Vot. XU. No. 297. 



THE AGRICULTURAL NEWS 



291 



agiicultiual literature; the person interested in science 

 asks for accounts of scientific research: the ]iurely 

 practical man wants useful facts connected with liis 

 particular kind of industry; whilst there is a general, 

 but limited demand for popular writings of all kinds 

 dealing with agricultural progress. In meeting these 

 demands care must be taken not to make things too 

 easy, otherwise there is a tendency created which may 

 have a retrogressive influence on rural education. 



In endeavouring to reach tiie practical man there 

 is no royal road; simplicity, acnuraicy and a light pen 

 will make headwaj; but the underlying effort should 

 be to awaken initiative on the side of the worker, 

 after which it will be found possible to raise gradually 

 the general standard, and to simplify many of the 

 present systems which incur so much expense to the 

 gem ral public. 



A STRANGE MIGRATION. 



An almost unprecedented incident occurred in November 

 1911 ui 1 he islands off the coast of Peru. For some unac- 

 couniabe reason the whole of the birds on which the 

 deposition of guano is dependent, forsook their nesls and 

 newl^ hatched young. Millions (A nests containing many 

 millions of dead birds were thus forsaken. An investigation 

 into the cause of the departure is described in T/ie Tiuit^ 

 (July 25, 1913) based on the observations made by Dr. H. (). 

 Forbes, appointed by the Peruvian Government to investi- 

 gate the matter. 



I'KOBABLK CAlsi:. 



It appears that shocks of earthquakes arc not uncommon 

 in these islands and the birds which live there are always 

 greatly ulurmed when such disturbai;ce occurs It has been 

 surmized that the cause of the jiresent exodus was an 

 exceptionally severe shock. It has not been possible to say 

 in what directions the birds migrated, and although they 

 began to return in February and March 1912, they did not 

 resume breeding, and constquently the guano of that season 

 was lost because a very large amount of the deposit take) 

 place during the time of breeding. 



r>ErUL SPECIES. 



There are about eight species of birds which are valua- 

 ble as guano producers. The most important of these is 

 Bougainville's cormorant, whose chief nesting place is the 

 Chincha islands. Here millions of the birds breed during 

 February. 



The going and coming of the animals is said to b« 

 a marvellous spectacle, and the noise which they make is 

 hardly less remarkable. At times the sound is like the sough 

 of the sea, and at others it re.sembles the sound of a great 

 crowd, all the members of which are talking at once. Next 

 in importance to the bird just mentioned is the Pelican 

 (Pelicniiv.!! thagtis). These birds also ne.st in enormous 

 nocks but do not assemble so closely as the cormorants do. 

 In the nesting season they live in the same areas, and the 

 two species seem to be able to exist harmoniously in close 

 proximity. Besides this bird, there are two other species 

 of cormorant which occur in smaller iiumbers but are still 

 of considerable value. These are the sea crow and Gaimards. 



cormorant. The next most important guano Inrds are 

 mostly found on the Lobos island. These are two species of 

 gannet, and together with the pelican are the chief pro- 

 ducers of guano on these islands. Flocks of gannets 

 numbering from 10,000 to 20,000 at a time may be seen 

 diving and then rising high into the air. They go d.vvn 

 Hke so many rockets into the sea, which is ploughed up as 

 if a fusillade were being fired into it. 



A IIE.\LTliy Ari'ETITE. 



No less remarkable than their power of flight is the 

 appetite of these birds. ICach one will eat from 8 lb. to 10 tt». 

 of fish a day. Dr. Forbes carried out a rather interesting 

 experiment in which he kept a number of them in captivity 

 and fed them to determine how much guano would be 

 produced on a diet of a certain kind of tish. In this way it 

 was possible to determine the total deposits for, say, four years, 

 and from that estimate the ornithologist was able to divide 

 the whole of the guano archipelago into zones. The idea was 

 to protect the birds with a view to allowing them to deposit 

 and to have a rigorous close season, in each of four years. 

 Only one zone will be worked every year, thus leaving 

 a period for recovery. 



PRACTICAL SUCGESTIOXS. 



Apparently there is little fear of the birds not returning 

 in time; but to encourage this, Dr. Forbes put forward the 

 useful suggestion that endeavours should be made to remove 

 the sharp points of the rooks upon which the birds alight, 

 thereby increasing the surface area. 



As well as breeding on the larger islands, the birds visit 

 the smaller and more precipitous ones as well. The difficulty 

 in collecting guano from such situations is obvious, but 

 Dr. Forbes believes that an enormous new collecting area 

 might be added to that already existing by the general 

 adoption of the expedient proposed by him. in the case of 

 these small and very rugged haunts. 



The Adulteration of Arsenate of Lead and 



Paris Green. — An interesting case concerning the adulter- 

 ation and misbranding of tlie insecticide arsenate of lead, is 

 referred to in a CiVcular issued under the Insecticide Act of 

 1910 of the T'nited States Department of Agriculture. 



In this it is stated that the substance in question was 

 labelled: '.") lb. net weight new process arsenate of lead — 

 Guaranteed to contain not le>s than 12J per cent, of arsenic 

 oxide — Not more than a half of 1 per cent, water soluble 

 arsenic — Sold for insecticide purposes.' 



An analysis of specimens of the article by the United 

 States Department of Agriculture showed that it contained 

 arsenic in water soluble forms equivalent to more than 

 75 per cent, of arsenic oxide [As^O-], and that the sirlicle 

 contained lead arsenite. Adulteration of the ariicle was 

 alleged in the information: (1) in that the article contained 

 arsenic in water soluble forms equivalent to more than 75 

 per cnt. of arsenic oxide, and (2) that a substance, namely 

 lead arsenite had l>een mixed to injuriously effect its i|uality 

 and strength. The court iinpo.sed a fine of i^oO and cost. 



Another instance of a similar nature recorded from the 

 same source was a fiudulent transmission in which parcels 

 of Paris green were sold under weight. 



Cases like the above will be of interest to West Indian 

 cotton-growtrs and will serve as a warning against imposition 

 in the West Indies by these particular species of fraud. 



