Part 4 (2/2)
”The furrows were opened deep and wide by pa.s.sing the plow both ways and the guano strewed along these at the rate 1 lb. per every ten yards.
They were then covered over and the land thereby thrown into beds. But in whatever way it is used, the roots of the corn will be sure to find it all, and between these two modes, I think there is little or no choice. I would certainly advise against putting it in the hill, though I have sometimes seen good results. It is difficult, however, in such a case, to prevent the guano and seed from coming into close contact; and, unless there are two or three inches of earth interposed between them the seed will be certainly destroyed.”
_For wheat_, the guano should be spread broadcast at the time of seeding the wheat, at the rate of 200 lbs. to 250 lbs. per acre and ploughed in. If the land has been previously fallowed, it will be sufficient to plow it in with a one horse plow; if broken up for the first time, there will be no objection to using a larger plough. The best depth for getting it in, however, is, I think, from four to six inches. It always acts more powerfully on clean land; indeed if there is much crude vegetable matter in the soil, there is frequently little or no advantage derived from its application. Experience, therefore goes to show that the most economical application is to corn land; that is, to land that has just produced a crop of corn, no matter how poor it may be. If it is intended to be put on land that has been lying in gra.s.s, it would be advisable to fallow it as early in the season as practicable, and afterwards to get it in with a small plow as already suggested.
The same direction will apply to oats and also to rye. But for oats, 125 to 150 lbs of guano will be as much as can be used to advantage.
A. B. Allen of New York, one of the earliest, and most strenuous advocates of using guano, who, long before he ever thought of being engaged in its sale, used to distribute small parcels among farmers and gardeners to enable them to try experiments and learn its value, in a letter to the Southern Cultivator, says:--”Never put guano in the hill with corn, no matter if covered two or three inches deep; for the roots will be certain to find it, and so sure as they touch the guano, so caustic is it, that it will certainly kill the corn; the same with peas, beans, melon vines, in fact most vegetable crops. Wheat and other small grains have so many roots, and tiller so well, there is no danger of guano killing them, when sown directly with the seed. Still, as before remarked, it is better to plough it in before sowing the seed.
”After corn is up, you may apply a table spoonful, at the first time hoeing; dig it an inch or two deep six inches from each stalk. A table spoonful to the hill will take 250 to 350 lbs., per acre, according to the distance the hills are apart. If the soil be rather poor, a second dose at the time the corn first shows its silk, will add considerably to the yield in grain, if followed by rains, but little or nothing to the growth of stalk. Guano increases the size of grain more than stalks; hence one must be content to wait till the grain is fully matured before giving an opinion of the virtues of guano.
”Before applying the guano, it is better to mix it well with an equal quant.i.ty of plaster of Paris or charcoal dust. Either of these substances help to retain the ammonia and prevent its evaporation.
”The genuine unadulterated Peruvian guano, is so much superior to any other kind, it is in reality the _cheapest_, though the price is considerable higher than that of the other qualities.”
_Guano on Oats._--Mr. Allen says, ”I am satisfied from experience and observation in the use of guano, for the past twelve years, that the best method, decidedly, of applying it to crops in our dry climate, is to plow or spade it into the ground; and autumn is the best time for doing this, as it gives time for the pungent salts contained in the guano, to get thoroughly mixed with the soil before spring planting. Do not fear to loose the guano by plowing it in as deep as you please--it will not run away, depend upon it. At the south, it loses half its virtue if not plowed in at least three inches deep; six or twelve inches would be still better.”
Because ”autumn is, for many reasons, the best season” for applying guano, as a general thing, we do not recommend an application to this crop, notwithstanding our full conviction it will increase the product upon any light, poor soil, from ten to twenty bushels to the acre, for each cwt. applied. As some however, will find it more convenient and profitable to manure the oat than wheat crop, we recommend them to plow in from 200 to 300 lbs. to the acre, on ground that was clean tilled the previous year, and sow the oats in drills, three or four bushels to the acre and seed with clover, herds, or ray gra.s.s. If not to be followed with gra.s.s, we would use a much less quant.i.ty; say 125 or 150 lbs. to the acre. As may be seen in the account of Mr. Harris' crop, not one half of the 400 lbs. was taken up by the oats. With wheat, on the contrary, the guano is dissolved more slowly by winter rains, giving the crop a vigorous growth in fall, and sometimes all winter, so it sends out double the number of stalks in spring. The sun too, is so much less powerful at that season, evaporation does not take place so easily as in summer.
_Great Crops from Guano._--In England, 48 bushels of wheat and 100 of oats have been made from an acre dressed with 200 lbs. of guano. A late English writer, in detailing his own experiments, and urging others to the same course, says; ”The reason guano is serviceable to all plants arises from its containing every saline and organic matter required as food. It is used beneficially on all soils; for, as it contains every element necessary to plants, it is independent of the quality of the soil. So far as the experiments in England and Scotland may be adduced, one cwt. of guano is equal to about five tons of farm-yard manure, on an average; but it is much higher for turnips than for gra.s.s.”
_Guano on Gra.s.s._--As we are opposed to using it as a top dressing, of course we shall not recommend its application to this crop. Generally, by using it on wheat and other crops, the farmer will save manure enough to top dress his meadows. Nevertheless, in combination with proper ingredients, we do say it is a good and profitable manure for gra.s.s. For each acre mix from 200 to 400 lbs. with as many bushels of plaster, or ten to one of charcoal, or twenty to one of dry swamp muck or peat, woods mould or fine clay, and sow upon the meadow or pasture early in spring. If the season is moist, the benefit will be very great; if dry, it will probably be said, as it has been before; ”Oh, this guano is good for nothing--I tried it once on gra.s.s and it never done a bit of good.”
_On potatoes_, 400 lbs. to the acre, broadcast, may be used to good advantage, if it is plowed in deep enough, on clean land. As it is a caustic manure, and requires a good deal of moisture, as well as potatoes, it is not suitable for the hill or surface dressing. A less quant.i.ty will pay a greater profit to the immediate crop, without much after benefit, if it is drilled in the bottom of a deep furrow and then covered by turning two furrows, one from each side, so as to leave a slight depression between them, and directly over the guano. Upon these beds plant the tubers in drills. After hoeing, scatter a mixture of equal parts of lime, salt, ashes and plaster, a large handful every yard, all over the rows, and we will warrant the crop free from the potato rot.
_On turnips_, nothing can exceed guano, unless the phosphate of lime in bones could be rendered equally pulverulent. Use 3 to 600 lbs. per acre, and plow it in at the last plowing, and top dress with five bushels of ashes and two of salt as soon as the turnips are up. Follow with wheat or rye and gra.s.s. One half the above quant.i.ty and five bushels of bone dust dissolved in sulphuric acid, will produce a wonderful crop of turnips, or ruta bagas. Guano may be used to equal advantage upon all kinds of root crops.
_Benefits to the Dairy Farmer._--The beneficial use of guano in the manufacture of b.u.t.ter and cheese, is unquestionable. In many districts in England, and in some in this country, the continual cropping of gra.s.s and conversion of it into cheese, has so exhausted the soil of its phosphates, the milk will no longer produce the quant.i.ty of casein necessary to make cheese making profitable. When this is the case, you will find the cows seeking to supply the deficiency by eating bones.
Wherever guano has been used upon pasture land, it is found that cows eat the increased luxuriant gra.s.s most greedily, and improve not only in quant.i.ty but quality of their milk. We cannot, therefore, recommend too earnestly, to all dairy farmers, to give their pasture lands an immediate dressing of guano. If you have not full faith in what we are telling you, try an experiment for yourself. Mix 200 or 300 lbs. of guano with two or three bushels of plaster, and that with two or three loads of charcoal dust from the bottom of some coal pit, or from burnt peat, or swamp muck; or, if the charcoal is not attainable, use woods mold, or powdered clay or fine loam, to any extent you can afford; and if you can afford nothing but the guano and plaster, don't fail to afford a dressing of that, because it will afford you a rich return. No other manure can be used upon pasture land, to produce the same effect.
Cattle never reject the gra.s.s of guanoed land, as they do that lately manured.
_On Flax._--Experiments in England have proved guano superior to any other substance ever applied to this crop. With the aid of this manure, farmers will never complain of flax exhausting the soil. With 300 lbs.
per acre, successive large crops can be grown upon the same ground. It should be plowed in, but not so deeply as for some other crops, as it is not expected to benefit succeeding ones as much as the present. As soon as the ”flax cotton” movement now progressing is fully understood, there will be immense fields of flax grown for that purpose, and the best and most economical fertilizing material, and for which there will be a large demand, will be Peruvian guano; for no good farmer will attempt to grow a crop without it. A top dressing of 25 or 30 bushels of ashes to the acre will be found beneficial; but farmers ought to try which is best, more guano and less or no ashes, or the reverse. We cannot advise rotation with this crop, where guano is used, because the ground becomes so clean and free from weeds, it is of great advantage, and so far as we are informed, continuous good crops result from the annual application of the same quant.i.ty of guano, year after year.
_On Cabbages._--Field culture. After the ground is well prepared, lay it off in checks three to four feet square. With a spade, throw out a deep spit at each check and put in a spoonful of guano, or at the rate of 400 lbs. per acre, and cover with soil. Set the plants immediately and water if possible. After the first hoeing, throw a handful of ashes on each plant.
_For Carrots, Beets and Parsnips_, plow in 500 lbs. per acre, twelve to eighteen inches deep. Top dress with ashes, salt, and fine manure in compost, to a.s.sist the young plants; the long roots will find the guano and it will produce such a crop as you never saw before.
_On Hops._--Make a mixture of three cwt. of guano, one of salt, one and a half of saltpetre, and one of gypsum, for each acre; sow broadcast and plow in about four inches deep, and you will find your manure well paid for, and no exhaustion of the soil, as is usually the case wherever this crop is cultivated, as it is a very gross feeder, and requires very rich land or great deal of manure; for which reason it is not as much cultivated as it will be as soon as the virtues of the above application become fully known.
_For Tobacco_, guano has been found to possess superior qualities, particularly in obviating the difficulty heretofore experienced in getting plants sufficiently early. We have the testimony of several witnesses to prove that burning a seed bed is quite unnecessary, if guano at the rate of 400 to 600 lbs. to the acre be mixed with an equal amount of ashes, and plaster and well raked in previous to sowing. Of the effect upon the crop, we give the testimony of a Virginia planter.
”In the spring of 1850, I applied 200 lbs. to the acre, on eight acres of land, which had been manured three years before for tobacco, and the same quant.i.ty, on three acres which had never been manured, and was very poor. On the last I also turned in some half rotted straw, raked up in the barn yard, after all the farm yard manure had been hauled out.
Between these two pieces of land, 19 acres were heavily manured. The whole 30 acres had been well broken with four horses, early in the winter. The last year was the worst I have ever known for tobacco.
Nevertheless, the first eight acres produced a very fine crop--the last three acres brought much better tobacco than the adjoining manured land, I should say not less than 600 lbs. to the acre.”
_Wheat on Guanoed Tobacco Land._--This field was sown with wheat, and the writer says--”I measured from these 30 acres next year upwards of 600 bushels of wheat of very fine quality; both pieces of guanoed land being _above_ the average of the whole lot. Adjoining the _three_ acres is an equal quant.i.ty of land of the same quality, which did not yield five bushels to the acre.”
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