There has probably been less guano used in this great State, than in her
little sister, of which we have just been speaking. This may be owing to
the fact that great improvements have been made by the use of lime, and
that Pensylvania farmers generally are not much inclined to leave the
path their fathers trod before them; or that they are skeptical as to
what they hear of the miraculous powers of guano; hence, its use has
been in a great measure confined to market gardeners, or experiments in
a small way; the sales at Philadelphia, for home consumption, so far as
we have noticed, are mostly in small lots of one to ten bags. Among all
with whom we have conversed, however, who have used Peruvian guano in
that State, we have never heard a doubt expressed of its value, though
the idea, strangely enough seems to prevail, that it will only be
profitable for gardners and small farmers, and that it is of no benefit
to succeeding crops. No doubt the progress of improvement by the use of
guano in that vicinity has been greatly retarded, in consequence of the
sale of considerable quantities of "cheap guano," which however low in
the scale of prices, is still lower in the scale of values. In fact,
there is but one thing connected with the spurious stuff, lower in any
scale, and that is the honesty of those who manufacture or knowingly
sell such a villainous compound to farmers, who are utterly ignorant
upon the subject, under solemn assurances, that it "is equal to any
guano in market, and only a little more than half price."
Mr. Landreth, the celebrated seedsman of Philadelphia, applied $500
worth of Peruvian guano last spring, principally on the bean crop--he
thinks guano admirably adapted to all the Brassica tribe, including
turnips, cabbages, rutubaga, radishes and all cruciform plants. Upon a
lawn which appeared to be running out, he applied guano, and the grass
is now green and vigorous. The character of his soil may be judged from
its location; it is on the Delaware river above Bristol, and had been
awfully skinned before he came in possession. Now, with a liberal
expenditure for manures, he gets two crops a year.
_Guano for grass lands._--The Germantown Telegraph says: "The
application of guano broadcast to grass lands has been found to produce
a decided difference in the crop. In several instances this season,
where Peruvian guano has been applied at the rate of 200 lbs. per acre,
about the middle of April, the yield of hay has been double in quantity,
over the intermediate lands not so treated; and in every instance
noticed, it is believed that the difference in quantity produced will
amply repay the cost of the guano."