7 / 42
6
stand the snbsequent effects of unfavorable conditions of
climate, and is abler to seek for itself the meaus of nourish–
ment among the coarser elements in the soil: for its roots
will bave acquired a certain vigor and, extending over
~
large space nnder the surfaee, will come into eontact with
a. great mass of the soil anu derive the fnll benefit in it. The
"foreing" quality of Guano, whieh it possesses in so high a
uegree, is onc of the a.d vantages connected with its use.
Another eause to whieh Guano owes its superiority over
other fertilizers, is the proportion, and the form, in which the
fertilizing ingredients exist in this remarkable ma.nnre.
The substances necessary for the growth of plants and
wllieh are most deficient in cultivated soils, are: Ammonia
(nitrogenous compounds) and Phosphoric Acid. These are
found in Guano in largc proportion : from 25 to 30 per cent.
being composed of Ammonia and Phosphoric Acid.
It
besides contains from 2 to 5 pe'r cent. of Potassa, another
nbstancc most necessary for the growth of plauts, and which
is often deficient in cultivated soils.
Ammonia, Phosphoric Acid ancl Potassa, is all that manu–
facturers of fertilizers pretend to furnish in their compounds,
and these cxif:t, in larger proportion, in Guano, than in any
manufactnred article to be met with in trade.
But, while these last mentionecl ingredients cxist in sorne
fertilizers, (P otassa being totally wanting in many) in none
are thcy found in a shape so admirahly snited for assimilation
by plants, as they exist
Üt
Guano.
Professor PENDLETON, in
his "Treatise on Scientific Agriculture," says:
"Peruvian Guano, which has proved to be so powert"ul a fertilizer for
all agricultura! crops in cvery soil and climatc, is itself a remarkable com–
bination of Nitrogen an<l Phosphoric Acid, whilc the Jattcr is to a large
cxteut insoluble, as fonncl in clry Guano. When, however, it hecomes
moist in the soil, a decomposition takes place, through the n.gency of thc
Sulphate of Ammonia, by which the bone Phosphatc of Limeis transferre<l
into Oxalate of Lime anll Phosphatc ot" Ammouia, (Liebig).
This sub–
stance then, is thc most remarkable of all combinatious, natural or artifi–
cial, asto fertilizing qnalities."
But, not alonc to thc solubility of the fertilizing ingre–
dients, as they are fonnd in Guano, i:;; dul-) their rcmarkable