AMERICAN INSTITUTE. 271 



somewhat acid — is a sort of berry; when first gathered the taste 

 is poor; by keeping a little while it becomes agreeable to our pal- 

 ate. The plant is multiplied from the seeds better than other- 

 wise. 



TEA— PRICES— LONDON, 1734. 



Green tea,. 9 to 12 shillings per lb. 



Congon, 10 to 12 do 



Bohea, 10 to 12 do 



Pekoe,. 14 to 16 do 



Imperial,.. 9 to 12 do 



Hyson, 20 to 25 do 



From two to five dollars a pound ! 



GUANO IN OLD TIMES— CARDAN 200 YEARS AGO. 



From islands of the sea near Peru, they fetch an earth for ma- 

 nure. It is called guano — that is dung — not because it is the 

 dung of sea fowls, as many would have it, but because of its admi- 

 rable virtue in making plowed ground fertile. That brought from 

 the island oflqueyque, is of a dark gray color, like unto tobacco, 

 ground small. 



Acosta w^as seventeen years in Peru, and in 1604 published his 

 " Historia Natural y moral de las Indias." He says : " In some 

 islands or phares, joyning the coast of Peru, we see the toppes of 

 the mountaines all white like snows or white land. Rut these are 

 heaps of dung of sea fowls — the quantity of it seems a fable. The 

 people go for it in boats — it makes the earth yield great abun- 

 dance of fruit. They call it guano, and the valleys of Peru, where 

 it is used, is called the Limaguana." 



[Journal de la Societe Imperiale et Centrale D'llorticulture. Napoleon III, Protecteur. 



Paris, April 1857.] 



Extracts translated by Henry Meigs. 



Do almonds change to peaches and then to nectarines ? 



This is an extremely interesting question, says Mons. K. Koch, 

 in the Verhandlung Gewerbe Vereines, 1857. 



This question has been many times discussed, and quite recently 

 by the Gardeners' Chronicle, by Mons. Fintelmann, chief gardener 

 of Charlottenburg. 



Mons. Koch, says that the almond and j>each in the covering of 

 the nut — almond by a thin one — which as it becomes dry divides 



