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Solon Robinson >> Guano
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OTHER WITNESSES IN VIRGINIA IN FAVOR OF GUANO.
As our principal object is to convince the skeptical, or induce
unbelievers in its efficacy and value, to try experiments themselves by
which they will be convinced and enriched, we offer the names of a few
more gentlemen of high standing, who have been very fortunate in the use
of this essential element of successful cultivation in Virginia, as
witnesses, whose testimony ought to be, and will be, where they are
known entirely conclusive.
_Col. Robert W. Carter, of Sabine Hall_, on the Rappahanock, whose land
is principally of that kind of clayey loam common upon that river, once
rich but badly worn by cultivation, is so well satisfied that it is
profitable to make rich lands still more rich, he buys annually 30 or 40
tons of the best in market. He says he cannot afford to sow wheat
without guano--it is foolish and unprofitable. He sows it broad cast,
200 lbs. to the acre, with no other preparation than breaking the lumps;
plows it in; sows wheat and harrows that; in some cases has sown clover,
and in others, followed wheat after wheat with increasing productiveness
every year; clearly proving the effect of one application, to be
beneficial to the succeeding crop. Without guano, or very high manuring,
wheat will deteriorate year after year, if sown upon the same soil,
until the product would not pay for the labor of sowing and harvesting.
Upon one upland field, which without manure would not pay for
cultivation, he sowed one bushel of wheat and 200 lbs. Peruvian guano
and made fifteen bushels. Plowed down the stubble with same application,
and when we saw the crop, should have been willing to insure it at
twenty-five bushels. Col. C. has nearly 2,000 acres in cultivation,
which within his recollection was cultivated entirely with hoes--his
grandfather would not use a plow--was as much set against that great
land improver as some modern, but no more wise farmers, are against
guano. Col. C. uses the best of plows; sows 200 lbs. guano to the acre
and plows it in six inches deep, and sows one bushel of wheat and
harrows thoroughly, but not deep enough to disturb the guano. His gain
has been eight bushels average upon 210 lbs. guano. Thinks Peruvian at
$50 a ton preferable to any other at current prices. His land is mostly
clayey loam and was so much exhausted by a hundred years hard usage, it
was barely able to support the servants, until the Colonel commenced his
system of improvements by draining, deep plowing, rotation of crops,
lime, plaster, clover, and guano; the latter of which he looks upon as
the salvation of lower Virginia; while his large sales of eight or ten
hundred acres of corn and wheat, sufficiently attest its value upon that
location. His actual annual profits upon the use of guano, cannot be
less than two thousand dollars.
Doctor Brockenborough, Doctor Gordon, Messrs. Dobyn, Micou, Garnett and
others of Tappahannock and vicinity, have all found the application even
upon the bottom lands, profitable, though not to so great an extent as
upon the poor old field-pine lands of Mr. Newton; but simply from the
reason that his land was utterly worthless before, but after the
application of the guano, was increased in value more than its whole
cost, besides the profit derived from the crop.
Wm. D. Nelson, a neighbor of Mr. Newton, bought a tract of land for a
residence, at $4 an acre, which in its natural condition was not worth
cultivating; but with guano will pay all expenses of that and the
cultivation and the cost of the land the first crop.
Upon a portion of this land, a poor sandy loam, he applied 200 lbs.
Peruvian guano and one bushel of wheat per acre, and made 12 bushels,
while a strip through the field, purposely left without guano, did not
produce the seed, and remained as destitute of clover as though it never
had been sown, forming a very striking contrast to the luxuriant growth
upon each side. In another trial he made 10 bushels from one sowed, with
200 lbs. of Patagonian guano, of a very good quality. This is about in
proportion to the current price of the two kinds, though the latter
cannot be so certainly depended upon for good quality as the Peruvian.
Another trial was made with 1,100 lbs. Peruvian and 1,100 lbs.
Patagonian, and 11 bushels of seed upon 11 acres which made 160 bushels
of wheat of very fine quality, and large growth of straw. Upon 36 acres,
same kind of soil, well manured in the previous crop of corn, sowed 36
bushels and made 162. The first had not been manured. The evidence in
favor of guano in this case, needs no comment. By an outlay of $40, a
much more valuable crop was made from the 11 acres than from the 36; the
permanent improvement to the land from guano was much greater than from
the manure. In this case the guano was plowed in about four inches deep.
Mr. Nelson thinks the yield of wheat will average in that neighborhood,
an increase of 16 bushels for 200 lbs. of Peruvian guano.
H. Chandler, Westmoreland Court House, bought a farm at a price for the
whole below the cost of the mansion house alone, because the land was so
utterly and hopelessly worn out, as to be past the ability of supporting
those engaged in its tillage. When we saw it, we should have been
willing to insure the growing crop of wheat at 20 bushels, the result of
210 lbs. of Peruvian guano to the acre; while the clover upon the
stubble of the previous year could not be excelled in point of
luxuriousness upon the richest field in the State of New York, where the
land was valued at $100 an acre.
Mr. Chandler first commenced with 250 lbs. African guano, measuring
3-1/2 bushels, to the acre, upon which he sowed one bushel of wheat. The
result 17 bushels to the acre upon land which only gave 5-1/2 bushels in
any previous crop. Cost of guano $5; profit, $6 50. The next year he
gained an increase of 12 bushels to the acre over previous years, by the
use of 250 lbs of Patagonian guano; while the clover, Mr. Chandler
thinks, worth more than the whole cost of the application. A still
better result was produced last year from 210 lbs. of Peruvian. The soil
is a yellow clayey loam, which in its unimproved condition looks about
as unpromising for a crop, as the middle of a hard beaten road.
Mr. C. tried guano upon river bottom land, but the improvement was not
so remarkable.
We were assured by Mr. C., that many persons who had long been
accustomed to look upon the hopeless barrenness of this land, were wont
to stop as they rode past this field of clover, and look at it with
utter astonishment. Some could not be satisfied with looking, but would
drive to the house to inquire what magical power had been used to
produce such a strange metamorphosis in the appearance of the place.
When assured it was all effected by guano, they went away--not
satisfied--but unbelieving.
What tends much to increase the effect of this improvement, is the fact,
that directly opposite lies another tract, still in its barren
condition, lately purchased by Dr. Spence, a very enterprising
gentleman, imbued with the spirit of improvement, which will soon be
brought into the same condition, notwithstanding its unforbidding
appearance.
Mr. S. B. Atwell who owns an adjoining farm, has been equally successful
in the use of guano. Before using it, his wheat upon 20 acres was hardly
sufficient to pay for harvesting. The first crop after using it, 400
bushels. He has also increased the crop of corn from 20 to 260 barrels
by lime, guano and clover. In the meantime, the land has increased in
value in about the same ratio.
In Lancaster County, we saw a field of wheat on the farm of Dr. Leland,
sown upon corn ground, one part with 200 lbs. of Peruvian guano to the
acre, the other with a full dressing of hog-pen manure, by the side of
which the ground was seen in its natural barrenness, scarcely making a
show of greenness; while the rank growth of the guanoed portion made as
great a contrast with that manured upon the opposite side.
Guanoed wheat upon the farm of Col. Downing in the same county showed as
great a contrast with land both limed and manured; while directly
alongside of this luxuriant growth, the land was as destitute of
vegetation as a brick pavement.
The effect of guano upon strawberries, Col. D. found to excel anything
else ever tried.
A neighbor of Col. Downing had a fine show for a wheat crop on
exceedingly poor land from the application of only 90 lbs. Peruvian
Guano to the acre.
Capt Wm. Harding, Northumberland, C. H., assured us he made 27 bushels
per acre upon only tolerably fair land, by the use of 200 lbs. Peruvian
guano, plowed in and followed by clover, worth more than the guano cost.
Col. Richard A. Claybrook, in the same neighborhood, made 15
bushels--the land along side almost as bare as the surface of the guano
islands.
We might mention a dozen others in the same place, in fact in most of
the places mentioned, whose testimony would be as strong as those we
have named.
Col. Edward Tayloe of King George Co., having been very successful in
the use of guano, induced his neighbor, Wm. Roy Mason, Esq. to test its
powers by the most severe experiment we have ever known it subjected to.
He selected a point of a hill, from which every particle of soil had
been washed away, until nothing in the world would grow there. It would
not produce, said he, a peck of wheat to the acre, but with a dressing
of 300 lbs. African guano, it gave me thirteen bushels, and now while
that is covered with clover, other, so called, rich parts of the field
are almost bare. A field which had never produced for years, over four
bushels of wheat to the acre, was dressed with 250 lbs. of guano and one
bushel of plaster at a cost of $7 to the acre, which gave thirteen
bushels of a quality greatly improved, and a very large growth of straw,
which he esteems highly as a top dressing for the clover, which far
exceeded upon the guanoed land that which was highly manured. The
success of Mr. Mason was so flattering, he immediately purchased six
tons for the next experiment.
If all the faithless would pursue the course indicated in the following
_experiment with guano_, by Mr. Richard Rouzee of Essex Co. Va., they
would probably be as well convinced as he, that the greatest
"humbugging" about guano, is in neglecting to profit by its use. He
says:--"I must confess that I have been skeptical in relation to the
various accounts of the fertilizing properties of guano, especially in
these times of humbuggery, and therefore determined to subject it to the
most rigid test." In view of this, on the 3d of October last, I selected
two acres of land by actual measurement, proverbially poor, never having
yielded in a course of ten years cultivation more than three bushels per
acre, and in consequence, was called by way of derision, "Old Kentuck."
To the two acres 560 lbs. of guano were applied in the most injudicious
manner by strewing it on the top of the corn bed--the consequence was,
when the wheat was ploughed in, and came up, a small girth was only seen
on the top and a space between each row at least one third of its width;
in this condition it remained until about the middle of November, when
it had so sensibly disappeared, that it attracted the attention of one
of my neighbors, who remarked to me, that at least one half of it had
been destroyed, in which opinion I concurred; in examining that which
remained, we were of opinion that three-fourths of it had from three to
ten flies in the maggot state on each stalk; in this state of things I
surrendered all hope of any tolerable return, more especially as the
rust made its appearance in it a short time before it ripened.--Now for
the result--
The 2 acres of land yielded me 32 1/4 bushels of wheat at $1 per
bushel, $32 25
Deduct for average yield of the above, 2 acres, 6 bushels
at $1 per bushel, $6 00
Deduct for Cost of 560 lbs. Guano, $12 70
-------
$18 70
-------
$13 55
Add for additional straw, 50
-------
Clear profit, $14.05
Here is a clear profit of $14 upon $12.70 invested, and acknowledged to
be applied in the most injudicious manner. It is easy to judge what
would have been the profit under different circumstances. In the
vicinity of this city where straw sells for $5 per hundred little
bundles, instead of a credit of 50 cents it would have been at least
half the cost of the guano.
GUANO IN NORTH CAROLINA.
_Henry K. Burgwyn's first trial with guano. Its effect on grass sown
with wheat._--The name and farm of this gentleman is so widely known as
a successful renovator of miserably poor worn out fields, that we are
delighted to have it in our power to have his testimony to our
impregnable array of witnesses in favor of the most valuable substance
for the improvement of such land, ever given by an overruling power for
the benefit of those who ought to be exceedingly thankful for so good a
gift. But hear what this writer has to say upon this interesting
subject.
"Having about 150 acres of my wheat, this year sown upon last year's
corn ground, and the land being rather light and not too rich, I feared
lest I should fail with my grass sown on _this_ wheat, because of the
two successive cereal crops; I therefore bought guano, mixed it with its
bulk of plaster, then added fine charcoal, the same, and to this mixture
double the whole bulk of deposit of the Roanoke river, a rich alluvial
earth, and sowed the whole broadcast in February and March, and harrowed
it in, on the top of the wheat I sowed at the rate of 200 lbs. of guano
to the acre; the value of which, no doubt, was doubled by the mixture
with the absorbents of the ammonia, which is so exceedingly volatile
even when left for a few hours, is easily dissipated by the March winds.
On this land, I had sown in October previous, clover, timothy, Kentucky
blue grass, and Italian ray grass. My harvest has now been over, three
weeks, and I have never had a finer stand of all these, even on our rich
bottoms. The ray grass matured its seed, rather sooner than the wheat
was two-thirds as tall, and where _very thickly sown_, materially
injured the product of the wheat, _I have reaped an increased product
from my wheat, amply sufficient to repay my outlay for the guano,
plaster, &c., and have my grass as my profit on the investment_; this in
turn will shade and improve my land, fatten my stock, increase my crops,
and cheer my eye with 'grassy slopes,' in place of 'galled hill sides;'
this is profit sufficient for the most greedy if turned to a proper
account;--be it remembered, too, this was a light and rather poor soil,
but based on a good clay subsoil."
To this we beg leave to add from our own knowledge of this land, which
is situated on the Roanoke river 6 or 7 miles below Halifax, that it was
before being improved by Mr. Burgwyn, about as unpromising a tract as
can be found upon all the "cottoned to death," poor old fields of that
sadly abused State. In the condition it was when we first saw it, while
undergoing the operation of putting a four horse plow through the broom
straw and old field pines, notwithstanding our strong faith in the
ability of such men as the Messrs. Burgwyns to redeem such land from its
condition of utter and apparently hopeless barrenness, we must own, that
if Mr. B. had made the assertion while we were riding over this very
tract, that within two years he would reap a remunerating crop of wheat
from the barren waste, and coat the ground with a carpet of luxuriant
grass, we should have told him the day of miracles had passed away. But
we had not then seen as much as we have since of the miraculous power of
Peruvian guano.
We might continue to cite hundreds of similar cases but propose to pass
over into Maryland, and after showing its application there has produced
equally beneficial results, travel northward, calling here and there a
witness as we proceed. Among others, we may call to the stand in
Maryland, will be the editor of the American Farmer, whose testimony we
consider almost invaluable, having devoted much attention to the
subject, and to whom, and his able correspondents, we desire to award
full credit, in this general manner, to save repetition, for much of the
information we shall give the readers of several of the succeeding
pages. The testimony of witnesses of such high standing, cannot be too
highly estimated by those who are anxious to learn how to renovate their
worn out farms, or make the rich ones richer.
EXPERIMENTS IN MARYLAND.
_Effects of guano upon the crop to which it is applied._--Edward
Stabler, in the American Farmer, thus speaks of an experiment he made in
1845, soon after the introduction of guano to any extent into this
country.
"In a field of some 10 acres, one acre was selected near the middle, and
extending through the field, so as to embrace any difference of soil,
should there be any. On this acre 200 lbs. of Peruvian guano, at a cost
of about $5 was sown with the wheat. Adjoining the guano on one side,
was manure from the barn yard, at the rate of 25 cart loads to the acre;
and on the opposite side (separated by an open drain the whole
distance;) ground bones were applied on the balance of the field, at a
cost of $6 to the acre; the field equally limed two years preceding.
There was no material difference in the time or manner of seeding;
except that the manure was lightly cross-ploughed in, and the guano and
bones harrowed in with the wheat.
"The yield on the guanoed acre was 35 bushels; the adjoining acre with
bone, as near as could be estimated by dozens, and compared with the
guano, was about 27 bushels; and the manured, about 24 bushels. The
season was unusually dry; and the manured portion suffered more from
this cause than either of the others; the land being considerably more
elevated, and a south exposure."
In our opinion Mr. S. is in error in regard to the manured land
suffering most from drouth. In our experience we have always found the
best effects from Guano, in wet seasons, or upon irrigated land. He says
also, "This is one of the most active of all manures; and although he
thinks the effect evanescent, it might aid materially in renovating worn
out lands." Since that time a great many other Maryland farmers have,
undoubtedly come to the same conclusion, for notwithstanding the price,
which he thinks too high to justify its extensive use, has not been
materially reduced, there is more guano sold in Baltimore than any, or
perhaps all the ports in the United States; and the benefits derived
from its use upon the worn out lands of Maryland, have been of the most
satisfactory character.
In speaking of the after crop of grass upon the land above mentioned, he
says:
"The field has since been mowed three times; the first crop of grass was
evidently in favor of the boned part; the second, and third, were fully
two to one over the guano, and also yielding much heavier crops of
clover seed. On a part of one land, 18 bushels to the acre of the finest
of the bone were used; on this, the wheat was as heavy as on the
guanoed, and the grass generally lodges before harvest, as it also does
on much of the adjoining land with 12 bushels of bone."
This is all right; it should never be mixed with lime, and it should be
plowed in. In his experiments, the lime in the soil had the effect to
disengage the ammonia, and not being sufficiently buried or mixed up
with the earth to prevent its escape during a very dry season, much of
its value went afloat in the atmosphere. If he had given a bushel of
plaster as a top dressing, there is no doubt the effect upon the grass
crop would have been entirely different. The action of guano is very
variable upon different soils, as well as upon the same kinds of soil in
different seasons, or from the different manner of applying it; but
there is one thing in its favor, it seldom fails to pay for itself, as
Mr. Newton remarks, in the first crop; and if properly applied, that is,
plowed in with wheat, upon poor, sandy, "worn out land," and followed by
clover, and that dressed with plaster, it will pay far better in the
succeeding years than the first. This has been fully proved in a hundred
cases, since Mr. Stabler tried his experiments; for two years after, in
writing upon the same subject, he says "Harrowing in the guano with the
wheat will generally produce a better crop; but its fertilizing
properties are more evanescent. I prefer plowing it in for all field
crops; and when attainable, would always use it in conjunction with
ground bones, for the benefit of succeeding grass crops. This is
pre-supposing that you determine to improve more land than the resources
of the farm will accomplish, and are willing to do it by the aid of
foreign manures; and being 'far removed from lime.' If the object is to
realize the most in a single crop, and to obtain the quickest return for
the outlay, use the guano alone, and harrow it in with the wheat; but
the land, according to my experience, will derive but little benefit
from the application, unless the amount is large. By plowing it in,
particularly if mixed with one third its bulk of plaster, the effect is
decidedly more durable; nor is it then necessary that the seeding should
so immediately follow its application. If, however, the object is to
improve the land at the same time; and surely it should be a primary
object with every tiller of the soil--and lime, from your location, or
the price, is unattainable, I would advise about half the amount
determined on, to be expended for ground bones. This may be harrowed in
with the wheat."
It is surprising what an effect a few bushels of ground bones to the
acre will produce; reference is made to a single experiment, and not an
isolated one either. Some six years since, we applied ten to twelve
bushels of coarsely ground bones to the acre, on about half of a twelve
acre field; on two lands adjoining, was guano, at the rate of 200 pounds
to the acre, (the cost of each about the same,) and extending nearly
through the field; both were applied in the spring, on the oat crop--and
which was decidedly better, by the eye, on the two lands with guano. In
the fall, the field was sown with wheat, manuring heavily from the barn
yard, adjoining the guano, but not spread on the two lands, or on the
boned portion of the field.
There was but little difference perceived in the wheat, except from the
manure, which was the best--the field having been limed for the
preceding corn crop, 80 bushels to the acre. The experiment was made to
test the comparative durability of the three kinds of manure; the guano,
ground bones, and manure from the barn yard; and the ultimate profit to
be derived from each, in a full rotation. After the first crop of grass,
and perhaps the second, which was in favor of the manured portion, the
succeeding crops of hay and clover seed, have been decidedly better on
the boned part of the field. At the present time, and also the past
season, this being the fourth year in grass, the guanoed lands present
about the same appearance, that does a small adjoining space, purposely
left without manure of any kind, lime excepted. The manured part affords
good pasture, but is quite inferior to the boned, which would give a
fair crop of hay, and probably three times as much grass as the two
lands with guano. It is believed that the increased crop of clover seed
on the boned, over the guanoed portion, paid for the former; and that
the two crops of clover since taken from the field, have paid, or nearly
so, for the lime or other manures applied.
This evidence corresponds with the opinion of Professor Mapes; that is,
that the value of an application of guano is greatly enhanced by the
addition of phosphate of lime, in some shape; the guano acting
immediately and producing a direct profit, while the slow action, for
which some farmers cannot wait, keeps up the fertility for years, or
until the owner may find time to profit by another application of guano.
We quote again a few more of the very sensible remarks of friend
Stabler. "I am an advocate for the liberal use of all kinds of manure,
guano included, if the price will justify it. A farmer had better buy
manure than to buy grain, if compelled to do either; for we cannot
expect much from nothing, or reasonably calculate upon improving very
poor land without manure of some description, unless plaster will act
with effect; nor is this generally the case without the land possesses
naturally, some particular source of fertility, not wholly exhausted by
bad or improvident tillage.
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