AMERICAN AGRICULTURIST. 
293 
ton would insure being brought to land. The 
decrease of our fisheries is probably owing to 
the large ratio between marketable and unsale¬ 
able fish. The decrease of boats and men since 
1852 was, 1254 boats and 8482 men. Would 
this diminution have taken place had we a sure 
and regular market for all fish, whether edible 
or inedible? 2d. Of the mercantile value of 
manure, I could not speak; but, taking the 
tables of Boussingault and Payen as the cri¬ 
terion, and without special analysis, I should say 
that Pettit’s patent manure must be a valuable 
article. By their experiments it appears that 
the value of manure depends on the slow de¬ 
composition of azotised substances. Now, the 
fish manure afforded by any dried white fish 
gave 16 per cent, of nitrogen, whilst blood gave 
but 12 per cent., marine plants but 2 per cent., 
guano 14 per cent., and farm-yard manure but 
2 - 0 per cent. If this be the case with fish in its 
normal state, how much more should we expect 
from fish carefully prepared, without the loss of 
its elementary constituents. Here are the gen¬ 
eral results of the chemical analysis of artificial 
manure by Professor Way : 
Moisture,. 4.93 
Organic Matter,. 88.36 
Sand, &c.,. 1.35 
Earthy phosphates,. 4.06 
Alkaline salts, &c.,. 1.30 
100.00 
Ammonia,. 16.78 
Other analyses were made by this gentleman, 
showing that this manure contains a greater per 
centage of ammoniacal salts than the best gua¬ 
no imported from Ichaboe or Peru. I am dis¬ 
posed to believe that taking into account the 
cost of manufacture and all the incidental ex¬ 
penses, this artificial manure could be manufac¬ 
tured at a lower price than £9 per ton, the pre¬ 
sent price of the best guano. On referring to 
Mr. Sinclair’s statement we find that sprats are 
occasionally sold around the coast at less than £1 
per ton, and waste fish at £1, or £1 10s. Now, 
when we remember that one-fourth of all the 
fish taken on the coast, or at most two-thirds, is 
saleable, we are enabled to form some idea of 
the amount of the supply of refuse fish that 
could be obtained for the purpose of this manu¬ 
facture. Moreover, what is called saleable fish, 
taking all descriptions together, is seldom sold 
at a higher rate, taking an average of the whole 
coast sales, than from £5 to £8 per ton, and even 
in the neighborhood of Dublin it is, I have been 
informed, purchased at that rate by the whole¬ 
sale dealers. The next point to be considered 
is, would it be possible to get a sufficient supply 
of fish round the coasts of this country ? To 
this question there is only one answer to give. 
The quantity of fish in the sea, in spite of what 
the coast fishermen may say, is really illimitable. 
I believe that there is no limit whatever to the 
supply of fish which we may obtain from the 
ocean, and that it only depends on energy and 
the exercise of skill to supply any quantity that 
may be required ; and it must be remembered 
that the dog-fish, the whale, the porpoise, fish¬ 
ing-frog, &c., &c., and other inhabitants of the 
ocean, which consume our edible fish, may be 
converted into this artificial guano. I would 
also advocate the establishment of such manu¬ 
factories on the ground that they would provide 
an inexhaustible field for the employment of our 
population, and stimulate us at the same time 
to use the means which nature has placed at 
our disposal for the augmentation of the national 
wealth. 
Dr. B. was followed by Mr. Jeffers and others, 
who introduced a large number of letters from 
different parts of the country—all going to show 
that there was an almost unlimited supply of 
refuse fish to be obtained on nearly every part 
of the sea coast. Among other things it was 
suggested that the offal of saleable fish, together 
with the refuse fish now thrown into the sea 
among the fisheries of Ireland, would, if applied 
to the land as a manure, produce an increase of 
wheat fully equal to all the foreign grain now 
imported. The great desideratum now seemed 
to be, a cheap, practical method of converting 
this offal and these refuse fish into a concen¬ 
trated manure, which would be capable of being 
cheaply transported inland. The general opinion 
of the meeting seemed to be that Mr. Pettit’s 
recent patent would secure this desirable result. 
- 0 9 0 - 
EXPERIMENTS ON COTTON 
WITH SALT, GUANO, AND SUPER-PHOSPHATE OF LIME. 
Edwards, Miss., Dec. 21, 1853. 
According to promise madb you, I herewith 
send the result of a part of my experiments with 
Guano, &c. Cotton seed planted soon after 
drilling manure, which was done under my own 
eye, articles weighed and measured by myself 
on 4th and 5th April. 
Kind op Ma¬ 
nure. 
Order of Rows and 
Quantity of Fertil¬ 
izers TO EACH. 
Seed, how 
PREPARED. 
| Product 
in Lbs. 
No. 
w 
o 
A 
>- 
o 
53 
pj 
1, Salt. 
1st 2 bush. acre 
seedbrined. 
in drills 
& rolled in 
plaster 
121= 968 
2d “ . " on row 
do 
135= 
-1080 
2, Gua no. 
1st 247 lbs. Guano 18 
acre 
seed plain 
135= 
-1080 
2d 200 “ 
“ 
156= 
1248 
3d 100 “ 
162= 
1290 
4th 200 “ 
“ brnd, Ac. 
145= 
1160 
3, No manure 
1st Nothing added 
“ plain 
130= 
1040 
2d 
“ brnd. &c. 
133= 
1004 
3d 4 bush. Salt $ 
acre in drill 
“ plain 
117= 
936 
4th. 
“ brined 
118= 944 
4, Superpho3- 
1st 200 lbs. Phosphate 
phate of 
$ acre 
“ plain 
134= 
1072 
Lime. 
2d. 
“ brnd, &c, 
132= 
1056 
3d 100 
“ plain 
105= 
840 
4th “ 
“ brnd. &c. 
131= 
1048 
5, Bones. 
1st 4 bush. Bones ¥1 
acre 
" plain 
112= 
896 
2d. 
“ brnd. &c. 
136= 
1088 
3d 2 
“ plain 
139= 
1112 
4th “ 
“ brnd. Ac. 
149= 
1192 
6, Guano and 
1st 200 lbs. Guano, 1 
Plaster. 
bush. Plast. 
$ acre 
“ plain 
128= 
1024 
2d. 
“ brnd. &c. 
158= 
1264 
7, Guano and 
1st 200 lbs. Guano, 4 
Bones. 
bush. Bones 
$ acre 
“ plain 
162= 
1296 
2d. 
" brnd. &c. 
142= 
1136 
8, Guano and 
1st 200 lbs. Guano, 160 
Phosph. 
lbs. Phosph. 
?lacre 
“ plain 
143= 
1144 
2d.| 
“ brnd. &c. 
135= 
1080 
Remarks. — I made other experiments with 
other quantities, but deem them too cumbersome. 
The field in which these experiments were made 
is the thinnest land on the place ; the rows 440 
yards long, 4 feet distant, and running due east 
and west. The 40 acre piece lying east of planta¬ 
tion road, averaged 1370 lbs. These experiments 
embrace not the entire yield, as I had made a 
light picking before I took note, and one or two 
after; but as there are three pickings from 13th 
Sept, to 22d Nov., I deemed the showing as 
fair. 
I made only one note during summer: June 
18.—I noticed on the 16th that Nos. 6, 7, 8 
were growing much faster than the others ; up 
to this date I had not observed any difference. 
I see very little if any difference between 1, 2, 
3, and 4, whilst 5 really appears smallest; it may 
be the contrast between 5, and 6, 7, 8.” This 
was made without examining book as to ma¬ 
nures. You will observe in No. 3,1st and 2d row 
had no manure. Now take No. 3, first two rows 
giving about 1050 lbs per acre, and where 247 
lbs. of guano was used. No. 2-1, and the product, 
is equal or about. Showing, so far as this 
experiment goes that 247 lbs. of guano did no 
good, whilst 100 lbs. No. 2-8, gave 240 lbs. in¬ 
crease for the 100 lbs., or nearly $5 for the 
guano. 
The greatest result was with the 100 lbs., and 
in No. 7-1 with 2001bs. guano, and 4 bushels of 
bones. 
I did intend to draw no inferences, and believe 
I will do no more, but leave the matter to your 
consideration and that of our friends. Of course 
I had no interest but to test what was my inte¬ 
rest. The result has been so unsatisfactory 
that I am now undecided; yet if others claim 
so much from one experiment, I may as well do 
so too. 
I think I will try again, yet the trouble of 
having rows picked separately, for three, four, 
and five times, and for one to be present to pre¬ 
vent mistakes, is rather troublesome. I think, 
therefore, of only trying an acre or so side by 
side. 
I cannot resist bringing to your notice that 
salt drilled 2 and 4 bushels per acre was a de¬ 
triment ; see No. 1-1 and 2, and 3-3 and 4. 
Again, Nos. 6, 7, and 8 were the largest and 
thriftest, very green even till frost, No. 6 having 
rather a preference all the time, and more bolls 
not matured. M. W. Philips. 
- 0 9-0 - 
Don’t Sell your Best Stock. —Don’t allow 
these speculators and drovers to pick out the 
likeliest and best of your stock, leaving you 
only the ordinary and poorest to breed from. 
It is the worst policy you can adopt. By con¬ 
tinuing such a course, it will be but a short time 
before you will have only ordinary and poor to 
select from. Supposing you can get a little 
more for this likely lamb than for the others, 
you will do well to remember that it costs no 
more to keep them than it does poor ones; and 
next shearing time the large fleeces will tell the 
story in favor of keeping the best you have. 
If you intend to make a practice of raising a 
colt every year, keep the best mare you can af¬ 
ford. Haven’t you noticed that when a man 
purchases a young horse he is always partic¬ 
ular to know all about the stock, &c., before he 
concludes his trade ? Keep the best, then, for 
yourself. 
Don’t sell your best sow because you can get 
five dollars more for her. Keep her, and she 
will more than make up the difference ere an¬ 
other year comes around. Just so with every 
thing. Select the best seed for your own use, 
and you will always have as good as any one, 
and be sure of the highest prices for any you 
may wish to dispose of. Think of it .—Maine 
Farmer. 
TnE Barley Crop of this State. —The Albany 
State Register , says that the sales of Canal 
Barley in that market for the season just closed 
amount to 1,761,100 bushels. This includes 
only the sales of the crop of 1853. The average 
price is a fraction under 81 ic.; the highest price 
paid was 88c.; the lowest 70c., and the greatest 
quantity sold at one price was 299,500 bushels 
at 84c. The aggregate value of the 1,761,100 
bushels was $1,432,575. If the sales reported 
in the early weeks of canal navigation are in¬ 
cluded, which were at prices ranging from 66c. 
to 72ic., the aggregate sales reported will be 
1,836,500 bushels, and the average price will be 
a fraction over 801 cents. The aggregate bushels 
is $1,481,341. _^ ^ ^__ 
Never wade in unknown waters. 
