Wilmington journal. [volume] (Wilmington, N.C.) 1844-1895, 1851-06-20
Agricultural.
From the Sou, hern cultivator.
How should Guano be Used

How should Guano be Used!
| Our friend Scion Robinson, seems to think that
we committed great error in the suggestions made
on the of guano and if such be the fact, it be-
comes us to retract what we SAID amiss, and stand
corrected. We remember using testing the solubil-
ity, and analysing this imported manure, long be-
fore our friend Scion agent for its sale, and
when he tilling the rich soil of Indiana, where
nature has furnished so much guano in the fat of
the land - that men threw it away.
When one drills in 200 lbs of this fertilizer with
view to feed an acre of corn cotton plants, how
much of the manure is Immediately soluble in water,
or in the moisture of damp earth, which surrounds
| it? Can friend Robinson answer this question If
So then We desire to learn what part of the manure
dissolved in water and Immediately dfused through
the SOIL is really caustic and fatal to the germs of
cotton seeds, provided it reaches them in concen-
trated condition? The fire. in guano is uric acid
and urea, which yield the much talked of ammonia,
when decomposed. These caustic elements rarely
amount to Is per cent. of the mass and only part
of that which is present. is Immediately soluble
The 200 pounds applied to acre cannot yield over
TO- 10 per cent of really caustc acids akalies
Suppose these 20 pounds were pure ammonia, uric
| acid, or even the Oil vitriol; how much moisture
would it take after rain in damp weather, over
whole acre. so to dilute this akali acid, that it
could do no possible injury? Distributed broadcast
this small quantity of dissolved manure could not
produce any great effect. Hence the propriety of
placing it near the growing plants. But how near
in the first instance before the caustic elements
dfused in the earth. There are some 4725 square
yards in an acre. and if allow three plants to
yard then there will be IFS growing on an acre,
between which 20 pounds of uric acid or urate of
ammonia, to be divided. If place the four
teen thousandth part of 20 pounds ofsouble manure
within inch of the seed root of plant, it must
be equally difused and diluted through six if not
eight cubic inches of moist SOIL before it reaches it.
square one inch deep, which has its four sides an
inch from ntpa hio inch
es but the manure will penetrate the earth below
as well above, that eight cubic inches will be
within inch of the fertilizer. This quantity of
earth is several hundred times heavier than the sou
BILE guano applied to it. Experience of many years
in England France and this country has fully con-
frmed the soundness Of the above remarks on this
subject Mr. Scion Robinson to the contrary not
withstanding
We are we'll aware that the feeding of cultivated
plants, and the proper depth to cover manure are
matters on which both practical farmers and theo-
retical writer's may reasonably differ in opinion. On
light, open, sandy soils, of any kind can
hardly be buried too deeply by ordinary tllage. On
loan and clay land the case is quite different AS
general rule, would never bury manure below
the middle of the earth plowed In this position it
can, when dissolved both ascend and descend, and
become equally diffused throughout the entire mass
of araed soil Titled soil is capable of holding not
20, nor 200 but 1000 pounds of ammonia in the |
1000 tons of earth which lie within ten inches of
the surface, single acre. This. the critical
reader will see, is only part of ammonia in a |
thousand of soil Mr. Thompson, and Pr f Way,
Chemists to the Royal Agricultural Society, Eng
land, have brought out interesting facts show
ing the power of auminous earths to decompose both
the volatile and fixed salts of ammonia and retain
their alkaline base the indispensable food ofplans
Direct, careful and satisfactory experiments have
demonstrated that soil (Which always contains |
more or less alumina or clay) has peculiar and
controlling affinity for ammonia, that it does not
readily escape by volatiliZation the washing of
heavy rains when combined with earth All LIQUID |
manures. extensively used in the old world as top
DRESSING are, substantially, dissolved guano When
the water containing these ammOniacal compounds |
enters the surface soil it is spread from water
ing cart, degree of solar heat extract the am
monia again. Nature does not work against both
vegetable and animal life in that way. Her policy
to feed and duly nourish all living beings-not to
destroy them. If rain water that falls from the
clouds contained 100 timesmore ammonia than does
it would all be arrested in the soil in passing six or
eight inches through it. Nothing is easier than to
pass water charged with ammonia, guano mineral
Salts carbonic acid through soils of various kinds
and depths and ascertain the changes which the
water has undergone in the operation. The muriate
of ammonia applied to a soil in this way comes out
the chloride of lime and the sulphate of ammonia
energies solution of gypsum, e. from soil which
contains fair allowance of lime in its composition
In the first operation, the muriatic acid leaves the
ammonia (the latter being retained in combination
with alumina, and unites with lime to form solu-
BILE salt which passes out with the water at the bot
tom of the filter. In the second operation, the sui
phuric acid leaving the ammonia also combines
with lime and forms gypsum, which appears in the
fltrate, water that has passed through the soil.
These curious facts and go to prove that the
soil is chemical laboratory whose operations are
peculiar and must be studied by using quantities of
earth, say from ten to one hundred pounds and ex-
tending our observations through weeks and months
We have work in press the - STUDY OF Soils"
which embodies the researches of some years. and
explains the natural phenomenon connected with the
feeding of plants whether with the dung of sea birds
of cattle, much clearer than be done in this
place. In conclusion can only say that Mr.. Ro-
bnson's plan of burying guano six inches below the
seed may be better than the practice recommend;
but he adduces proof whatever Of the fact Give
the evidence of comparative tests aud the superb
or advantages of your plan.
Deep Flowing.
The farmers of Ohio as we learn from the Guilt
vator waking up on the subject of Deep Plow-
ing. Numerous premiums offered for implements
that will turn burrows from nine to twelve inches in
and many break the subsoil six inches
deeper by running the subsoil pillow Immediately af-
ter the surface pillow Experiments have demonstrate
ed the utility of stirring the earth to the depth of Is
inches and judging from the energy of American
character, expect to deep tllage become pop
ular and generally successful. The Legislature of
Ohio has done much to promote improvements in
agriculture by appropriating s9.250 year for the
support of efficient Agricultural Society in every
county in the State. It's Board of Agriculture acts
as working head, and the whole machinery is get
ting into active operation