656 



THE FARMERS' REGISTER. 



the weather, and only require the addition of down 

 to convert them into nests. The drakes are easily 

 known by their white and black plumage ; but the 

 dark hue of the females makes it difficult to dis- 

 tinguish them from the holes in which they sit. 

 Owing to their lying close, I have frequently 

 trodden on them, without their warning me of 

 their presence till the mischiel' was done. The 

 drakes, though by no means wild, will not allow 

 themselves to be handled so freely as the ducks, 

 and mostly keep together on the top of the hill. 

 As soon as a nest is completed, it is usual to re- 

 move the greater part of the down, while the bird 

 is away feeding ; and this operation is repeated a 

 second, and occasionally a third time. On her 

 return, the bird makes up the deficiency thus 

 created by stripping her own breast; and, when 

 her stock is exhau^sted, she calls on her mate to 

 add his portion, which will bear no comparison 

 with the sacrifice she has made. The same sort 

 of spoliation is practised with regard to the eggs, 

 care being taken that three or lour are left ; for 

 should the bird on her return find the nest empty, 

 she will desert it, and not breed again the same 

 season. About six, considerably larger than those 

 of tame ducks, and of a light green color, are 

 found in each nest. Their flavor is very inferior 

 to that of hens' eggs, but they are not so strong 

 as to prevent their being made in'o omelettes. 

 Tiie average quantity of down obtained fiom 

 three nests is hall' a pound, so mixed with grass 

 and foreign matter, that forty pounds in that stale 

 are reduced to fifteen, after it has been thoroughly 

 cleaned. Vidoe and Engoe together produce, 1 

 believe, about three hundred pounds weight year- 

 ly ; which would, if the above calculation is cor- 

 rect, make the number of ducks that come to 

 these two places fall not far short of ten thousand 

 every year. The number, however, that breed 

 in Faxefiord is small compared to those that bend 

 their course to Breidefiord. The innumerable 

 little islands that fill that bay aH'ord ample shelter 

 and security to eider-ducks, who seem to avoid 

 nothing so much as any place accessible to foxes. 

 These cunning animals are particularly fond of 

 their eggs ; but though we will give them all cre- 

 dit lor ingenuity in getting at them, we can hard- 

 ly be expected to put much faith in the story told 

 about them by the Danish travellers, Olavson 

 and Paulson. When, say they, the Icelandic 

 foxes have detected any crows' eggs in an inac- 

 cessible place, they take one another's tails in 

 their mouths, and Ibrm a siring of sufficient length 

 to reach the nest, and let one end of it over the 

 rock. They have, however, forgotten to tell us 

 how the eggs are passed up by these craftiest of 

 Reynards. The separation of the down Irom the 

 grosser feathers and straws occupies the women 

 during winter. It is then thoroughly divested of 

 particles loo minute for the hand to remove, b^ 

 being heated in pans, and winnowed like wheat. 

 Should it become matted and dead, it is again 

 Bubjected to a brisk heat, which restores its origi- 

 nal elasticity, and increases its bulk. As in the 

 case of ostriches, the down taken afier death is 

 interior to that which the living duck tears Irom 

 its breast, which prevents their destruction through 

 wantonness. They are besides protected by the 

 law, which punishes the shooting of them by a 

 pecuniary penally and the forfeiture of the weapon 

 used. Nor are guns allowed to be fired in the 



neighborhood during their sojourn ; and even the 

 corvette that brought the prince abstained in the 

 spring from saluting him. 



[After making large allowance in the following 

 article for the exaggeration witfi which most new 

 agricultural improvements are usually described, 

 it is still a remarkable and valuable fact that 

 animal manure has been and can be profitably 

 imported into England from so great a distance as 

 the eastern part of the Pacific Ocean. — Ed.F. R.] 



From tlio London Farmers' Magazine. 



The importation of this substance, by Messrs. 

 W. J. Myers and Co. of Liverpool, is maini}', 

 if not entirely, owing to the spirit of agricultural 

 improvement which has of late been diffused 

 through the country. A retrospection of the 

 state of agriculture in Great Britain shows — 

 that while arts and manufactures have made 

 daily, indeed, hourly strides to perfection, the fiir 

 more important interest, the production of food, 

 has received nothing but neglect; and in truth, 

 the tillage of the soil has, until necessity compel- 

 led a change, been considered as an employment 

 beneath the notice of science, and as such, been 

 conducted by those from whom knowledge could 

 not he expected nor new ideas obtained. 



Wiihin the last ftjw years, however, the increas- 

 ing population and their improved condition have 

 called imperatively lor a larger supply of food, 

 and inquiry once commenced, the magnitude of 

 the subject became apparent to all. 



Chemistry, of which every agriculturist is the 

 unconscious professor, so intimately connected 

 with the progress of vegetable life, that the sim- 

 plest duty of the farmer is dependent on its laws ; 

 chemistry is at length recognized as the readiest 

 key to knowledge, and to carry'out the advantages 

 offered by its mighty aid, associations of all classes 

 in the country have been formed, and assistance 

 given on a scale to which no other empire in the 

 world can afford a parallel. 



The object 1 have now in view is to introduce 

 to the agricultural world of Enuland, a manure, 

 which in another climate lias been of long use, 

 and niost beneficial effect. 



Guano (the name it bears) is the deposits of 

 sea-birds on islands in ihe Pacific Ocean, and is 

 found therein large quantities, being the accumu- 

 lation of ages past. 



Its component parts are in fact a cajection of 

 valuable manures, and the effects resulting from 

 its use, though only what must follow the nature 

 of its composition, are beyond all other manures 

 whatever extraordinary. 



It would far exceed the limits of this letter to 

 detail all ihe experiments which have been made, 

 or to mention all the proofs that have been record- 

 ed of its worth. It has been tried upon sixty dif- 

 ferent farms, and on every different crop ; and I 

 may say, that, not only in no instance has failure 

 attended its application, but in every case, its pro- 

 duce has astonished the farmer who has tried if. 



A gentleman of the name of Smith, farming 



