MR. NEWTON'S EXPERIMENTS.
The Hon. Willoughby Newton, of Westmoreland County, was one of the earliest and most successful experimenters in the use of guano in Virginia. He owns large and productive farms on the Potomac, but on account of the forest land being more healthy for a residence, he bought a tract of it for that purpose; not having any design of ever putting it into cultivation. In fact, it was so poor he could not. The manure of the farm, if it had not been wanted there, was several miles distant—too far to haul; and so the land lay an uncultivated, unprofitable barren waste around his fine mansion; but it did not lay so very long after he discovered the renovating power of guano. It is now annually covered with broad fields of wheat, from which he has realized upwards of twenty bushels to the acre; and the most luxuriant growths of clover upon which he can pasture any amount of stock he pleases, where three years previous a goat would have found difficulty in sustaining life. Mr. Newton's first experiment—what was then an experiment is now a certainty—was made with African guano. But we will give the account of his operations in his own straight-forward, easily understood, farmer-like language.
"In the effect of guano, especially the Peruvian, I have never been disappointed. I have used it now for four years, with entire satisfaction having each year been induced to enlarge my expenditure, until last year it reached eight hundred dollars, and for the crop of wheat this fall it exceeds one thousand. I have observed with astonishment its effect in numerous instance on the poor "forest lands" alluded to in a former part of this address. What the turnip and sheep husbandry have done for the light lands of Great Britain, the general use of guano promises to do for ours. Lands a few years ago deemed entirely incapable of producing wheat, now produce the most luxuriant crops. From 15 to 20 bushels for one sowed, is the ordinary product on our poorest lands, from the application of 200 lbs. of Peruvian guano. I may remark, it is not usual, in Eastern Virginia, to sow more than a bushel of wheat to the acre, and that I deem amply sufficient. Upon this subject I hope a few details may not be considered tedious or uninteresting. I applied last fall $350 worth of guano, partly Peruvian and partly Patagonian, on a poor farm "in the forest," which cost a few years ago four dollars an acre, and reaped 1089 bushels of beautiful wheat from 78 sowed. Forty-six bushels were sowed on fallow, (both guano and wheat put in with the cultivator, followed by a heavy harrow,) and yielded 790 bushels or over 17¼ for one. A considerable part of this was dressed with Patagonian guano, and was much inferior to the other portion. A lot on which 15 bushels was sowed, and dressed with Peruvian guano, was threshed separately, and yielded 301 bushels, or over 20 for one. The whole cost of the farm was $1520, and I have good reason to expect with a favorable season from the crop now sowed and dressed with guano, a bushel of wheat for every dollar of the prime cost of the farm. Many other instances of profit from the use of guano, equally striking have occurred among my neighbors and friends, but I confine myself to those stated, because having come under my immediate observation, I can vouch for their entire accuracy. It has been frequently objected to the use of guano, that it is not permanent. It would be unreasonable to expect great permanent improvement from a manure so active, and which yielded go large a profit on the first crop. Yet I have seen some striking evidences of its permanency in heavy crops of clover, succeeding wheat, and in the increase of the crop of wheat on a second application. As an instance, I may mention that two years ago I sowed upon a single detached acre of "forest land," one bushel of wheat and dressed it with a barrel of African guano, costing $4, and the yield was seventeen bushels. Last fall the same land, after remaining one year in clover, was again sowed with one bushel of wheat and dressed with 140 lbs. of Peruvian guano, costing $3, and the product was 22 bushels. Yet I would advise no one to rely upon guano exclusively. Its analysis shows that it contains salts of ammonia, alkaline phosphates and the other mineral elements necessary to produce the grain of wheat, but is deficient in most of the elements of the straw and roots of the plants. Hence, (says Liebig) 'a rational agriculturist, in using guano, cannot dispense with stable dung.' We should, therefore, be careful not to exhaust the soil of organic manures, but by retaining the straw of the wheat, and occasionally a crop of clover, which plant contains a large percentage of the alkaline carbonates, which are entirely wanting in Guano, furnish all the elements necessary to the entire wheat plant. In this view of the subject, and for many other reasons that I cannot stop to enumerate, there cannot be, when guano is extensively used, a more judicious rotation than the Pamunky five field system, in which clover occupies a prominent place. I have now enumerated some of the most prominent means by which you may "keep your land rich." I would not discourage the use of others. Science is daily making discoveries in the art of enriching the earth, and we should discard nothing, without a trial, which promises to be useful; always bearing in mind that the wisest economy is entirely consistent with the most liberal expenditure, in the purchase of manures, provided we take care, by judicious experiments and observation, to ascertain their efficacy, and that we get back our capital, with an actual net profit in cash, on all our investments. This latter caution is indispensable, in our country, where new lands are so abundant and cheap, that highly improved farms can never be rated in the market at their true value."
"The various manures compounded by chemists and manufacturers, should also engage your careful attention. They should not be recklessly thrown aside as humbugs, without trial or investigation, nor adopted and extensively used with blind confidence in their efficacy. I have used many of these manures by way of experiment, and the profit realized upon them has not justified me in enlarging my operations. Poudrette, manufactured in Baltimore; Bommers manure, Chappel's fertilizer and Kentish & Co.'s prepared guano, (used, it is true, upon a small scale,) have not realized the promises made in their behalf. Yet I would by no means discourage the praiseworthy efforts of the manufacturers, and hope they will persevere until, by lessening the bulk and increasing the power of their compounds, they may be able to prepare an article that for cheapness, convenience of application and efficacy, shall equal or surpass the best Peruvian guano."
That desideratum, Professor Mapes believes he has already attained by the addition of superphosphate of lime to the Guano, making a compound of two-thirds of the latter to one of the former, more valuable by weight than the pure article. That being the case will greatly increase the consumption of Guano, and greatly improve the condition of all that class of farmers who desire to make their poor lands rich.
Of the use of lime, Mr. Newton has the following testimony, which we embody here for its great practical value.
"Calcareous matter is the great want of most of our lands, and in some form is essential to permanent improvement. It should be regarded as the basis of all our operations, and never to be dispensed with for any substitute. From long experience in the use of lime, I am satisfied that the French plan, of light and frequent dressings, is not only much more economical, but much safer, in our climate, than the heavy dressings common in Great Britain. Fifty bushels of slaked lime to the acre, I have found amply sufficient for any of our lands, and a greater quantity often attended with injury to the soil and crops, whilst twenty-five bushels will answer every purpose on thin lands, deficient in vegetable matter. Ashes, bone dust, and the various marine manures that abound on the shores of the Chesapeake and its tributaries, will be found important auxiliaries in the work of 'keeping your lands rich,' whilst the necessity of clover and the proper grasses, to any system of permanent improvement, is too obvious to require comment."
Although caustic lime should never be used in connection, or so as to come in contact with the Guano, there is no doubt of its being a valuable auxiliary. Upon land limed this year, Guano may be used next, and if mixed with charcoal or plaster, or plowed in and thoroughly incorporated with the soil, especially if it contains a considerable portion of clay, no loss of ammonia will occur, in consequence of the action of the lime. On the contrary, the effect will be to make the action of the Guano more active, and the immediate benefit greater; though, of course the succeeding crops would not receive as great a share. But, as Mr. Newton says, ought we to ask for great advantages to succeeding crops, from a manure which gives us such great profits from the present one.
From our notes taken upon the spot, we give a few items more in detail of Mr. Newton's operations, than he has done in the preceding quotations. The tract of land he speaks of is gently undulating; of a sandy loam, with a greater amount of clay in the subsoil; had been literally worn out in former years by the shallow plowing, skinning system of farming, until it would produce no more, when it was abandoned and suffered to grow up again in forest timber, principally pine of the "old field" species. No land could offer less inducements to the cultivator or give smaller hope of renovation, than these old fields of Virginia. Such was the conviction of impossibility to raise a crop upon this kind of land, that Mr. Newton's first essay was looked upon by his neighbors with a conviction that the fool and his money would soon part company. One sensible old servant told us he thought his master "for sartain was done gone crazy, cause he nebber seed no nothing grow on dat land, no how could fix him." The negroes, wherever guano has been introduced, have been violently opposed to using it; not alone from its disagreeable odor and effect upon the throat and nostrils while handling it in a dry state; but because they could not be persuaded that such a small measure of stuff—200 lbs. measures about three bushels—could possibly produce any effect upon the crop. Their astonishment and consequent extravagant laudation of the effect produced, has often afforded us hours of amusement while listening to their recital of "massa's big crop," of perhaps ten bushels to the acre, which was at least double that of any one ever seen upon the same field, "fore he put dem little pinch of snuff on him."