matter, which we hope 
they will prepare with care, and furnish to 
farmers at reasonable rates. 
The American Guano Company are pre¬ 
paring to introduce new deposites from is¬ 
lands in the Pacific. If their cargoes are 
examined by outside, uninterested parties, 
and average samples are analyzed by men, 
who, like Prof. Johnson, of Yale College, 
do not furnish analyses ‘to order,’ but who 
have a credit and position to maintain, w 
say, if the importations of this or any other 
company are submitted to such tests, every 
cargo found to contain a large proportion of 
valuable organic matter, will meet with a 
ready sale, and prove a blessing to cultiva¬ 
tors. Care should be taken, however, to 
have every cargo tested. 
Before passing to the consideration of 
‘ home-made’ manures, we will add a word 
in reference to plaster, lime and ashes. On 
many soils the common plaster of Paris (or 
gypsum,) has proved valuable, and as it is a 
cheap article, it may well be tried, except 
by those who have already done so and 
found it of little value. As an absorber of 
ammonia in the stable and manure heap it is 
always valuable, where an abundance of 
good muck is not at hand ; and it doubtless 
serves a like purpose when sown broadcast 
upon a field. 
The alkalies—such as lime, unleached 
ashes, and cheap refuse potash—are valu¬ 
able upon cold, wet, sour land, especially 
where there is vegetable matter which is not 
in a state of decay. As above stated, any 
plant must be actually decaying before it 
can yield its elements to a new plant. All 
the heavier, damp soils contain more or less 
roots and vegetable matter, which need 
the aid of alkalies to assist or hasten their 
decomposition. On open, warm soils, lime 
or ashes are often injurious after a year or 
two, since they destroy the vegetable mat¬ 
ter faster than it is used by the growing 
crops. 
In our next we shall speak of the manner 
of applying manures, and of the treatment 
of such as are made on the farm. 
MECHANICAL PREPARATION OE THE SOIL. 
NUMBER ONE. 
This is a most important subject to every 
cultivator of the soil, whether he be farmer, 
gardener, fruit-grower or florist. Much a». 
tention has been given to manures—little to 
the condition of the soil upon which they are 
to be used. A plowing, a harrowing, per¬ 
haps a rolling, and sufficient draining to 
avoid the necessity of boats to get around 
the field, have, as a general thing, been the 
chief mechanical treatment aimed at. We 
hope, and expect to be able to show, that 
more depends upon mechanical treatment 
than even upon manures. 
As stated ill the close of the manure arti¬ 
cle, on page 29, cultivation consists in pre¬ 
paring the soil as a medium for roots to 
grow in, and feeding or stimulating them 
with manures. We do not of course depre¬ 
ciate the importance of selecting proper seed, 
subduing weeds, harvesting, &c. Manuring 
is discussed in another scries of articles. 
We are here to treat of the preparation of 
the soil simply as a medium for the roots of 
plants, which includes all mechanical manip¬ 
ulations, such as plowing, subsoiling, and the 
various methods of pulverization, together 
with means of securing the proper degree of 
moisture, or draining. 
Pulverization.— Jethro Tull supposed the 
