Guano: A Treatise of Practical Information for FarmersRobinson, Solon
Science
Guano: A Treatise of Practical Information for Farmers
Robinson, Solon
Guano
_Mode of applying on Cotton Land._--Open a deep furrow and drill in the
bottom at the rate of 400 lbs. to the acre, upon land usually producing
300 to 500 lbs. seed cotton, and less for a better quality of land, down
to one-fourth the quantity. Bed on this as deep as you please; the
moisture of the earth will disengage the ammonia and phosphates, and
send their fertilizing properties up to the roots. Never use guano as a
top-dressing for cotton. The seed will be found better matured, and
consequently more valuable to manure another crop, besides being so much
easier separated from the lint, which will be found as much improved in
quality as quantity. For Sea Island planters, where manure is so
valuable and so hard to obtain, we would earnestly recommend a thorough
trial of guano. As the land for this crop is mostly prepared with hoes,
care must be taken that the servants do not neglect to bury it at the
very bottom of a good bed.
From the knowledge the writer has of the culture and value of long
staple cotton, and the price and value of guano, he has no hesitation in
expressing his honest conviction that a clear profit of two to four
hundred per cent. may be made upon every dollar expended in the purchase
and proper application of guano to that crop.
Guano, for all staple crops in the United States, is no longer an
experiment. It has been clearly demonstrated, to be the cheapest and
most valuable fertilizer, particularly for all poor, worn out, hard used
and exhausted soils ever discovered; which no sensible man will neglect
to profit by, as soon as he learns its value, unless prevented by deep
prejudice or strong circumstances.
_Application to Miscellaneous Crops._--Under this head we will give the
experience of several individuals in various sections, soils and
climates, in hopes it may encourage the doubtful, and direct those who
are disposed to emerge from darkness into the light of scientific
agriculture. A gentleman from Warsaw, Virginia, where the soil is
generally a sandy loam, badly worn by long years of bad tillage, says,
"My wheat looks finely, especially where I applied guano last fall. I
put it in with the seed furrow about three inches deep, and also with
double plow six inches deep, harrowing in the wheat frequently side by
side. At this time I can see no difference in the wheat crop. I use a
large wooden toothed harrow extending over the bed of ten feet, and an
even soil, free from stone; they do admirable work and drill the wheat
as if put in with the drill."
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