Guano

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_Prepared Guano--Agricultural Salts--Generators and Regenerators._--Of
these, the testimony of Mr. Reynolds is exactly to the point, concise
and strong, and exactly in accordance with all the facts we have been
able to collect upon the same subject. He says, "I have tried them on
corn, wheat, oats, clover and tobacco; but have yet to discover that
they ever generated anything for me, though I have heard them sometimes
well spoken of."

Want of room in this pamphlet alone prevents us from inserting the names
and operations of many other gentlemen in this rapidly improving
State--a State now undergoing the process of renovation by the use of
guano, to a greater extent, perhaps, than any other in the Union.

GUANO IN DELAWARE.

_Hon. John M. Clayton's Farm._--No one who looks upon this highly
improved farm now, with its most luxuriant crops, can be made to believe
it was a barren waste seven years ago--hardly worth fencing or
cultivating. This great change, so far beyond the power of human belief,
has been effected by lime, plaster and guano. The railroad from
Frenchtown to New Castle, passes through this farm, four miles from the
latter place. It is well worthy a visit from any one anxious to make
personal observations of the effects of "bought manures," upon a soil
too poor to support a goose per acre.

_Effect of Guano on Oats._--During a visit to Mr. Clayton, in 1851, we
saw the most luxuriant growth of oats upon one of the fields of this
farm, which we have ever witnessed, and it has been our fortune to see
some tall specimens of this crop on the bottom lands of Ohio, Indiana,
and Illinois. The seed he had obtained from England, and the means of
making it grow, from Peru. The guano was plowed in with the oats, at the
rate of 350 lbs. to the acre. The soil is a yellow clayey loam. The
effect upon other crops had been equally beneficial. The growth of
clover was so great he had purchased thirty bullocks to fatten, for the
purpose of trying to consume some of his surplus feed. The effect upon
wheat, corn, potatoes, turnips, garden vegetables and fruit trees, was
almost as astonishing as upon the oats and grass.

_C. P. Holcomb_, Esq., one of the most improving farmers of one of the
most improving counties in the U.S., has met with great success in the
use of lime, plaster, and guano. His beautiful highly improved home farm
is near Newcastle; but that upon which he has met with great success in
the use of guano, lies about four miles from Dover. Before he purchased
it had become celebrated for its miserable poverty. It is now equally
celebrated for its productiveness. The use of guano in that part of the
State has now reached a point far beyond what the most sanguine would
have dared to predict four years ago; and the benefits are of the most
flattering kind. Lands have been increased in value to a far greater
extent than all the money paid for guano; while the increased profit
from the annual crops, has produced corresponding improvements in the
condition and happiness of the people.

No greater blessing, said an intelligent gentleman to me, ever was
bestowed upon the people of Delaware.

_Extensive use of Guano by a Delaware farmer._ Maj. Jones, whose name is
extensively known as a very enterprising farmer, purchased in the summer
of 1851, of Messrs. A.B. Allen & Co. New York, sixty tons of Peruvian
guano, for his own use. With this he dressed 300 acres of wheat, upon
the farm at his residence on the Bohemia manor; plowing in part of it
and putting in part of it by a drilling machine at the rate of 200 lbs.
to the acre, sowing the wheat all in drills. Part of the ground was
clover, part corn, and perhaps one half wheat and oat stubble. The earth
at the time of sowing was so dry, doubts were entertained whether it
would ever vegetate; and that and other causes extended the work so
late, upon a portion of the ground, there was scarcely any appearance of
greenness when it froze up. With all these disadvantages, the crop was
estimated at harvest at twenty bushels to the acre. Without guano no one
acquainted with the farm would have estimated the crop at an average of
ten bushels. This gives an undoubted increase of five bushels for each
hundred weight of guano; and as the soil contains a good deal of clay
with which the guano was well mixed, it will retain much of the value of
the application, for the next crop. Maj. Jones has heretofore derived
very great benefits from the use of guano, as might safely be adjudged
from the fact of his risking $3,000 in one purchase of the same article.

_Lasting effects of Guano._--Maj. Jones is well satisfied upon this
point. In 1847, he used 16 tons, half Peruvian and half Patagonian,
sowed with a lime-spreading machine and plowed in deep, say eight inches
on clayey loam--planted corn and made 60 bushels per acre on 100 acres;
which was an increase of 12 bushels per acre over any former year. Next
spring the weeds grew as high as his head on horseback. Rolled them down
and plowed under and sowed wheat, five pecks to the acre, and made a
heavier crop than ever before made on same land, which he attributes
entirely to the guano. Thinks the third crop of wheat is benefitted from
guano plowed in three years previous.

The extent to which guano is used in the State of Delaware may be
inferred from the fact that it is not at all unusual for merchants in
small country villages to purchase from 50 to 200 tons at a time for
their retail trade.

Among other successful users of guano in that State, we may mention
Governor Ross, who, if as good a ruler as he is farmer, ought to be
continued in office to the end of life.

The soil to which guano has been mostly applied in this State is a sandy
loam, and the process of applying it, by sowing broadcast from 200 to
350 lbs. per acre, and plowing in from four to six inches deep, previous
to sowing wheat, which is always followed by clover, by every one who
understands his own true interest; for wherever that course has been
pursued, there has been a certain profit derived from the application,
even when the wheat has failed.

The improvements in farming in Delaware within the last ten years, will
probably exceed in proportion to acres and people, any other State in
the Union. Nearly all the northern part of the State has been whitened
with lime, and the southern part is rapidly following the same path;
while the sale of guano in all parts will exceed any other section of
the country, if not in quantity, certainly in numbers of persons making
use of this sure means of restoring the lands of an almost ruined State,
to their pristine fertility.

GUANO IN PENSYLVANIA.

There has probably been less guano used in this great State, than in her
little sister, of which we have just been speaking. This may be owing to
the fact that great improvements have been made by the use of lime, and
that Pensylvania farmers generally are not much inclined to leave the
path their fathers trod before them; or that they are skeptical as to
what they hear of the miraculous powers of guano; hence, its use has
been in a great measure confined to market gardeners, or experiments in
a small way; the sales at Philadelphia, for home consumption, so far as
we have noticed, are mostly in small lots of one to ten bags. Among all
with whom we have conversed, however, who have used Peruvian guano in
that State, we have never heard a doubt expressed of its value, though
the idea, strangely enough seems to prevail, that it will only be
profitable for gardners and small farmers, and that it is of no benefit
to succeeding crops. No doubt the progress of improvement by the use of
guano in that vicinity has been greatly retarded, in consequence of the
sale of considerable quantities of "cheap guano," which however low in
the scale of prices, is still lower in the scale of values. In fact,
there is but one thing connected with the spurious stuff, lower in any
scale, and that is the honesty of those who manufacture or knowingly
sell such a villainous compound to farmers, who are utterly ignorant
upon the subject, under solemn assurances, that it "is equal to any
guano in market, and only a little more than half price."

Mr. Landreth, the celebrated seedsman of Philadelphia, applied $500
worth of Peruvian guano last spring, principally on the bean crop--he
thinks guano admirably adapted to all the Brassica tribe, including
turnips, cabbages, rutubaga, radishes and all cruciform plants. Upon a
lawn which appeared to be running out, he applied guano, and the grass
is now green and vigorous. The character of his soil may be judged from
its location; it is on the Delaware river above Bristol, and had been
awfully skinned before he came in possession. Now, with a liberal
expenditure for manures, he gets two crops a year.

_Guano for grass lands._--The Germantown Telegraph says: "The
application of guano broadcast to grass lands has been found to produce
a decided difference in the crop. In several instances this season,
where Peruvian guano has been applied at the rate of 200 lbs. per acre,
about the middle of April, the yield of hay has been double in quantity,
over the intermediate lands not so treated; and in every instance
noticed, it is believed that the difference in quantity produced will
amply repay the cost of the guano."

GUANO IN NEW JERSEY.

Guano has not been extensively used in New Jersey, owing to the
abundance of green sand marl, which is a very valuable fertilizer,
abounding in that part of the State most in need of artificial manures.
Guano has, wherever used, produced the most astonishing results. One of
these we witnessed upon the farm of Mr. Edward Harris, a gentleman well
known for his enterprising spirit of improvement and intelligence in
agriculture, who resides at Moorestown, which lies in the sandy region
east of Philadelphia. He sowed 400 lbs. to the acre, plowed in with
double plow, sowed oats and seeded with timothy, which upon similar soil
often "burns out" for want of shade, after the oats are harvested. Not
so in this case. The shattered oats from a remarkably fine crop,
vegetated and grew with such a dark green luxuriance, there was more
danger of the young grass being smothered out; so he had to put the
mowers at work, who cut heavy swaths of this second crop of oats, for
hay. If it had been situated so it could have been fed off, the amount
of pasture would have been almost incalculable. It is needless to say
the effect of guano upon this land, was not evanescent. Other trials
made by Mr. Harris, have convinced him of its value to Jersey farmers,
and that good as "Squankum marl" undoubtedly is, farmers would do better
to expend part, at least, of their money in guano.

The name of James Buckalew is known, perhaps, more extensively than any
other in New Jersey, as one of her most enterprising, rapidly improving,
money making farmers, whose testimony in favor of guano may be easily
obtained by any one who will take the trouble to go and see what
beautiful farms he has made out of the barren sands near the Jamestown
station, on the Camden & Amboy railroad, by the use of lime, plaster,
marl, manure and guano. It is a pity that every one who doubts the
feasibility of profitably improving the worst land in that State, by the
power of such an agent as Peruvian guano, could not see what has been
done by Mr. Buckalew. Let them also look at what were once bare sand
hills around the residence of Commodore Stevens, at South Amboy, a
gentleman who ought to be more renowned for his improvements on land
than water, notwithstanding his world wide reputation, in connection
with the yacht America. Go ask how it is that these drifted sand hills
have been covered with rank grass, clover, corn, turnips and other
luxuriant crops; the very echo of the question will be, guano.

Look at the astonishing crops of Professor Mapes, at Newark. Peruvian
guano, in combination with his improved superphosphate of lime, hath
wrought the miracle, aided as it has been, by the deepest plowing ever
done in that State.

Mr. Samuel Allen, at Morristown, has now growing upon a poor barren,
gravelly knoll, a crop of corn which might put to blush the owner of a
rich and well manured field, and which ought to put to blush some of the
unbelievers in the power of guano to produce such a growth upon such a
soil; rather where there was no soil, hardly enough to grow a
respectable crop of mullen stalks. Mr. Allen has tried guano for several
years upon every kind of garden vegetable, with the most wonderful
success. A crop of Lima beans now growing exhibit its wonderful power in
the strongest manner. The application has been made by a small dose at
planting and two sprinklings hoed in during their growth.

A great many other persons in this State have produced most wonderful
effects upon land almost utterly worthless, while in the immediate
benefits, those who have applied it to lands in good condition, have
profited more than with double the cost of manure.

_Guano for Peach Trees._--A New Jersey nurseryman assured us of his firm
conviction in the power of guano to cure the yellows in peach
trees--that no grub or worm can be found alive in the roots of a tree
where guano is applied--that young trees can be brought into bearing by
the use of guano, a year earlier than by any other forcing process with
which he is acquainted.

GUANO ON LONG ISLAND.[1]

One gentleman assures us he tried an experiment very carefully, and
found an application of guano at two and a half cents a pound, 300 lbs.
to the acre, more economical than hauling his own manure one mile. The
fair value of team work and cost of labor hired, was more to the acre
than the guano, and the first crop quite inferior, the second no
difference, and the third slightly in favor of the manure. He thinks
buying city manure, particularly street sweepings, about the poorest use
to which he could put his money, as he certainly could make 50 per ct.
more upon the same amount expended in Peruvian guano. Professor Mapes
entertains the same opinion, about hauling manure, where guano, or
rather with him, guano improved by the addition of his "improved
superphosphate of lime," can be procured.

Dr. Peck, a gentleman well known for his philanthropic motives in
settling and improving the "Long Island barrens," has proved that every
acre of that long neglected, and until quite recently considered
worthless portion of the Island, can be rendered fertile, so as to be
cultivated with great profit, either in farms or market gardens, by the
aid of this greatest blessing ever bestowed by Providence upon an
unfertile land.

Several of the Messrs. Smith, of Smithtown, could show any Long Island
farmer who still has doubts upon the subject, that guano is the greatest
worker of miracles in this age--that it is just as capable of producing
great crops on the barren sands of the Island, as it is on the tide
water shores of Virginia, upon soil of the same character.

A great deal has been said in deprecation of the waste of fertilizing
matters in the city of New York, in which the writer of this pamphlet
has conscientiously joined; because, he thought it wicked to commit such
waste, while we were surrounded by lands lying idle, for the want of
these very substances. Precious, however, as they would be to the
farmer, he cannot afford to use them. That is, it would be poor economy
for a Long Island farmer, no matter how near the city, to expend money
in the hire of men, vessels and teams, to save, carry, haul and apply to
his farm, the immense amount of fertilizing substances now wasted;
because the same capital expended in purchasing and applying guano, will
produce a much greater profit. The difference in cartage is enough to
astonish one who has never thought upon the subject. One man with a pair
of horses can easily carry guano enough in one day, thirty miles into
the country, to manure ten acres of ground. To carry an equivalent of
city manure, in the same time, would require 300 pair of horses and 350
men. Who can wonder that barren lands have remained barren? Who will not
wonder if they still continue so, with such fertilizers as their owners
might possess to render them otherwise? But few of the residents in the
interior of Long Island, if the manure was given to them, can afford the
time and team work to haul 300 loads for ten acres, while all can afford
the time for one load; and they may be morally certain the capital
invested in that load will be returned in the first crop. The great
advantage of guano over all other manures is, the concentration of
immense fertilizing power in such small bulk.

_Guano in New York and Connecticut_, generally, has been less used than
any sound reason will justify. A comparatively small portion of the
market gardeners--a few gentlemen in the improvement of rural homes, and
here and there a nurseryman, have derived immense benefits; but the bulk
of the farmers are still either faithless, or ignorant; in most cases
the latter, of the benefits they might derive from a liberal expenditure
in the means, and the only means within their reach, of rendering their
lands productive.

_Effect of Guano on Garden Seeds._--From the society of Shakers, at
Lebanon, so justly celebrated for growing garden seeds, we receive the
most positive assurance that no manure ever applied by them, has had
such an effect as guano. The production of seeds of all descriptions, is
not only increased, but the quality is improved to an astonishing
degree. The same effect has been noted upon wheat, particularly in our
account of Mr. Newton's operations. So also has it in England. This view
of the case should give an additional value to guano to the farmer, as
not only an improver of the quantity of his products, but by the gradual
improvement in the quality of the seed, calculated to be of vast benefit
to him in that respect. Garden seeds raised by guano, as soon as their
superiority becomes known, will be in such demand that no other can be
sold. Another advantage will arise from the fact that such seeds will be
found entirely free from weeds, as none grow after a few years upon land
manured only with guano.

The beautiful residence of Mr. Edwin Bartlett, near Tarrytown, exhibits
strong evidence of the fertilizing power of guano upon the poor,
unproductive hill sides of Westchester Co. That place, now so luxuriant,
was noted a few years ago, as too poor to support grasshoppers. It was
the poverty stricken joke of the neighborhood.

[Footnote 1: For interesting letters from Long Island, see appendix.]

GUANO IN MASSACHUSETTS.

We have heard a good many assertions that guano, however valuable it
might be upon the warm sandy soils of the south, would not answer in the
cold land and climate of the New England States. To refute this fallacy,
we have some strong testimony. Seven years ago, while the very name of
guano, and much more its virtues were unknown to half the farmers of
America, Mr. S. S. Teschemacher, of Boston, a gentleman of science and
practical skill in gardening, became so fully convinced of its value to
the cultivators of American soil, he published a pamphlet for the
purpose of inducing others to profit by its use. From that pamphlet we
make a few extracts. He says--"One of the numerous objections to this
manure is, that, although it may answer well in the humid atmosphere of
England, it cannot produce equal benefit in the hot, sandy soils of this
country. In reply to this, it may be observed, that the sandy soils of
South America are more hot than they are here; and, on the coast of
Peru, where it is most used, it scarcely ever rains at all. The truth
is, that it certainly requires moisture to decompose it, and enable it
to enter into the juices of the plant; by no means, however, so much as
is usually supposed; but, once absorbed by the roots and plants, it
imparts that strength and solidity which enable them to resist both
drought and cold.

"It is beyond dispute that guano contains the chief ingredients required
for the growth of plants. The instances hereafter adduced will show that
the combination and form of these ingredients are such as to promote not
only its immediate action, but clearly to accelerate considerably the
progress of vegetation."

The chief ingredients, then, of guano, are,

Ammonia, in various forms and combinations;
Phosphate and oxalate of lime and magnesia;
Salts of potash and soda;
Animal organic matter;
Sand and moisture.

Besides the evidence we have given of the value of an application of
such a compound, it contains evidence within itself to every mind embued
with any knowledge of agricultural chemistry, that it will not only
promote immediate growth of vegetation, but produce a lasting benefit to
the soil. It contains all the materials necessary for the growth of
cereal or esculent vegetation in the exact form required--that is an
impalpable powder--to promote rapid, certain, large growth, and abundant
fruitfulness, and consequent profit.

EXPERIMENTS BY MR. TESCHEMACHER.

To Indian corn, applied one teaspoonful to the hill, well mixed with
earth, at time of planting. When twelve or fifteen inches high, hoed in
three tea spoons full around the corn, and covered two inches deep and
watered. Soil--a poor, sandy, sterile one. Product--one seed produced
three main stalks with eight perfect ears and five suckers, weighing
8-1/4 lbs. The best plant without guano, weighed 1-1/4 lbs. and only had
one ear.--"I find the best mode of applying guano is to hollow out the
hill, put in one teaspoonful and a half of guano, and mix it well with
the soil. Spread even, then put on this about one or one and a half inch
depth of light soil, on which sow the seed and cover up. When the corn
is about twelve inches high, or the time of first hoeing, begin with the
hoe about four inches from the stems, and make a trench the width of the
hoe about two or three inches deep. Spread in this trench about three or
four teaspoonfuls guano, stir it in, and cover the trench as quickly as
possible. If this last operation can be performed just before or during
rain, the action will be quicker and more effectual."

Four or five teaspoonfuls of dry powder producing such an effect, is
what staggers the belief of those who see with their own eyes.

So great is the luxuriance of growth from such an insignificant
application, it is necessary to increase the space nearly double between
the hills. In a country where fodder is so valuable as it is in
Massachusetts, the great increase of stalks is of equal importance with
the increase of grain. Indian corn requires both phosphate of lime and
magnesia which it finds in guano, in combination with ammonia, in a
state just ready to be absorbed by the growing plant, wherever brought
in contact, with its roots.

Mr. T. found the guanoed corn planted May 22d, ripened sooner than that
planted May 1st. with manure. This alone on account of the difficulty
from frost, is sufficient to give it great claim upon northern farmers.

_Effect on Grass._--"The application of this manure to grass land
already laid down is for many reasons often attended with uncertain
results. The best mode is, to spread broadcast about 250 lbs. per acre
of the Peruvian guano as soon as the snow is off the ground. It would be
very advantageous if, after it was spread on, some light loam could be
put over it, in the manner of a top dressing. I state the Peruvian guano
is the best for this operation, as it contains what Dr. Ure calls
_potential ammonia_, or ammonia in a more permanent form; whereas the
ammonia from the Ichaboe guano evaporates more easily, and this valuable
ingredient is therefore lost in the atmosphere when it is spread on the
surface.

"Most excellent crops have been obtained, where the grass is sown and
laid down in the autumn, on light, sandy soils, by sowing the guano
evenly broadcast, then harrowing twice, sowing the grass seed, and
rolling."

The best mode of applying it, however, is to sow broadcast and plow it
in--at the south, on sandy soils, no matter how deep--at the north on
soils more clayey, plow it in about four inches deep--the real object
being to so mix it with the soil as to prevent the escape of ammonia,
which is exceedingly volatile. Remember, _Guano_ should never be used as
a top dressing, except in combination with plaster, or some other
substance which will prevent the escape of the most valuable portion of
its composition.

In several case, where sods have been laid down for lawns or
embankments round houses, the most surprising growth has been obtained
by strewing the surface with guano previous to laying on the sod.

E. Baylies, of Taunton, sowed 460 lbs. African guano per acre, with
grass seed, which yielded, this year, one ton per acre more than that
without; and the appearance of the guanoed grass is now much more thick,
luxuriant, and promising, for next year than the other.

"Another friend of mine sowed grass in sandy soil with a full quantity
of manure, and an adjoining acre, with 400 lbs. Ichaboe guano. The
guanoed acre grew stronger, and retained its full verdure the whole
winter; the manured piece, on the contrary, became, as usual, brown by
the action of the frost."

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