HOME-MADE GUANO. 
149 
Crop lost by flood on low ground. Net to 
hand, $173, and over 14 per cent, on capital. 
1847.—26 Hands. 
Overseer’s wages, $250.00 
Hire of one hand, 40.00 
Salt $16, leather, yarn, &c., $21.50, 37.50 
Nails, leather, cloth, and sundries, 100.36 
Cutting oats, $10, taxes, $60. 70.00 
Blacksmith’s bill, 68.92 
Physician’s bill, 52.25 
Lard kegs, $9.88, plows, $15, 24.88 
$643.91 
Sales, $5,983.17. 600 acres of corn, sold at 
$2.46 a barrel. Net to hand, $205.75. 
1848.—28 Hands—Capital $42,765. 
Overseer’s wages, 
$275.00 
Hire of two boys, 
Salt, $14, taxes, $68, 
108.00 
87.00 
Cloth, leather, hats, &c., 
136.47 
Cutting oats and wheat, 
12.00 
Shoes, $9, blankets, $32, 
41.00 
Iron and plows, 
68.00 
Physician’s bill, 
47.00 
Blacksmith’s bill, 
65.92 
$840.39 
Sales, $5,006.51. Corn $2.12£ a barrel—650 
acres. Net to hand, $148.75. 
The proprietor has just commenced the use 
of lime and is of opinion that it will pay a profit 
upon the expenditure more certain than any 
other outlay he can make. The Roanoke Bot¬ 
toms, that are overflowed upon an average once 
in seven years, will yield eight and a half 
barrels of corn to the acre, including years of 
loss. The average valine of such land is about 
$15 an acre. The uplands, may average $2.50 
an acre, and yield about two barrels, (ten bush¬ 
els,) to the acre. The best corn land on the 
river will average 10 barrels. 
In connection with this subject, I give the fol¬ 
lowing statement of another place near Tar- 
borough, upon which the principal crop is cot¬ 
ton. The average number of full hands, 25, and 
average amount of expenses per annum, $650, 
of which $300 is for overseer’s wages. It is 
worthy of remark, that the same overseer has 
been in the same employ fourteen years. The 
proprietor took possession of the place in 1844, 
and the sales that year amounted to $1,500. 
In 1845, $2,500. 1846, $4,200. 1847, $4,500 
1848, $4,600. 1849, $4,200, leaving still on hand 
about $400 worth of surplus. During the same 
time, complete new buildings and fences have 
been erected, and the value of the land more 
than doubled, and more than quadrupled in 
productiveness. 
Now how has this been accomplished 1 By 
ditching and draining swamp land, naturally 
rich, but too wet to produce any crop ; by 
using improved plows, and plowing the old fields 
up deeply ; by creating manure for the poor 
barren sands; but principally by digging and 
spreading immense quantities of marl, or rather, 
sea-shell deposites, which, until now, had lain idle 
and useless, while the former owner was starv¬ 
ing. This marl contains about thirty per cent, 
of carbonate of lime, and in some instances has 
been used at the rate of 600 bushels to the acre, 
so that from being one of the poorest, this farm 
has now become one of the most productive in 
the country. His average to the hand, last year, 
was $222, and although cotton brought a high 
price per pound, his crop was unusually light— 
200 acres produced 53,000 pounds. He makes 
all his provisions, and nearly all his- clothing. 
His rations are five pounds of pork per week, 
for all field hands, and all the bread and vege¬ 
tables they will eat. He now averages six bar¬ 
rels of corn to the acre upon land, that, before 
it was marled, would not average two. Plants 
cotton last of April and corn first of May. 
HOME-MADE GUAITO. 
Permit me to inform some of your readers 
how I supply myself with guano of domestic 
origin. My privy stands square on the ground 
without any excavation or vault underneath. A 
board 12 inches wide swings upon a pair of 
butts, or hinges, on the back side. Turning this 
up, I sometimes throw under the seats two or 
three barrow loads of muck; and with a long- 
handled, shovel used for digging post holes, to 
be found at any of the hardware shops, I with¬ 
draw the richest material for composting to be 
found in the world. 
But this is not all the advantage to be derived 
from my practice. Keeping the excrementitious 
matter constantly sprinkled with plaster, (gyp¬ 
sum,) and frequently removing the deposites, es¬ 
pecially in summer, my privy is usually as 
sweet and clean as a parlor, exhaling no offen¬ 
sive nor unwholsome odor, and rendering the 
devotion due to Cloacina a pleasure rather than 
a penance. 
Some sensible people effect this last object by 
other expedients, though too many are disgust¬ 
ingly slovenly about this really important mat¬ 
ter, so far as decency and comfort are concerned; 
but my plan enables me to have a very consider¬ 
able quantity of a fertilising agent, that would 
make Prof. Norton’s Scotchman smack his lips 
and snuff up his nose with an unction! S. 
MANURES—THE FOOD OF PLANTS.—No. X. 
Almost every farmer seems to be aware of 
the fact, that, by the application of manure to 
his lands, his corn and other cultivated crops 
are usually very much increased in quantity; 
and this increase is generally in a correspond¬ 
ing ratio, to the quantity of manure applied. 
The great body of the farmers in this country, 
depend entirely upon that made by their farm 
stock, and upon that alone. This is applied to 
the soil in some form, for the reason it causes the 
plants to grow more vigorously, and to yield 
larger crops than could be obtained without it. 
The almost universal good effects of manure 
upon farm crops have been so constant and 
general, that most farmers have remained con¬ 
tent with a knowledge of the bare fact, without 
troubling themselves to ascertain the “ why ” 
and the “wherefore” of it; and could every 
