The daily union. [volume] (Washington [D.C.]) 1845-1857, 1845-08-28
NATIONAL INSTITUTE.
Letter 'front.'. C. Pickett, late Charge def
fares oft United STATES at Peru.
WAsmIsoroN CRY, Aug. %, 49,
ON ouANo. OR HUANo.

tNa On GuANO, OK HUANO.
WAsHiNoroN CITY, Aug. %, I845.
Dean SIN: Finding on my return recently 10 the
United Sates after an absence Of seven years that
the article called guano has attracted considerable at
tention among our czens, particularly among those
dedicated to agriculture and horticulture, have con-
cluded to trouble you with communication upon
the subject. ! have resided several years in the
country (Peru) where that manure most abounds
and having picked up little information about ~
may be IN my power, possibly, to say something
that is new, but much, fear, that will be inter-
eating.
Gunno or htano, as il is now written in Peru, (the
not aspirated but originally with the &, is, as Is
known to everybody, the excrement Of sea-fow,
in the condition, chemically considered, to be used
in agriculture at once, and without any previous
preparation as manure. The word hua,,o is applied
also to all kinds of animal excrement entirely or
partially decomposed; and dry, pulverulent mules
and asses dung used for mixing with mortar, or
for packing ice to be sent from the snowy noun
tans to the hot country below is called huaao too;
and il is most excellent non conductor.
Guano is more abundant, presume, on the coast
of Peru than in any other country, and Of superior
quality, for which il is not difficult to assign very
satisfactory reasons. The principal one is, that on
that coast it does not rain does in most other
inerropcal and extratropica regions; and thus one
great obstacle to its accumulation and preservation
is removed, or, to speak more accurately, does not
exist. For this reason LAS suppose) all the guano
either already found, or to be found, in countries
where il rains much, will contain, pound for pound,
less fertilizing matter than the Peruvian guano,
This il the case with that brought from lchaboe,
on the coast of Africa which is Of an inferior quail
ity, and commands in England only about two,
thirds of the price at which the other is sold That
heavy and frequent rains would produce this dete-
rioraiing effect appears to me to be very probabe
and can almost venture to predict that, for this rea
son. the guano said 10 be lately discovered on the
coast of Florida will be found also to be inferior to
the Peruvian. II will be. though, Notwithstanding,
a most valuable manure, have no doubt and if i
exists in large quantities. and 10 easily accessible
will be of more value to our country than all our
gold mines and gold washings together; which l.,
who have lived long in countries Astounding in gold
and silver mines, am inclined TO believe are, nation
ally considered, of no benefit to any country
they do not contribute either 10 its wealth. its health
lis morals, or its happiness. speak only of the
mines Of the precious metals Of those of iron cop
per lead, &c, have different opinion; though
they. too sometimes occasion much wild and ruin
GUS experiment and speculation. s.1..
n have said thai il does not rain in Peru where
euano il found will explain. Al Lima in 100
3 s. latitude, and for some hundreds Of miles to the
north and to the south and until the Cordilleras (he
high mountains Of the Andesl are reached from GO
10 10 or so miles, rain, as known in our country is
a phenomenon of ycry rare occurrence. Il NAV
happen once or twice in century at Lima, and
five or six hundred miles farther north; and then
along the sea shore where nothing IS seen generally
hui drv barren sand ,,nhessed bv visible trace NJ
vegetation, there springs ,up suddenly as If by en-
chantment. tolerable Growth Of Grass and wild
flowers. Nevertheless. Canaan Becher. of The
British navy. DISTINGUISHED as a navigator and
an hydrographer saws in his work aCIy,ise in he
S,,ipiur. that he had been told n never raned al
Lima; but that he heard lin july and August 1881
at that place aheavy pat,ering of rain, and saw
heavy streams issuing from the tops of houses, and
trayersing the streets" This To me- il inexplicable
resided at Lima about six wears, and never heard
any Of this upattering or saw any Of these sheayy
and innnred III ~ ami
obseryant persons Il ,hev hnd seen al Ills Ia Is3s
They replied thnt thev rad not-neyer had seen
such things had heard Of them, even as tradi-
lions: and vet hose had resided MANY wears
At Lima have seen indeed whole aoa1s ~ Water
ssisa,,;nr from The inns nr houses i, ,hrown amrnp
the carnival bv merry and mischieyo,s persons,
mon those passinp aong The streets and some of Il
moi alooe,ber a. sweet and ,rnnsnaren rs Il comes
from the clouds; and have seen. 100. dav abeayy
strcamsr running along the gutter IN the centre Of
the streets; but as il is impossible that Captain Bel
cher could have mistaken these for shower of rain.
/ am wholly al a loss 10 account for his statement
SO at variance with the experience of all others.
have seen aao every year-and ALWAYS in the month
Of December i think--a fall of rain for a few mo-
ments, composed Of enormous drops. perhaps half
an inch "a diameter, falling ten or fifteen feet apart
but M enough Of il to wet anything or to be avoid
ed. This depended, OF course, upon peculiar state
of the atmosphere, and upon electrical phenomena,
to the solution of which did not feel equal and do
not now; and leave it, therefore, unsolvcd.
II will not do, though, to say that it does not rain
at Lima, without saying what il does do in the way
of precipitatng humidity. From the last of May to
the month of December, there falls considerable
quantity of water from the heavens in the shape Of
mist, or rather what We call drzzle. Ii falls gene
rally in the ,night-tmc; in consequence of il, the
streets are often inconvenientiy muddy Of a morn
ing. What quantity is precpitated during the sea-
son, do not know; nor do believe it has ever
been ascertaned, for the philosopher has not been
much ssabroadn along that coast. do net recol-
lect whether Humboldt made any estimate Of the
quantity that falls, or not If any one has, he is the
man, probably. | suppose il to be less than foot
for the whole time. This drizzle, though il assists
vegetation somewhat is not relied upon by the cult
ence is upon artificial irrigation---he water being
brought from tile small rivers that have their origin