The Camden weekly journal. [volume] (Camden, South-Carolina) 1853-1861, 1853-01-18
5or tbe cJaralers.
Eons he Mafso,s Star.
GuanO.

MR. EDIroR. according to promise, / now
furnish you with my experiments with Guano.
planted on good cotton land, the rows four
feet vide; Iapplied Guano to each alternate
row at the rate of about 200 lbs. per acre,
leaving the remaining rows without manure.
, This furnished an opportunity to ascertain pre-
cisely the increased production. Ipic1ed one
row of the unguanoed cotton; it yielded Is
TBS. seed cotton. also picked one row of
the guanoed cotton, Immediately by the side
of the above row, and ii. yielded 30 lbs. seed
! cotton. These rows being a feet wide, of
course it took SO rows to make an acre, which
being multiplied by the aboYe productions will
show that the land without guano produced
936 lbs per acre, and with guanoit produced
1864 lbs. per acre, being on increase per acre
of 728lbs., ,sor about 66 per cent: The qua
no put on this acre cost about So. The in
creased production, 1928 lbs, at $3.50 per
cwt., is worth about g is deduct SO, the cost
of the guano applied, and it leaves $l2 clear
profit per acre. 80
~ applied nmy plantation several tons of
guano. 4 found the result on all good lively
cotton lands about equal to the above; but
where it was put on old, thin, worn, light lands,
and nothing mixed with it, I found it did but
little good mot enough, apprehend to pay
( for tie guano. Dead, poor, light, old, lands
must have something besides guano. II think,
however, if rich earth, or surface as we gene
rally call it, was placed in the furrow with
the guano, on such lands, it would pay very
well. think it would do well On the land if
new; but after the land gets old and worn and
washed, surface must be put with the guanoi
or it will not pay.
Iapplied on one acre of land 400 lbs. of
guano, broadcast, and plowed in deeply before
planting and also q very small quantity put
round the corn when planted. planted the
4th May, 5 feet BY 2, plowed one way aad
bedded up. Inever saw any better corn as
it grew off through the season. 1t was gene
rally about Ia feet high, an enormous stalk,
and q world Of fodder, as green as the best
river swamp corn. calculated confidently
sit.would bring so bushels, and so thought
mostpersons that examined it; but think
owing to theAunprecedented wetness of the
season, it run too much to stalk and did not
ear as well as it otherwise would have done
it produced, however, 40 bushels per acre.
This acre lay in the corner of9a field and two
sides bounded on the woods; ft@also had a
green pine standing near the middle. 1t
would have produced about 10 bushels with
out manure. So | gave about 500 lbs. guano
for 80 bushels Of corn and about three times
as much fodder as usual.
also applied it to corn at about the rate.
of 80 lbs. per acre lightly mixed with plaster,
placing it in the hill as cotton seed arc usually
placed, applied little less than table spoons
full each side of the corn when planted. This
application found decidedly the most profta
bic. think 80 lbs. guano per acre will be of
more service, to corn than 90 or even 25 bush
els cotton seed.
also applied guaLo to sweet potatoes, at
the rates Of 500 lbs per acre. 1t made them
grow and look as nourishng as a pumpkin
vine in river bottom; but when | dug the
hills down found no potatoes. But the wa
termelon vines in this potato patch reared up
and ran and spread most luxuriantly all over
the patch, and had it not been for the extreme
wet weather we should have had more melons
than we could have easily consumed.
Guano is fine for gardens and Irish potatoes;
and, judciously applied, have no doubt viii
pay even at the present high prices; and ex-
animation and experience, feel assured, will
bring it into general use among US. -
S. NJ. STEVENSON.
Il