INEXHAUSTIBLE SUPPLY OF GUANO.-HISTORICAL NOTICE OF ISABELLA GRAPE VINE. 179 
bed with pure horse dung, with as little straw as pos¬ 
sible—say one foot deep; we then put on 3 inches 
of rich black mould ; in this earth we plant the 
spawn of the mushroom broadcast. That from Eng¬ 
land comes in blocks like brick. This is broken up 
mto pieces the size of a walnut, and planted about 
3 or 4 inches apart. The best time to make the beds 
is in October and November. Keep the house warm; 
about 65 degrees, and damp and dark, and cover the 
beds with hay 3 inches deep. The mushrooms 
will be ready to pick in about a month, and will con¬ 
tinue until August, or longer; but in very warm 
weather they get covered with bugs. The other 
house is smaller, and 1 heat it with a large pile of 
horse manure, which being kept wet my gardener 
thinks raises the best mushrooms.” 
Roswell L. Colt. 
Paterson, 7th May , 1845. 
INEXHAUSTIBLE "SUPPLY OF GUANO. 
Many of our farmers have been deterred from 
making use of guano, from an apprehension that the 
supply might fail, and that so powerful a stimulus 
would injure the soil, unless the same subst.\*ce 
could be annually applied. Erroneous as this last 
notion is, it will perhaps be more or less entertained, 
until repeated experiments shall have shown in this 
country, as in others, that its tendency is permanently 
invigorating. 
The fear that there will not be found an ample 
supply on the coast of Peru alone, for the wants of 
Europe and the United States, will cease with those 
who can give credit to an official report made to the 
Peruvian government in 1842, and published at 
Lima, under the authority of the Treasury depart¬ 
ment ( Ministerio de Hacienda). This report gives 
the result of a survey made by order of the Peruvian 
government, of the three islets near Pisco, in latitude 
about 14® south, called the Chinch as, where is found 
one of the many deposits of guano, which abound 
on the coast of Peru and Bolivia, to an extent of 800 
miles. The surveyor, after some remarks upon the 
origin and nature of guano, states, that, from admea¬ 
surement, he found the superficial extent of the de¬ 
posits on these three islets to be 1,554,406 square 
varas (the vara is computed at 33$ inches, Eng¬ 
lish) ; and the depth to vary according to the irre¬ 
gular surface of the rock upon which it is based; 
but making liberal allowance for the points of rock 
rising above the bed of the general mass, he calcu¬ 
lates an average depth of 60 varas, which gives the 
sum total of 93,264,360 cubic varas. The report 
adds, “ the cubic vara of guano as found in these de¬ 
posits weighs more than half a ton ; but taking no 
account of the excess, we have here 46,632,180 
tons, which if extracted at the rate of 50,000 tons 
per annum,would last more than 900 years; and valued 
a-t $50 per ton, amounts to $2,331,609,000, a sum 
such as no mine has as yet produced.” 
Making every reasonable allowance for errors of 
survey, and over estimate of depth, I ihink here is 
abundant evidence that Peru, from these islets alone, 
can supply the world with guano for many genera¬ 
tions. Edwin Bartlett. 
New York , May 12, 1845. 
June is the most growing time for weeds; keep 
ihem down well this month. 
HISTORICAL NOTICE OF THE ISABELLA 
GRAPE-VINE. 
The Isabella Grape-vine, so celebrated throughout 
the United States, for its hardiness, vigor of growth, 
and abundant yield of fruit, it is highly probable, is a 
hybrid produced by cross fecundation between the 
vine of Europe and one of our native species. Con¬ 
cerning its origin and history, I am indebted princi¬ 
pally to General Joseph Swift, U. S. A., of Geneva, 
New York, for the following account, which I trust 
will be no less acceptable in coming from so respect¬ 
able a source, than in the interest eliciied in so valu¬ 
able a production. 
Fig. 51. 
It appears that General Smith, of Smithville, North 
Carolina, in 1808, procured from Dorchester, South 
Carolina, several roots and cuttings of a hybrid vine, 
which, it is said, had been originated there by some 
families of Huguenots, between the Burgundy grape¬ 
vine from France, and the native fox grape (vitis 
labrusca) of that vicinity. In the year 1817, a vine 
produced from these cuttings, was transplanted from 
Smithville, by Mrs. Isabella Gibbs, in honor of whom 
this variety was named, to the garden then owned by 
her husband, Colonel George Gibbs, which was 
situate along the southerly side of Cranberry, be¬ 
tween Willow and Columbia streets, in Brooklyn, 
New York. In 1819, the garden was purchased by 
General Swift, who very generously distributed roots 
and cuttings of this vine among his neighbors and 
others, more especially to the late William Prince, of 
Flushing, Long Island, by whose efforts it be¬ 
came widely disseminated throughout the Union, and 
was sent to several countries in Europe, Madeira, 
&c. The garden has since been divided into lots, and 
partially occupied by buildings, and the original Isa¬ 
bella vine, after attaining a circumference of more 
than a foot, was severed to the ground, about the 
year 1837, in order to make room for the improve¬ 
ments going on at that time. Portions of the parent 
stock, however, are still growing in great perfection, 
and annually produce an abundance of fruit. Mi; A. 
G. Thompson, their present owner, informs me that, 
in grading the lots on which they stand, it became 
necessary to raise the surface some two or three feet, 
and that the original roots are still supposed to remain 
at that depth in the earth, a conclusive proof of the 
advantages derived from deep planting in a free and 
open soil. D’Jay Browne. 
New York, May 20, 1845. 
