Science: Twenty Million Pets

On Peru's rainless, guano (dung)covered Chincha Islands, Director Carlos Llosa Belaunde of the semi-official Compañia Administradora del Guano fondly examined a guano sample. His 20 million birds were performing magnificently, producing more & more fertilizer for Peru's irrigated fields. Recently Señor Llosa announced that this year the national guano harvest would be 170,000 tons, up from the 1942 low of 79,000 tons. Chief reasons: a scientific pampering of the guano birds, and the fact that the Peruvian (Humboldt) Current, which sometimes falters, was flowing strong and cold from the Antarctic, enriching the...

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