416 TRANSACTIONS OF THE 



Society at Washington, in which allusion is made to the alleged 

 new discoveries in the Pacific, with reference to wliich the Ame- 

 rican Guano Company was recently organised. The quantity of 

 this fertilizer imported during the year, by the last annual census 

 returns, exceeded 200,000 tons, and was sold for not far from $60 

 per ton. In view of a material reduction in this price,as a result 

 of the new discoveries, Mr. Browne remarks, that the return of 

 the expedition sent to the islands by the government, and which 

 has, no doubt, already set forth, will be looked for with no little 

 anxiety by all interested in agriculture, and adds : "Should the 

 expectation of this company, as to the quantity and quality of 

 this guano deposit be realized, they propose to sell it to the Ame- 

 rican fai-mer at the rate of from $3U to $40 per ton, or at about 

 two-thirds of the present price of Peruvian guano. With such a 

 reduction in the cost of an article of prime necessity to the culti- 

 vator of the soil, we may naturally look for a vast increase in the 

 production of grain, and in the general amelioration of the econ- 

 omy of farming." 



WOOL. 



[London Journal of Arts, August 31, 1855.] 



" It has been ascertained, by actual experiment, that the fol- 

 lowing are the results of feeding different kinds of roots and 

 grains, for the production of wool, viz : 

 1,000 lbs. of raw potatoes, with salt, make .... 6^ lbs of wool. 



do mangel wurtzel, raw, 5| do 



do wheat, 14 do 



do oats, 10 do 



do rye, with salt, 14 do 



do rye, without salt, 12^ do 



do barley, 1 2^ do 



do peas, 16^ do 



do buckwheat, 10 do 



COCHINEAL. 

 An article of great value as a dye ; is from an insect which 

 feeds upon that species of cactus called the " Prickly Pear," whose 

 ripe juice is of that beautiful color, crimson. 



[London : Journal of the Society of Arts, September 21, 1855.] 



Extracts by H. Meigs. 



" I have sent you, by this packet, two more bottles of the juice 



of the prickly pear. I feel firmly persuaded that this extract, if 



not equal to the cochineal, would in many cases be an excellent 



