AMERICAN INSTITUTE. 



345 



sion throiigli the central provinces of the Celestial empire. He 

 had (Nov. 28, 1854) caused 23,892 tea plants, 178 plants of a 

 new kind ofchesnut, wliich is extensively cultivated in China; 

 also 628 Camas-Palms, the Chamcerops excelsa ; many specimens 

 of grafts from the Yang-Mai, or Myrica, with its eatable fruit; 

 also a multitude of other interesting vegetables. Among them is 

 Gree7i Indigo, the color of which, notwithstanding its name, is 

 neither green, nor blue, but is yellow. Here is cause for the 

 partizans of the naturalization of exotic plants to rejoice that 

 even a portion of these may be Europeanized. Mr. Fortune will 

 come back to England with his hands full. There will soon be 

 some pretty gleanings to be had by our horticulturists. 



GUANO AND ITS SUBSTITUTES. 



[London Farmers' Magazine, August, 1855.] 



Extracts by Henry Meigs. 

 There appears to be on all the islands wliich contain guano, 

 about . On the Chincha and Chipana islands, on the 



coast of Peru, 27,000,000 tons, of which, perhaps, 



11,000,000 is good. 

 On Lobos islands, &c., 10,000,000 " 



20,000,000 tons. 



USE OF IT. 



During the twelve years since guano was imported into Eu- 

 rope, there have been bought in about 1,500,000 tons, rather 

 more than 100,000 tons a year. 



The present consumption is from 300,000 to 320,^00 tons per 

 annum. In five or six years more it will reach 500,000 tons; the 

 increase will also take place in other countries, so that in a few 

 years the annual demand will be 2,000,000 tons; then, unless a 

 substitute or more deposits are found, it will be all used up in 

 twelve or fourteen years. 



Fortunately the desideratum has been discovered in France by 

 a committee of the Imperial and Central Agricultural Society, 

 Messrs. Payen and Pommier. Tliat is a manure made of fish or 

 refuse of fish. Messrs. de Malon and Thurneysen, had estab- 

 lished such a manufacture at Newfoundland, and not at Concar- 

 neau. It is not easy to estimate the importance of this manufac- 

 ture, when it is considered that the raw material is inexhaustible! 



The materials are boiled, pressed, dried and pulverized, and 



