The daily union. [volume] (Washington [D.C.]) 1845-1857, 1845-08-28

10 theoretically and consttntonally Tree man; pu'
practically he is no more than heathen, and MS
condition. under every social and political aspect Is
vastly inferior TO that of the slave in the United
States He is not as intelligent, nor AZ much re-
spected nor as well fed, as well clothed, nor as
well cared for in any sense. He has no more polit-
cal rights, or rights Of any kind, and is, in truth
much more degraded being And SO one-half at least,
of the human beings who inhabit South America
are in no better conditions; nor for that matter, is
the condition Of one-half the people of powerful,
polished, Boosting Europe, any better; and all would
be glad, could they do So exchange circumstances
with the slaves in some of the States. say this,
and believe II; yet am no advocate of slavery
am neither its friend nor its apologist-but have
seen enough TO convince mo that "bitter draught''
asst is, the slave, when well treated, he is in this
country, il by no means lowest in the scale of hui
man beings. In South America the poor and un-
protected classes (about three fourhs Of the whole
mass) are subjected TO an oppression more CALLING
and intolcrabe than all the wrongs and injustice OF
our system Of slavery together--which is, military
impressment; not conscription, for that operates
equallybut there, every INDECENT frendless man Is
liable to be seized at any moment, and torn from q
starving and helpless family, Ito which he probably
never returns,) TO be dragged, fettered and hand
cued to the army there to die of disease, to starve
or to be shot, the may be; and the servitude
on our farms and plantations is holyday, compared
with the condition Of South American common
| soldier when on campaign. And this enormous
wrong is not inflicted by virtue Of any law, or sys
tenn, or rule; but brutal aicalds, Ia sort Of JUS
tice of the peace, still greater brute, may be
in epaule,tes, (Which he disgraces,) may kdnap, al
discretion the poor, and powerless, and unprotect
ed. And the naval impressment in Great Britain is
not much better than this. Rerenons nos mouions
III g. to the guano.
recoect to have seen il stated, in some printed
document in Peru, that the quantity of guano an
nualy consumed there amounts to about three thou
sa,.A ch 20 nat ba tanth Mart fsf uhoi
ought to be used; but the Spanish American could
not well be called manure. using animal. He gen.
orally goes cutivating his ground, it had been
cultivated for hundreds Of years before he born
not knowing whether Its fertility may be increased
not by any appliance of the kind and caring nothing
either There are thousands Of tons Of manure within
the walls that surround the city of Lima, which
might be very advantageously used in tho neigh
borhood but il is very little in requistion. Guano
it would be naturally supposed, from its applica-
bility to all sorts Of crops, with few exceptions
and from the facility with which it might lie OBJ
tanned, would be in great request in Peru Yet is
| not so; and could il be furnished at a reasonable
price, the demand would be not less than hundred
times as great for il in England it is in the coun-
try where it is produced Agriculture is yet in its
| infancy science in South America But very
few, If any, wealthy and enlightened persons have
dedicated themselves to its Improvement; and where
any attempt of the kind has been made the results
have not been, in general, very encouraging In all
South America there is not, believe, single pc
riodical, or single newspaper, devoted to agricul
ture; and 1t is as rare an occurrence to see work
upon agriculture tits to Bible, which is scarce
seen, unless in the possession Of priest Ram
bling about some years ago in the Andes, spent a
day with proprietor. who was somewhat farmer
and somewhat a grazier, and in his possession
found to my very great surprise, Spanish transa-
ton Of a part OF Columella's work upon rural
economy, entitled "De Re Rusiied, !" written about
eighteen hundred years ago. This was his oracle
about all matters pertaining to his rural occupations
and he studied it, not doubling for moment that il
was recent and standard publication. And find
ing him Jsiir in sto errore, (happy under his mis-
take,) thought it would be cruel TO disabuse him,
and did not. Coumella is favorite, think, with
Spanish agricultursts--for the not unnatural rea-
son, perhaps, that he was Sraniard himself His
work POSSESSES great merit, however, and is very
remarkable one, considering the state of agriculture
al the time it was written.
In Peru, guano, though il is used very sparingly,
is applied, Notwithstanding, to almost every kind Of
vegetable productions except the sugar-cane; and it
would be to that, il it thought to need
II is used chiefly in the cultivation Of maize (ndan
corn) and potatoes, (Irsh,) and is supposed to in
the crop from onc-fourth to one-thrd II has
been frequently asserted, and have il stated in
Chambcrs's Edinburgh Journal, that il increases
the product thirty and forty fold. This is great
mistake, and is nothing more nor less than gra-
tN'o~S ''feo'', "S''.' ~ 's'Ne' -
pertinent, nor by any rational hypothesis. | append
hereto an extract Of letter to me from William +.
Taylor, esq, formerly United States consul at
Arequipa about the use of guano. II is used, more
than anywhere else in Peru, at that place, six
or seven hundred miles TO the southwark Of Lima,
where agriculture isin more respectable and efficient
condition, perhaps, than anywhere else in that
country. Mr. Taylor is right, suppose, in saying
that guano is ''never' used Cat Arequipa) "for
wheat and other crops" But still il has been used
for them elsewhere and is considered TO be suitable.
This say upon the authority of Dr. Rivero, a
man Of science at Lima, who has written some ar
ticles upon the subject He says, that in the prov
ince of Tarapaca It is used for wheat, and for all
kinds of fut-trces, though not for sugarcane; but
at Arequpa, Indian corn and potatoes only require
it,
TWAS formerly, and may be yet, the custom in
some parts Of Peru, to apply the guano to the soil,
and then let i lie fallow whole year; which seems
TO me TO be the worst kind of husbandry, thus inn
providently to permit the precious material for SO
long q time to "wase its sweetness on the desert
air" Bad, because, when committed to the ground,
q = h.