No. 7. 



The Island of Ichaboe — Guano. 



205 



its culture. I have seen but one field of 

 this wheat growing in Western New York. 



Red Bearded. — An English variety, and 

 has been cultivated for many years in this 

 section of the State : red chaft', bearded ; 

 beards slanding out from the head, and 

 when fully ripe a little bending down; berry 

 white, weighing from GO to 62 pounds to 

 the bushel ; yields flour well and of good 

 quality; this is a hardy variety, succeeds 

 well after corn, or on light soils. In one 

 instance in Niagara county, when sown 

 after corn, producing 44 bushels to the acre. 

 It is mostly sown on clay loam soils — there 

 it succeeds best. Straw not large or very 

 stiff. This variety would be more exten- 

 sively cultivated, if its beard were not ob- 

 jectionable. 



Scotch -Wheat. — This variety has been 

 cultivated for several years in Western 

 New York. Its origin is not known ; it is 

 a large white wheat, varies but little from 

 the Indiana; berry some larger; does not 

 shell as easy, straw large; it is mostly cul- 

 tivated on the Tonawanda oak-openings, 

 where it is held in high estimation. 



Italian Spring Wheat was introduced by 

 Mr. Hathaway, of Rome, Oneida county, 

 and for several years was mucli sought for. 

 For the las:t few years it has not succeeded 

 as well as formerly, and is much less culti- 

 vated. This is a bearded wheat, white 

 chaff, heads long, the chambers standing 

 apart more than the common varieties; berry 

 red, long, not very full; bran thick, flour of 

 fair quality. Spring wheats are most valu- 

 able on soils where the winter varieties are 

 thrown out by the frosts of spring. 



Tea Wheat or Siberian Bald. — This is a 

 spring v^heat, one of the most valuable of 

 the spring varieties. It is extensively cul- 

 tivated in New England and in the north 

 part of this State. Straw not long, vei'y 

 bright, the heads bald, and with a beautiful 

 white berry producing flour of good quality. 

 The straw is not so large as the Italian, 

 ripening earlier; the berry sits more close 

 in its chamber, not subject to rust. I have 

 cultivated it for several years. I have, how- 

 ever, rejected all spring varieties. 



Black Sea Wheat was first introduced 

 into the State of Maine, and has been suc- 

 cessfully cultivated there for several years, 

 as well as in some of the other New Eng- 

 land States. It has succeeded tlie best of 

 any of the spring varieties in Vermont; 

 being earlier in maturing, is less affected 

 with the grain worm — seldom rusts or mil- 

 dews. This is a white chaff', bearded; straw 

 soft, very subject to get down, which does 

 not injure it in filling; berry long and red, 

 weighs well, bran thick, producing flour of 



an inferior quality. Its early ripening gives 

 it the preference to others. 



I have received a description of several 

 of the most valuable varieties of wheat cul- 

 tivated in Virginia and the South, and had 

 specimens of them forwarded to me, but 

 they have been miscarried. If I had suc- 

 ceeded in getting them, I would have given 

 a description of them here. I hope to be 

 more successful at some other time. 



This list might have been much extended, 

 but I have confined myself to such varieties 

 as I have had under cultivation, or those that 

 have come under my own observation. 



The Island of Ichaboe— Guano. 



This island, which has caused so much 

 commotion amongst ship-owners and specu- 

 lators, and which has given rise to the em- 

 ployment of so much shipping from the 

 principal ports both of England and Scot- 

 land, in this new branch of trade, is situ- 

 ated in 26° 13' 34" south latitude, about 22 

 miles north of Angra Pequina — a well de- 

 termined position, which vessels bound for 

 Ichaboe, generally try to make. The main- 

 land, for several hundred miles on both 

 sides of Angra Pequina, presents to the eye 

 of the mariner a barren, inhospitable, and 

 dangerous line of sea-coast, lying low, though 

 backed with high land in the interior. The 

 strong glare arising from the arid sand, and 

 the density of the atmosphere, calls for the 

 utmost vigilance and caution on the part of 

 the master-mariner approaching it during 

 the night; for, if he once gets deceived, and 

 into the current which sets upon the shore, 

 the destruction of his vessel is inevitable. 

 Along this seaboard there is not the slight- 

 est symptom of vegetation; indeed it is much 

 to be questioned whether vegetation would 

 thrive, whatever might be the quality of the 

 .soil, as no rains fall in this region. True, 

 there are heavy dews, occasionally falling 

 both day and night ; but the cold is so se- 

 vere, for such a high latitude, during the 

 fogs, and the sun, when it does break forth, 

 is so powerful and scorching, that in all pro- 

 bability, between these alternating tempera- 

 tures no vegetation could survive. The island 

 itself is a barren, shelving rock, about a 

 mile long from north to south, and half a 

 mile across at its broadest part. It is bounded 

 all round by reefs, except on its eastern side, 

 where there is an anchorage from five to six 

 fathoms. A portion of the island is in the 

 form of a flat shelf, about 1100 feet long^ 

 and 500 feet broad in the widest part. Upon 

 this shelf, and about six feet above high 

 water, is accumulated that deposit of guano 

 which gives so much celebrity to the island, 



