Guano: A Treatise of Practical Information for FarmersRobinson, Solon
Science
Guano: A Treatise of Practical Information for Farmers
Robinson, Solon
Guano
Of the effect upon another crop of wheat, the same gentleman says--"Two
years ago I purchased three tons, two of which I applied to 20 acres of
a James River hill, which though not gullied, had been a good deal worn
by hard croppings, or bad cultivation, or both combined. The Guano was
sowed _dry_, and on the wide rows laid off for sowing wheat, and
ploughed in with two horses, the wheat then harrowed in. I forgot to say
that the land had been fallowed in with three horses in the month of
August, and the wheat sowed in October. In consequence of the dryness of
the guano, and the width of the rows, the wheat was very much striped,
being very luxuriant where the guano fell in the largest quantities. The
product did not exceed 200 bushels, or 10 bushels to the acre, but the
quality was so superior that I saved it all for seed."
"The land sowed two years ago, is now _striped with clover_, as it was
with wheat."
This land is a tenacious red clay formation, from which the soil we
presume has all been washed away "long time ago." No planter, he says,
would have put such land in tobacco without heavy manuring; and yet it
produced a fair crop of tobacco. Owing to distance from navigation, he
could not use lime, or any heavy manure, and without guano he could not
make crops, and, consequently could not make manure at home.
The editor of the American Farmer, in a note says--"Our correspondent
appears to desire that his land should be brought to a state of
fertility by the _quickest_ practicable process, and from the beautiful
results of his experiments with guano, we know of no agent to which he
could look with so much certainty of success as to that very manure."
_The quantity per acre for Tobacco._--We should recommend at least 400
lbs. sown broadcast and plowed in, on such land as described, not over
four inches deep. The tobacco to be followed with wheat, the wheat with
clover, the clover after one year with corn and then tobacco and guano
again. The clover should have a bushel of plaster fall and spring.
Whoever tries this will find the benefit of guano on tobacco. But there
is one still greater benefit; we have been assured that the tobacco worm
which it was supposed from his natural taste, nothing could nauseate,
actually gets sick of guano, and refuses his accustomed food.
_Another mode of applying_ it to tobacco has been practised successfully
as follows:--Mark off the land in checks and put a small spoonful in
each check, and cover up directly under the bed where the plant is to
stand, three or four inches deep. To this a handful of ashes and plaster
may be advantageously added. Guano does not give tobacco the rank flavor
that is often acquired from high manuring.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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