Guano Part 1

Guano.

by Solon Robinson.

INTRODUCTION

The rapidly increasing use of guano, in the United States, and the growing conviction upon the public mind, that it is the cheapest and best purchasable manure in the world, together with the fact of a great want of information among American farmers, as to the best mode of applying it to the soil, has induced the agents of the Peruvian Government for the sale of guano in the United States, to employ the author of this pamphlet to collect and publish such information.

It is hoped the favorably and well known name of the author, as an agricultural writer and traveller, together with his extended opportunities of witnessing the application and effect of guano upon the various soils and climates of this country, will give this work such a character, as to induce every improving farmer, gardener, or horticulturist, in America to give it a careful perusal. The author believes it will be found to contain all and much more than its t.i.tle imports, and be of great value to every person using or dealing in guano; as the a.n.a.lysis, not only of the pure article is given, but that of several specimens of adulterated samples, so as to enable the farmer to avoid being cheated by base counterfeits.

The author will be much obliged to any gentleman who will furnish him for publication in future editions of this work, or in the columns of THE AGRICULTOR, any details of experiments in the use of Peruvian guano, which will be useful to the farmers of this country, as it is his desire, as well as the guano agents, to give them useful facts; not only to increase the sale, but the fertility of the land, and wealth of the owners.

With a.s.surances to my friends that I have no other interest in the increased consumption of guano, I am most sincerely and respectfully

Your old Friend,

SOLON ROBINSON.

_New York, October 1852._

A TREATISE ON GUANO.

PERUVIAN GUANO--ITS USES AND BENEFITS.

Of all manures procurable by the American Farmer, guano from the rainless islands of Peru, is perhaps not only the most concentrated--the most economical to the purchaser--but by its composition, as we will show by a.n.a.lysis, the best adapted to all the crops cultivated in this country requiring manure. For wheat, especially, it is the one thing needful. The mineral const.i.tuents of cultivated plants, as will also be shown by a.n.a.lysis, are chiefly lime, magnesia, potash, soda, chlorine, sulphuric and phosphoric acid; all of which will be found in Peruvian guano. Nitrogen, the most valuable const.i.tuent of stable or compost manures, exists in great abundance in guano, in the exact condition required by plants to promote rapid vegetation. The concentration of all these valuable properties in the small bulk of guano, renders it particularly valuable to farms situated in districts unprovided with facilities of cheap transportation. In some hilly regions, it would be utterly impossible to make any ordinary manure pay for transportation.

With guano the case is very different--one wagon will carry enough with a single pair of horses to dress 12 or 16 acres; while of stable manure it would require as many or more loads to each acre to produce the same effect.

But this is not the greatest advantage in the use of this fertilizer; the first application puts the land in such condition, that judicious after cultivation renders it continuously fertile by its own action of productiveness and reproductiveness of wheat, clover and wheat, by turning in the clover of one year for the wheat of the next, and by returning the straw back to the ground where it grew, spread open the surface to shade the plants of clover and manure its roots, which in turn manure the corn or wheat.

As a source of profit alone, we should recommend the continuous application of Guano; knowing as we do, from our extensive means of observation, that no outlay of capital ever made by the farmer, is so sure and certain to bring him back good returns for his money, as when he invests it in this invaluable fertilizer for his impoverished soil.

In proof of this, we shall give the reader of this little work a number of experiments made by some of the most improving farmers in Virginia and other States.

EFFECTS PRODUCED BY THE USE OF GUANO IN VIRGINIA.

In no other part of the world, perhaps, can the beneficial effects of Guano be more plainly seen than in the tide-water region of Virginia. In the counties of King George, Westmoreland, Richmond, Northumberland, Lancaster, in the northern neck, as the peninsula between the Potomac and Rappahanock is termed; thousands of acres of land so poor and worthless a few years ago, it was barely rated as property, are now annually producing beautiful crops of wheat, corn and clover, solely by the application of Guano. In the meantime, the discovery of such an easy means of improving a worn out and barren soil, has increased the money value of land three or four hundred per cent. This is not all.

Heretofore, the only part of this district considered worth cultivation was the bottom land bordering the rivers and creeks; the forest land yielding scanty crops for two or three years after being cleared, scarcely paying for the labor, while its value was rated at from $1 to $4 per acre, and unsaleable at that. Since the introduction of Guano, it is found these forest lands, which are of a sandy, loamy character, and much more pleasant than the bottom lands to till, can be cultivated with equal or greater profit than the stiff lands upon the bottoms. The writer has seen repeatedly in the counties mentioned, luxuriant fields of wheat, corn and clover, while directly alongside of such crops, the ground was almost as bare of vegetation as the sea-sh.o.r.e sands, too poor, as the common expression is there, to bear poverty gra.s.s. And what produced this change? Simply a dressing of 200 lbs. of Guano to the acre.

DR. FAIRFAX'S EXPERIMENTS WITH GUANO.

In April 1850 the writer was on the farm of Dr. Fairfax of King George county, who was one of the first, if not quite the first person in that part of the State who ever made use of this substance as a manure; and his wheat was then so large that a good sized dog was hidden from view in running through the field; while upon a neighboring piece of land of exactly the same quality, sowed at the same time, the ground scarcely looked green; in fact, it was remarked at the time by way of contrast to the one field hiding a dog, that the other would not hide a chicken--indeed, an egg might have been seen as far as though no wheat was growing upon the ground. Both fields were just alike, both plowed and sowed alike, without manure, except 200 lbs of Peruvian guano upon one, and that sure to bring fifteen or twenty bushels to the acre, while the other would not exceed three bushels.

One of his first trials was with the African, of which he applied 400 lbs. to the acre upon 27 acres, which would not produce three bushels of wheat to the acre, in its natural condition, but with this application, notwithstanding it was 32 per cent. water, and, consequently, had lost much of it ammonia, he made an average of 12-3/4 bushels to the acre on the whole field. Upon another, he increased the usual average yield from 8 to 18 bushels, while, in his opinion, the permanent improvement of the land was of greater value than the increased yield of the first crop; for now clover will grow where none would grow before; another advantage arising from guano is, the wheat ripens so much earlier (15th of June) it escapes the rust, so apt to blight that which is late coming to maturity. He now sows wheat in the fore part of September, three pecks to the acre, after having previously plowed in 200 lbs. of Peruvian guano to the acre, and after the first harrowing sows the clover seed.

The land is a yellow clay loam, uneven surface, very much worn; in fact, without the guano, and with all the manure that could be made upon the farm--for no straw no manure--not worth cultivating. Dr. F. had been using guano three years, at the date of our visit, and thought his prospect good for a thousand bushels of wheat upon the same ground, which, without guano would not produce one hundred and fifty.

MR. NEWTON'S EXPERIMENTS.

The Hon. Willoughby Newton, of Westmoreland County, was one of the earliest and most successful experimenters in the use of guano in Virginia. He owns large and productive farms on the Potomac, but on account of the forest land being more healthy for a residence, he bought a tract of it for that purpose; not having any design of ever putting it into cultivation. In fact, it was so poor he could not. The manure of the farm, if it had not been wanted there, was several miles distant--too far to haul; and so the land lay an uncultivated, unprofitable barren waste around his fine mansion; but it did not lay so very long after he discovered the renovating power of guano. It is now annually covered with broad fields of wheat, from which he has realized upwards of twenty bushels to the acre; and the most luxuriant growths of clover upon which he can pasture any amount of stock he pleases, where three years previous a goat would have found difficulty in sustaining life. Mr. Newton's first experiment--what was then an experiment is now a certainty--was made with African guano. But we will give the account of his operations in his own straight-forward, easily understood, farmer-like language.

"In the effect of _guano_, especially the Peruvian, I have never been disappointed. I have used it now for four years, with entire satisfaction having each year been induced to enlarge my expenditure, until last year it reached eight hundred dollars, and for the crop of wheat this fall it exceeds one thousand. I have observed with astonishment its effect in numerous instance on the poor "forest lands"

alluded to in a former part of this address. What the turnip and sheep husbandry have done for the light lands of Great Britain, the general use of guano promises to do for ours. Lands a few years ago deemed entirely incapable of producing wheat, now produce the most luxuriant crops. From 15 to 20 bushels for one sowed, is the ordinary product on our poorest lands, from the application of 200 lbs. of Peruvian guano. I may remark, it is not usual, in Eastern Virginia, to sow more than a bushel of wheat to the acre, and that I deem amply sufficient. Upon this subject I hope a few details may not be considered tedious or uninteresting. I applied last fall $350 worth of guano, partly Peruvian and partly Patagonian, on a poor farm "in the forest," which cost a few years ago four dollars an acre, and reaped 1089 bushels of beautiful wheat from 78 sowed. Forty-six bushels were sowed on fallow, (both guano and wheat put in with the cultivator, followed by a heavy harrow,) and yielded 790 bushels or over 17-1/4 for one. A considerable part of this was dressed with Patagonian guano, and was much inferior to the other portion. A lot on which 15 bushels was sowed, and dressed with Peruvian guano, was threshed separately, and yielded 301 bushels, or over 20 for one. The whole cost of the farm was $1520, and I have good reason to expect with a favorable season from the crop now sowed and dressed with guano, a bushel of wheat for every dollar of the prime cost of the farm.

Many other instances of profit from the use of guano, equally striking have occurred among my neighbors and friends, but I confine myself to those stated, because having come under my immediate observation, I can vouch for their entire accuracy. It has been frequently objected to the use of guano, that it is not permanent. It would be unreasonable to expect great permanent improvement from a manure so active, and which yielded go large a profit on the first crop. Yet I have seen some striking evidences of its permanency in heavy crops of clover, succeeding wheat, and in the increase of the crop of wheat on a second application. As an instance, I may mention that two years ago I sowed upon a single detached acre of "forest land," one bushel of wheat and dressed it with a barrel of African guano, costing $4, and the yield was seventeen bushels. Last fall the same land, after remaining one year in clover, was again sowed with one bushel of wheat and dressed with 140 lbs. of Peruvian guano, costing $3, and the product was 22 bushels. Yet I would advise no one to rely upon guano exclusively. Its a.n.a.lysis shows that it contains salts of ammonia, alkaline phosphates and the other mineral elements necessary to produce the grain of wheat, but is deficient in most of the elements of the straw and roots of the plants.

Hence, (says Liebig) 'a rational agriculturist, in using guano, cannot dispense with stable dung.' We should, therefore, be careful not to exhaust the soil of organic manures, but by retaining the straw of the wheat, and occasionally a crop of clover, which plant contains a large percentage of the alkaline carbonates, which are entirely wanting in Guano, furnish all the elements necessary to the entire wheat plant. In this view of the subject, and for many other reasons that I cannot stop to enumerate, there cannot be, when guano is extensively used, a more judicious rotation than the Pamunky five field system, in which clover occupies a prominent place. I have now enumerated some of the most prominent means by which you may "keep your land rich." I would not discourage the use of others. Science is daily making discoveries in the art of enriching the earth, and we should discard nothing, without a trial, which promises to be useful; always bearing in mind that the wisest economy is entirely consistent with the most liberal expenditure, in the purchase of manures, provided we take care, by judicious experiments and observation, to ascertain their efficacy, and that we get back our capital, with an actual _net_ profit _in cash_, on all our investments. This latter caution is indispensable, in our country, where new lands are so abundant and cheap, that highly improved farms can never be rated in the market at their true value."

"The various manures compounded by chemists and manufacturers, should also engage your careful attention. They should not be recklessly thrown aside as humbugs, without trial or investigation, nor adopted and extensively used with blind confidence in their efficacy. I have used many of these manures by way of experiment, and the profit realized upon them has not justified me in enlarging my operations. Poudrette, manufactured in Baltimore; Bommers manure, Chappel's fertilizer and Kentish & Co.'s prepared guano, (used, it is true, upon a small scale,) have not realized the promises made in their behalf. Yet I would by no means discourage the praiseworthy efforts of the manufacturers, and hope they will persevere until, by lessening the bulk and increasing the power of their compounds, they may be able to prepare an article that for cheapness, convenience of application and efficacy, shall equal or surpa.s.s the best Peruvian guano."

That desideratum, Professor Mapes believes he has already attained by the addition of superphosphate of lime to the Guano, making a compound of two-thirds of the latter to one of the former, more valuable by weight than the pure article. That being the case will greatly increase the consumption of Guano, and greatly improve the condition of all that cla.s.s of farmers who desire to make their poor lands rich.

Of the use of lime, Mr. Newton has the following testimony, which we embody here for its great practical value.

"Calcareous matter is the great want of most of our lands, and in some form is essential to permanent improvement. It should be regarded as the basis of all our operations, and never to be dispensed with for any subst.i.tute. From long experience in the use of lime, I am satisfied that the French plan, of light and frequent dressings, is not only much more economical, but much safer, in our climate, than the heavy dressings common in Great Britain. Fifty bushels of slaked lime to the acre, I have found amply sufficient for any of our lands, and a greater quant.i.ty often attended with injury to the soil and crops, whilst twenty-five bushels will answer every purpose on thin lands, deficient in vegetable matter. Ashes, bone dust, and the various marine manures that abound on the sh.o.r.es of the Chesapeake and its tributaries, will be found important auxiliaries in the work of 'keeping your lands rich,' whilst the necessity of clover and the proper gra.s.ses, to any system of permanent improvement, is too obvious to require comment."

Although caustic lime should never be used in connection, or so as to come in contact with the Guano, there is no doubt of its being a valuable auxiliary. Upon land limed this year, Guano may be used next, and if mixed with charcoal or plaster, or plowed in and thoroughly incorporated with the soil, especially if it contains a considerable portion of clay, no loss of ammonia will occur, in consequence of the action of the lime. On the contrary, the effect will be to make the action of the Guano more active, and the immediate benefit greater; though, of course the succeeding crops would not receive as great a share. But, as Mr. Newton says, ought we to ask for great advantages to succeeding crops, from a manure which gives us such great profits from the present one.

From our notes taken upon the spot, we give a few items more in detail of Mr. Newton's operations, than he has done in the preceding quotations. The tract of land he speaks of is gently undulating; of a sandy loam, with a greater amount of clay in the subsoil; had been literally _worn out_ in former years by the shallow plowing, skinning system of farming, until it would produce no more, when it was abandoned and suffered to grow up again in forest timber, princ.i.p.ally pine of the "old field" species. No land could offer less inducements to the cultivator or give smaller hope of renovation, than these old fields of Virginia. Such was the conviction of impossibility to raise a crop upon this kind of land, that Mr. Newton's first essay was looked upon by his neighbors with a conviction that the fool and his money would soon part company. One sensible old servant told us he thought his master "for sartain was done gone crazy, cause he nebber seed no nothing grow on dat land, no how could fix him." The negroes, wherever guano has been introduced, have been violently opposed to using it; not alone from its disagreeable odor and effect upon the throat and nostrils while handling it in a dry state; but because they could not be persuaded that such a small measure of stuff--200 lbs. measures about three bushels--could possibly produce any effect upon the crop. Their astonishment and consequent extravagant laudation of the effect produced, has often afforded us hours of amus.e.m.e.nt while listening to their recital of "ma.s.sa's big crop," of perhaps ten bushels to the acre, which was at least double that of any one ever seen upon the same field, "fore he put dem little pinch of snuff on him."

_The increase of wheat from guano_ may be safely calculated upon at five bushels for each hundred weight of guano used, one year with another, and up to what may be considered a fair judicious amount to be applied, which may be set down at an average of 200 lbs to the acre, upon all light soils, similar to those of that part of the country we are writing about.

GUANO vs. MANURE--EFFECTS UPON HEAVY LAND.

Mr. Newton related to us an anecdote of some value upon this point. On one of his Potomac farms, a portion of the land is exceedingly heavy--pewtery land, as it is termed from its tendency when wet to run together, presenting a glistening appearance somewhat resembling that metal. His overseer was about as unbelieving as the negroes, and declared he could beat the guano by expending the same value in manure upon a given quant.i.ty of surface. To test this and also to try its effect upon the stiff land, he applied a little short of one ton of Peruvian, which cost $50 upon ten acres, and promised a premium to the overseer if he could make a greater crop by the use of all the manure, men and teams he saw fit to apply to another ten acres lying right along side, and of the same quality of soil. Of course he spared no labor, using both lime and manure freely, but in the spring finding the appearance of his crop unequal to that guanoed, he gave it a top dressing of fine manure and a good working with the harrow. At harvest the guanoed portion was ready for the sickle several days earlier than the other, and yielded 135 bushels of a quality so very superior, it was all reserved for seed for himself and neighbors.

The product of the other was 55 bushels; difference in favor of the guano, 80 bushels--8 bushels to the acre--while the value of extra manuring, probably exceeded the cost of guano, without any material advantage in the effect upon succeeding crops. In fact, it is probable, that the additional growth of straw and clover would be worth more to the next crop on the guanoed portion, than the undecomposed manure and lime would be in the other. It is needless to say both overseer and servants, were fully convinced of the virtue of guano after this experiment.

According to our notes, Mr. Newton first used guano in 1846--one ton of Ichaboe at $30, on 8 acres, with 8 bushels of seed, upon land so deadly poor, that an old negro we conversed with said; "him so done gone ma.s.sa, wouldn't grow poverty gra.s.s nuff to make hen's nest for dis n.i.g.g.e.r." No attempt had been made for years to grow any crop, not even oats or rye, the last effort of expiring nature to yield sustenance to man upon one of those old worn out Virginia farms. Think of the astonishment of the poor negro, who thought his master crazy to sow wheat there _without manure_, to see 88 bushels harvested from the 8 acres.

In 1847, he used $100 worth of Patagonian upon same kind of land and reaped 330 bushels. In 1848, $200 worth of Patagonian and Chilian at $40 and $30 a ton, gave 540 bushels, which sold at $1 25, mostly for seed, on account of its superior quality. In each case the advantage to the land of equal value as to the crop. In 1849, he applied 10 tons Peruvian at $47, and 11 tons Patagonian at $30, upon 260 acres, from 75 to 250 lbs. to the acre. When we saw this crop the next spring, the appearance in favor of the Peruvian, was fully 50 per cent. upon the same cost of each kind per acre.

In 1850 he applied 30 tons, of course, all Peruvian, with equal success to former years.

Mr. Newton says, the second application of guano to the same land produces the best result--that notwithstanding the profit of the first application in the increased crop, the profit to the land is always greater.

Before leaving Mr. Newton, we will place on record one expression highly creditable to him, and convincing in its palpable truth of the value put upon this fertilizer, by a gentlemen of sound judgment and candor of speech, equal to any other within the circle of our acquaintance.

"I look upon the introduction of guano and the success attending its application to our barren lands, in the light of a special interposition of Divine Providence, to save the northern neck of Virginia from reverting entirely into its former state of wilderness and utter desolation. Until the discovery of guano--more valuable to us than the mines of California--I looked upon the possibility of renovating our soil, of ever bringing it up to a point capable of producing remunerating crops as utterly hopeless. Our up-lands were all worn out, and our bottom lands fast failing, and if it had not been for guano, to revive our last hope, a few years more and the whole country must have been deserted by all who desired to increase their own wealth, or advance the cause of civilization by a profitable cultivation of the earth."

We are satisfied that the above opinion will be considered of more value--more conclusive in favor of guano, by all who are acquainted with the character of Willoughby Newton, than all else contained in the pages of this pamphlet.

OTHER WITNESSES IN VIRGINIA IN FAVOR OF GUANO.