176 
nmd tlieir opinion. One of them, indeed, ventnres to \ 
say, that “ it was never intended tliat such a mass of 
excremcntitioiis jiiatter slioidd he brought into this 
country; ’’ and the inl'crence intended thence to he 
drawn is that the Potato murrain is a judgment upon 
us for having done so! Wo must he excused for 
characterising such an observation as so absurd, that 
we think the writer, when he remembers that the disease 
is in a hundred countries where the use of Guano 
is unknown, will laugh at his own hasty illogical 
conclusion. 
Wo have no intention to re-enter, at present, upon 
the subject of the Potato disease, but we have mentioned 
the subject of these letters that it may indicate why we 
think it necessary to explain the cause of Guano being 
so powerful a fertiliser. 
ft is a fact, wdiich we pointed out in the “ Gardener’s 
Magazine” (vol iv. 81), about twenty-five years since, 
that manures are powerful in proportion to the quantity 
of ammonia which they contain. Night soil, we then 
observed, one of the most beneficial of manures, 
surpasses all others in the abundance of its ammoniacal 
constituents in the proportion of three to one ; and 
the nearer any animal approaches to man in the nature 
of its food, the more fertilizing is the manure which 
it affords. We added our htdief that such power oi' 
promoting the vigour of plants arises from the stimu¬ 
lating qualities of the ammonia those manures contain, 
adding, that we had no doubt that a languishing plant, 
such as orange-trees, as they usually arrive here from 
Italy, might be aided in recovering by having their 
stem and branches steeped in a tepid weak solution |Of 
carbonate of ammonia, and by suspending an un¬ 
corked phial, containing some of the same solution, 
among its branches when jdanted. These opinions 
are strongly confirmed by the recent experiments of M. 
Ville, published in the “ Comptes Pendus.” 
When we wrote as above, the use of Ouano as a manure 
was unknown among our cultivators of the soil; and it 
affords another powerful testimony to the truth of our 
opinion, that manures are jtowerful in proportion to 
their richness in ammonia. Professor Way has analysed 
the Guano brought from various localities, and it is 
certain that in the following list the specimens are 
superior as manures, exactly in the jn-oportion they 
excel each other in ammonia. 
Peruvian 
. 17.41 per cent. 
Icahoe 
. 7.30 
Patagonian 
. 2.5i „ 
Haldanha Bay 
. 1.02 
! Ho powerful are the effects of the ammonia, that 
j abont four hundred weight of Peruvian is a quantity 
j quite sufficient for mauTiring an acre, and of the others, 
, quantities just pro])ortioned to their ammoniacal con- 
, stituent. This indicates, unmistakably, the importance 
I to the cultivator of obtaining genuine Guano, and he 
j cannot feel confidence that ho will obtain such security, 
unless he purchases from long-established dealers, who 
have a business to lose if it is proved that they have 
deceived their customers. 
December 9. 
The increasing demand shows that the value of Guano 
is confirmed by every year’s experience; and we hail 
the fact as a proof that British cultivators, true to our 
national character, meet increased difficulties by in¬ 
creased efforts to rise superior over them. The quan¬ 
tities imported in the last live years are as follows 
{Farmers’ Almanac for 1853, yj. 21):— 
1847 
1848 
1849 
1850 
1851 
82,392 
71,414 
83,430 
1 10,925 
243,010 
In Guano the allotment-gardener and the small market- 
gardener have a powerful friend. Want of capital, and 
of the means of keeping much animal stock, renders a 
deficiency of manure their chief difficulty, and Guano 
releases them from it. Wo have now seen it em])loyed 
almost for every important garden croj) ; and we 
can testify that it helps them to as excellent a 
growth as would be obtained by applying twenty times 
their weight of any farm-yard dung. All the Cabbage- 
worts, Hpinach, Celery, Asparagus, Strawberries, Poses, 
and many other garden jilants, we have seen grown 
without any other manure being added, and we can 
testify that never was a finer produce obtained, oven 
with a lavish expenditure of the gardener’s usual com¬ 
post. liCt Jill gardeners bear this in mind, and when 
ever inconvenienced by a deficiency of manure, let them 
remember that they can purchase the best Peruvian 
Guano for ten shillings per hundred weight. 
COVENT GARDEN. 
Ere this, our readers will have had time to consider 
the proposition we made as to the economical planta¬ 
tions of fruit-trees; and taking it for granted that, with 
some of them at least, it has met with some degree ol’ 
favour, we continue the subject. 
W^e have already given a list of those varieties of \ 
Apples which we would recommend for dessert use, and ! 
which are likely to be most remunerative wben taken to 
market. This week we shall devote our attention to ' 
those adu])ted for culinary purposes; and, carrying out 
the same plan as that on which we set out, by taking 
them in their order of maturity, we shall now com- [ 
mence with— ! 
1. Monies Codlin. — One of the earliest, best, and 
most abundant-bearing culinary Apples wo have. We j 
have chosen this variety in preference to some of the ! 
other early Codlins, because the tree is of a very hardy 
constitution, succeeds well in exposed situations, and is 
not very nice as regards soil. This being ol' a small 
habit of growth, it would be well to graft it standard 
high on some other variety of vigorous growtli, and 
wliich would make a stronger stem than the blanks 
Codlin would if trained up of itself. 
2 Early JuUeii. —To many the name of this Apple 
will be new, for it is not so well-known as it ought to 
be, and consequently not so extensively cultivated. It 
is, nevertheless, a variety of some standing. In the 
appearance of the fruit it has some resemblance to the 
Ilawthornden, but is as superior to that variety as the 
THE COTTAGE GARDENER. 
