AMERICAN AGRICULTURIST. 
259 
but here it is quite different. I have known 
many failures in budding, and in some cases not 
more than twenty-five out of a thousand have 
succeeded; two out of a dozen is often the pro¬ 
portion in our climate. Budded plants are lia¬ 
ble to produce suckers, which have been some¬ 
times mistaken for young, vigorous shoots. 
Tea roses require lighter soil, and flower more 
freely than Bengal or Bourbons ; they will also 
bear more heat, and should be placed in the 
warmest part of the house. Roses for forcing 
should have as much sun and air as possible, 
with a moist atmosphere. I have found roses 
in green-houses, planted in the border, with bot¬ 
tom-heat, produce more flowers with 50° of heat 
than, in other cases with 70°, and have had bet¬ 
ter flowers when the temperature did not exceed 
50° than at 65°; 55° is a good temperature for 
forcing. In reply to the question, “ Is manure- 
water good?” I say, yes; if applied judiciously 
in small portions in March. 
P. B. Mead. I have applied warm guano- 
water to plants in pot, and have found it equal 
in effect to a hot-bed. This appears incredible 
to some of the gentlemen before me, but it is 
true, for I have tried it again and again. In 
fact, it was in this way the ancients forced their 
plants. And at present, hot-water is used for 
hot-beds. 
A. Reed wished to know how the atmospheric 
temperature was to be kept up in proportion to 
that of the soil. Mr. Mead admitted that some 
fire-heat was necessary. 
Mr. Parle, of Brooklyn, described his treat¬ 
ment of fifty roses in pots, with bones broken into 
small pieces for manure. He found those plants 
thus manured to grow much more luxuriantly, 
and produce a more regular succession of bloom 
than those treated with the usual compost. 
A. Reid suggested that this subject should be 
continued, as it was not yet fully debated, and 
requested the secretary to draw up a number of 
questions which it would be desirable to have 
answered, relating to the subject. The meeting 
adjourned to meet on the third Monday of Jan¬ 
uary. The regular monthly meeting of the 
Society for business purposes takes place on 
the second Monday. 
For the American Agriculturist. 
BRIEF ROTES ON A HOMELY TEXT. 
Take the proverbs out of Sanciio’s mouth, 
and Don Quixote, with all the charm of nar¬ 
rative and rural description thrown around his 
actions by Cervantes, would scarely be worth 
reading. Sanciio, Dapples, and the quaint say¬ 
ings of the boor, characteristic of his time—none 
the less true—even now will always make Don 
Quixote the delight of youthful readers. Like 
Aunt Ciiloe and Topsy, in Uncle Tom’s Cabin, 
they are the minor impressive characters of the 
book. So proverbs, well selected and modified 
to circumstances, are, in every day life, the best 
guides for conduct in manners and business. I 
propose giving you one occasionally, to while 
away a winter evening in the hope that, even in 
the management of rural affairs, it may show 
their fitness equally as in other concerns. 
“owe no man any TIIING.” 
That was very well for St. Paul to say, in days 
when . the soil was worked by serfs and plebe¬ 
ians, and agriculture was considered a mere call- 
i i 
War, statesmanship, law, and the games, were 
then the chief pursuits of the more intelligent 
Romans, then the first and most powerful nation 
of the earth. True, Virgil had sung his Geor¬ 
gies ; but he sang them chiefly as a poet, and 
not as a farmer, as the absurd maxims and 
modes of cultivation, and treatment of many 
things, abundantly attest. It is true that 
Cicero, and other distinguished Romans made 
agriculture a recreation, and the great land¬ 
holders derived immense revenues from their 
estates, but not in the modern way. The race 
of Cincinnatus were few, while the real pro¬ 
ducers and laborers were boors of the rudest 
description. 
“Money changers,” so indignantly driven by 
our Saviour from the temple turned by them 
into a “ den of thieves,” were probably the chief 
‘bankers” of the day; and Paul, who had 
been a lawyer—and a good one too, as his sound 
advice to his people testifies—was fully pos¬ 
sessed of the truth, under a government where 
‘wealth is the chief element of power in the 
state, that “ he who goes a-borrowing, goes a- 
sorrowing.” In our more commercial days the 
phrase may be modified to this one: Owe no 
man more than you can pay when due. Bankers, 
as well as many others, seem to think that a 
farmer has no business to run in debt for any 
thing, while the dealer who purchases and vends 
the farmer’s produce, is entitled to all the credit 
he asks. This is a mistake; I know of no good 
reason why a farmer should not anticipate a part 
of the proceeds of his crops, or the sale of his 
stock, as well as a merchant his bills receivable, 
provided, meantime, the money is applied in the 
legitimate objects of his business. If he be a 
thrifty man, he may buy a moderate amount of 
land on credit, paying in instalments based on 
his future crops. He may borrow money at 
bank to purchase stock to feed for market, or 
in any other way to promote his business. There 
is hardly a farmer in the country who has ac¬ 
cumulated large means from small, but can look 
back and date his prosperity to the credit he 
has received in obtaining money on loan, or 
stock, implements, and land on credit, yet all 
on well-based calculations of his means to pay. 
A moderate amount of debt is a prompt stimu¬ 
lus to activity, economy, and enterprise, and 
thousands of men who would under the no-cre¬ 
dit system hardly have subsisted from one year 
to another, under the encouragement of moder¬ 
ately borrowed means have risen to affluence 
and distinction as cultivators alone. So mis- 
takened are the opinions of many capitalists in 
our country of the policy of lending to farmers 
directly, that they will in all confidence loan 
their money to brokers, or rather shavers, on 
questionable security, to re-loan it at high usury 
to even small farmers among them, whose voca¬ 
tion, I am sorry to say, is not deemed of suffi¬ 
cient consequence to command confidence as first 
borrowers. There is probably no help for this 
but in the management of the humble borrower 
himself, who should, by the intelligent manage¬ 
ment of his affairs, show to the monied man, 
that no one pursuit of the country is so sure of 
safe returns, or so permanently secure in its in¬ 
vestments, as agriculture. Still, once independ¬ 
ent of the means of others, the farmer should 
be but a temporary debtor—holding the banker, 
the merchant, and the artizan. as in no wise his 
superiors in the business of his life, or his posi¬ 
tion in the community. A Countryman. 
SUPPLY OF PERUVIAN GUANO. 
The following statements, which seems to be 
from pretty good authority, will tend very much 
to diminish the exaggerated expectations that 
have been formed in regard to the boundless 
supply of Peruvian Guano, as well as to lessen 
the hope of a future reduction in its price. We 
copy what follows from the London Shipping 
and Mercantile Gazette of Dec. C. 
We have been favored with copies of the fol¬ 
lowing dispatches, forwarded to the Admiralty 
by the admiral commanding in the Pacific, con¬ 
taining most interesting information relative to 
the quantity of guano remaining in the Chincha 
Islands. It will be seen that the quantity 
stated to be still available is considerably under 
that given in the news brought by the Pacific 
mail just arrived. The quantity estimated from 
the examination made by Mr. M’lntosh, naval 
instructor, and forwarded by the commander- 
in-chief in the Pacific, is 7,600,000 tons ; while 
the accounts brought by the mail state the pre¬ 
sent stock to be 25,000,000. Admiral Moresby, 
however, states, as the result of his data, in 
which he says he has confidence, that the is¬ 
lands will be exhausted of the guano that would 
pay freight, or would be salable in the English 
market, in eight or nine years. 
Great credit is due to Admiral Moresby for 
the valuable information thus conveyed to the 
government. It is accompanied by neatly-exe¬ 
cuted sketches of the island, showing the posi¬ 
tion and extent of the deposits, which may, no 
doubt, be seen on application to the Admiralty. 
Subjoined are the dispatches : 
Relative to the Quantity of Guano Remaining 
on the Chincha Islands. 
Portland, at Sea, Sept. 9, 1853. 
Sir,—The in closures referring to the Chincha 
Islands may possibl} 1 ' be acceptable to Her Ma¬ 
jesty’s government, when confidence in Peru¬ 
vian securities has suffered from the circum¬ 
stances which have taken place at Lima. I 
request you will submit them for their lord- 
ships’ notice. I have confidence in the data 
given by Mr. M’lntosh, his education and prac¬ 
tical experience being a guarantee for correct¬ 
ness. From the northern or principal island 
more than one-third of the guano has been 
removed; the remainder may be divided into 
three portions and qualities: 
First, that termed English guano, as formerly, 
alone selected for the English market. 
Secondly, that exported by foreign ships to 
America and elsewhere. 
Thirdly, inferior guano reserved for the coast 
trade. 
Of the first quality there remains on the north 
island about 3,500,000 tons; of the second, 
about 1,500,000 tons; of inferior, about 500,- 
000 tons. 
I have no data on which to report the ship¬ 
ment of guano in 1852, but I have ascertained 
that within the last eight months about 300,000 
tons of guano have been shipped from the north 
island. A loss of 12 per cent, occurs from the 
rude manner of its working and conveyance, 
daily observed in the dense clouds of pulverized 
guano blown seaward, and correctly ascertained 
by the shipping dockets at the center island. 
I enclose a statement of that shipped in 1850 
and 1851: 
A Statement of the Quantities of Guano Ex¬ 
ported from the Chincha Islands during the 
years 1850-1851. 
1850. 
1851. 
In British ships, - - - - 
169 
268 
Register tons, - - - - 
88,822 
138,197 
In foreign ships, - - - - 
45 
36 
Register tons, - - - - 
Tons of guano sent to Eng- 
13,599 
12,456 
land,. 
102,421 
150,653 
