to previously unmanured land would produce _extra_ corn
enough to keep them for a year. This is probably a large estimate, but
it serves to show that this fertilizer is very valuable, and also that
poultry may be kept with great profit, if their excrements are properly
secured.

The manure of pigeons has been a favorite fertilizer in some countries
for more than 2000 years.

Market gardeners attach much value to rabbit-manure.

SHEEP MANURE.

[What can you say of the manure of sheep?]

The manure of sheep is less valuable than it would be, if so large a
quantity of the nitrogen and mineral parts of the food were not employed
in the formation of wool. This has a great effect on the richness of the
excrements, but they are still a very good fertilizer, and should be
protected from loss in the same way as stable manure.

GUANO.

[Should the use of guano induce us to disregard other manures?

Where and in what manner is the best guano deposited?]

_Guano_ as a manure has become world renowned. The worn-out tobacco
lands of Virginia, and other fields in many parts of the country, which
seemed to have yielded to the effect of an ignorant course of
cultivation, and to have sunk to their final repose, have in many cases
been revived to the production of excellent crops, and have had their
value multiplied many fold by the use of guano. Although an excellent
manure, it should not cause us to lose sight of those valuable materials
which exist on almost every farm. Every ton of guano imported into the
United States is an addition to our national wealth, but every ton of
stable-manure, or poultry-dung, or night soil evaporated or carried away
in rivers, is equally a _deduction_ from our riches. If the imported
manure is to really benefit us, we must not allow it to occasion the
neglect and consequent loss of our domestic fertilizers.

The Peruvian guano (which is considered the best) is brought from
islands near the coast of Peru. The birds which frequent these islands
live almost entirely on fish, and drop their excrements here in a
climate where rain is almost unknown, and where, from the dryness of the
air, there is but little loss sustained by the manure. It is brought to
this country in large quantities, and is an excellent fertilizer,
superior even to night soil.

[How should it be prepared for use?]

It should be mixed with an absorbent before being used, unless it is
plowed deeply under the soil, as it co