Interesting Letter from Edward H. Seaman, Esq., Sec. of Queens Co. Ag. Soc.—Successful experiments since 1847—Great increase of straw and wheat—Harrowing in guano, 300 lbs. to the acre, produced 41 bushels of wheat. Increase, seven bushels for each 100 lbs—Thirty bushels of wheat per acre on an old worn out buckwheat field—Advantage of guano in drouth—astonishing effects from top dressing grass.
Cherrywood, Sept. 11th, 1852.
Mr. Seth Chapman—Dear Sir,—I forward according to request, the results of several years use of Peruvian Guano, upon my farm at Jerusalem, Long Island.
The first decisive benefit from guano that I shall notice, was obtained from using it for wheat, as a top-dressing. In 1847, October 1st, I took a field containing 6 acres of oat stubble, on which I used some manure, all over the field; top-dressed with Peruvian guano, at the rate of 300 lbs. per acre, sown (fortunately just before a storm,) upon the furrow and harrowed in with the wheat. Four acres of the field were sown with the old-fashioned red flint wheat, which requires more manure than any other kind among us. The rest of the field was sown with a soft white hulled wheat, the name of which I do not remember. July 5, 1848.—Harvested said field—Red wheat yielded well from straw, 14 sheaves to the bushel—white wheat 20 sheaves to the bushel—straw very large and thick. Had 164 bushels of wheat, or 41 bushels per acre; and 58 bushels of white wheat or 29 bushels per acre; without the guano I think I could not have obtained much over 20 bushels per acre.—1848, Oct. 2. Again sowed wheat upon a six acre lot of oat stubble; seed red flint wheat—manured about the same as previous year—used 300 lbs. guano per acre, as top-dressing for 4 acres and moss bunker fish dirt at the rate of 10,000 per acre upon the two acres, sowed upon the furrow, and harrowed in just previous to a storm—Harvested the 10th of July 1849. The straw very large, and wheat heads long, but grain very much injured by fly or weevil—very little difference between fish and guano top-dressing; yield 188 shocks—175 bushels; not quite 30 bushels per acre. Same ground would not have produced more than 18 to 20 bushels wheat per acre without the guano—or some other more expensive manure. 1849. Oct. 3. Sowed wheat upon oat stubble field; soil thin and gravelly upon part of the field—used some barnyard manure, but not as much as previous year. Top-dressed with 300 lbs. guano and 12 bushels ground bones per acre—Harvested 12th July 1850—Yield of 5½ acres 160 shocks; injured some by weevil, and shrunken, but had 145 bushels or twenty-six bushels per acre. This ground would not have yielded fifteen bushels per acre without the guano. But the most decisive result was obtained the next year, upon an oat stubble field of six acres, a part of which had been cropped, for perhaps 15 years, nearly alternately with rye and buckwheat; (sometimes a crop of each in one year.) The whole field seemed so far exhausted that we had failed to get a crop of corn or oats from it after two different trials; and I underwent no small share of ridicule from my neighbors, while preparing it for wheat. Remarks like the following were of daily occurrence—"Ah! Seaman you will fail this time." "You have not got your old highly manured fields to exhaust this time by your stimulating stuff!" "We shall now see whether guano is good for anything—this will be a fair test, because the land will not produce anything without it, &c." "You may get about 12 bushels of wheat per acre; we shall see." All agreed however, that if wheat did grow, guano should have the credit for it.
Well, we prepared the ground in about the usual manner, except perhaps plowing a little deeper than in former years. A small quantity of manure was plowed under, and a top dressing of ground bones given and sowed about the last of September—2 acres with Mediterranean and 4 acres with the red flint wheat—but owing to a scarcity of the article, could only get about 420 lbs. of guano, which was sown across the field upon not quite 3 acres, covering some of each kind of wheat; it was sown upon the furrow, and harrowed in with the wheat as usual. In 1851, April 11th, top dressed the whole field with guano, at about 200 lbs. per acre; harvested about the 8th July. The 2 acres of Mediterranean yielded 61 bushels; flint wheat straw very large, and thick upon the ground, but grain much injured by the weevil; yielding an average of 23 bushels per acre. I may remark, that where the guano was applied in the autumn, the crop was quite one third greater than where it only received the spring dressing. The last year I managed much in the same way, except that I fell short of manure, and depended entirely upon guano and bone upon a part of the field, from which part, though I have not yet threshed it, I think I shall get 18 to 20 bushels. The rest of the field was very large and considered the best between this place and Brooklyn, on a road of 25 miles in length.
My good luck[(1)] at wheat growing is now a conceded point. Now for other crops—for corn I have not been very successful; generally mixing some guano with earth in the hill at the time of planting and getting but few plants to stand; these, however, generally have been heavily eared. By mixing previously with charcoal dust I think this burning of the seed might be avoided.[(2)]
For buckwheat, I used 120 to 150 lbs. per acre, sown upon the furrow and harrowed in with the grain. For barley, 150 to 200 lbs. per acre; oats 100 to 120 lbs; turnips, 600 to 700 lbs. plowed under a short depth, previously to forming the drill; and I find a decided profit in using guano for all the above crops. I have seen a field of corn the present season very greatly improved in earing by the application of about 150 lbs. of guano, mixed with 5 parts charcoal dust, and thrown around the hills a few weeks since during a rain storm.
I have also used guano and charcoal dust, five parts coal to one of guano, in my garden, the past season, and found the beds thus dressed stood the extreme drought better than other parts of the garden. One more case of my own and I am done. In 1851, I sowed about 90 lbs. of guano, on a piece of meadow or mowing ground, covering a little more than half an acre, from which the timothy and clover was nearly gone; I took 3 lands across the lot, leaving about 20 feet between each land. Where the guano was sown, the timothy grew large and thick and bore the drought, and yielded about one and a half tons per acre; while the rest of the field did not produce more than half that amount, and that of an inferior quality of grass. The corn upon the same field the present season, shows plainly a better yield from the above top-dressing. From observation and experience, I would recommend the mixing of guano with charcoal dust, equal parts, or five parts coal to one guano, It is much more pleasant to handle when thus mixed, being completely deodorized and rendered much more enduring as a manure, by retaining the ammonia for several years, instead of allowing the greater part to pass off the first season, as is the case when applied in a crude state, especially as a top dressing.
Prepared or decomposed muck if used with guano as a retainer of the volatile gases, in all cases where it can be conveniently obtained especially in soils where evaporation is so rapid as it is in most parts of Long Island, will pay.
That like produces like, is a favorite maxim with me—that it is necessary to replace the matter, both organic and inorganic, which we take from the soil in the form of crops, of various kinds—that by supplying the necessary chemical ingredients, we shall be able to draw a great proportion of our crops from atmospheric agents—that the necessity for using such an immense amount of organic matter as we now use in the shape of barn yard and stable manure will be partially overcome—that a great saving of expense will thereby ensue—that guano is one of the most active agents to effect such a result I am fully satisfied, not sufficient perhaps of itself, but highly useful even in a crude state—and capable when skillfully combined with others, to effect an entire revolution in our system of agriculture.