84 
AMERICAN AGRICULTURIST. 
erection of a mill, and (3) the probable cost of 
buying, collecting, and grinding the bones ? 
Of course, I would not ask the use of your 
columns for this purpose, were my object 
merely a private one, and were not the informa¬ 
tion sought calculated to interest and benefit the 
country at large. I would respectfully ask the 
views of any persons who have examined this 
subject. W. II. Ruffnek. 
Harrisburg , Rockingham Co., Va., April 4, 
We will leave the discussion of the above 
topics with our correspondents for the present. 
In No. 8 of last volume, (page 113,) we gave 
the process of making Home-made Super-phos¬ 
phate, and on page 56 of the present volume, 
we gave a few statements in regard to its man¬ 
ufacture, which Mr. R. had not seen at the time 
of writing the above letter. 
-- 
AN EXCELLENT PLAN FOR GROWING CUCUM¬ 
BERS. 
We clip the following from an exchange. We 
have tried the same plan and proved its excel¬ 
lence : 
Take a large barrel, or hogshead; saw it hi 
two in the middle, and bury each half in the 
ground even with the top. Then take a small 
keg and bore a small hole in the bottom ; place 
the keg in the center of the barrel, the top 
even with the ground, and fill in the barrel 
around the keg with rich earth, suitable for the 
growth of cucumbers. Plant your seed mid¬ 
way between the edges of the barrel and the 
keg, and make a kind of arbor a foot or two 
high for the vines to run on. When the ground 
becomes dry, pour water in the keg in the even¬ 
ing—it will pass out at the bottom of the keg 
into the barrel and rise up to the l’oots of the 
vines, and keep them moist and green. Cucum¬ 
bers cultivated this way will grow to a great 
size, as they are made independent both of 
drought and wet weather. In wet weather the 
barrel can be covered, and in dry the ground can 
be kept moist by pouring water in the keg. 
CHINCHA (GUANO) ISLANDS.' 
The Boston Traveler has been favored with a 
perusal of a private letter from these islands, 
dated the 19th of Feb., which contains some 
items of interest that will repay every reader 
for the perusal. The following are extracts: 
There were at the Islands, at the date of the 
letter, one hundred and sixty vessels of various 
sizes, from 300 to 2,200 tons’ burden—averag¬ 
ing probably 800 tons. The estimated average 
time for loading with guano was forty days. 
The rate of exportation of guano from the 
Islands is said to be 1,000 tons a day, which it 
was thought would not exhaust the heap in ten 
years. A geological survey, made by order of 
the United States Government, had estimated 
that eight years would exhaust the supply. 
“ There are three of the Chincha Islands, ly¬ 
ing in a line, N. and S., the passages between 
them being less than a half mile. The wind is 
always S. and E. and it is never known to rain. 
The north island is the largest. It is nearly 
circular, and about one-third of a mile in diam¬ 
eter, and about 100 feet high. Some parts of 
the coast are steep high cliffs, and others sandy 
and rocky coves of gradual ascent from the 
shore. The heap of guano continues to deepen 
to the highest point of the island, where it is 
100 feet in depth. Fancy a large old-fashioned 
loaf of brown bread, laid upon a table but little 
larger than the base of a loaf, and you can pretty 
nearly see the pile of guano on either island. 
The laborers commence digging and proceed 
along the top of the rock in the direction of the 
center, from all parts of the island; and there¬ 
fore in their progress, have shown the guano in 
a very steep side from the base rock, 80 feet 
high; and from every part it appears to be the 
same substance—hard and close. 
Every spoonful is dug with a pick, and when 
loosened is as dry as powder, and of course 
dusty. If left in a pile but a brief period, it 
again becomes hard, and must again be loosened 
with a pick. From the base to the top are 
found feathers, eggs, and stones of all sizes, 
some weighing even two or three tons. I have 
taken out many perfect feathers, far from the 
top ; and near and upon the surface have seen 
what appeared to be bone and flesh decomposed. 
It is thought the pile now called guano, is the 
decomposition of sea animals, of which there 
are multitudes now, and they are presumed to 
have been far more numerous in ancient days, 
before the white man came to destroy. Sea 
lions of a large size, (a ton weight,) seals and 
endless quantities of sea fowls have been the 
inhabitants of these islands for myriads of years, 
and the islands have been the burial places of 
these animals ; for if wounded they crawl up to 
the top. So say the knowing ones. Birds and 
bird-lime go to increase the pile. Guano is 
really decomposed animal matter, but whether 
this was the way so vast a pile accumulated, or 
whether the islands were thrown up from the 
bottom of the sea with the deposit upon them, 
you must judge for yourself. 
Tiie second island is similar in size and pile 
to the one described. The third one has not 
been touched yet. It is much smaller, but well 
loaded. Guano secretes large quantities of am¬ 
monia, and, confined as it is in a ship’s hold, a 
man cannot stay more than five or ten minutes 
at a time among it. Besides large lumps of 
pure ammonia, are daily found apparently de¬ 
composed bones, eggs, &c., and among other 
items a man in a perfect state of preservation— 
the real ammonia, strong as volatile salts. 
Now do you wish to know how all those ships 
are loaded, and a thousand tons per day dug and 
sent from the islands? Well, there are about 
100 convicts from Peru, and about 300 China¬ 
men from the Celestial Empire. The former 
are in the right place; the latter were passen¬ 
gers that engaged passage in an English ship 
for California, and engaged before they left their 
own country to labor after their arrival for a 
limited time to pay their passage ($80.) In¬ 
stead of being landed at California the ship 
brought them direct to this place, and the cap¬ 
tain sold them for three and six years, accord¬ 
ing to the men, to work out their passage; and 
here they are slaves for life. They are allowed 
$4 per month for their food, and one-eighth of 
a dollar per day for their labor, with a pile of 
guano before them which will last the next ten 
years; and long before it is exhausted the ma¬ 
jority of them will be dead. Each man is com¬ 
pelled to bring to the shoot five tons of guano 
per day. A failure thereof is rewarded with the 
lash from a strong negro, and such is their hor¬ 
ror of the lash and the hopelessness of their 
condition, that every week there are more or 
less suicides. In the month of November, I 
have heard, fifty of the boldest of them joined 
hands and jumped from the precipice into the 
sea. In December, there were twenty-three 
suicides. This is from one in authority. In 
January, quite a number, but I have not learned 
how many. I was a few days since on the South 
Island, and there saw two of the most misera¬ 
ble, starved creatures; they had swam across on 
their wheel-barrows, and fully determined to die. 
I could not feed them, and my heart ached for 
them ; so after we reached the ship, a boat was 
dispatched with bread and water for their re¬ 
lief. Perhaps this availed nothing, for they 
must either return to their task, or some one 
must feed them daily. The Chinese, it is said, 
are educated to believe in the transmigration of 
souls, and therefore think if they leave this life 
they shall return to their own country. It is 
thought this faith induces them to leave their 
wheel-barrows and commit suicide. 
Thus by diminishing the number of laborers, 
the exports are reduced, and to meet the de¬ 
mand of so many ships, two English ships, (one I 
of which has been here before,) are soon ex¬ 
pected with other loads of passengers from the 
Chinese dominions, deceived, most probably, 
with the idea of going to California to dig gold. 
In fact, it is said, the first batch of celestials 
had dug many days before they were undeceived. 
The process of loading the ship is either by 
placing the ship close to a steep, rocky cliff, 
and have the guano run through a large canvas 
hose from the top of the hill into the ship’s 
hold. 500 tons per day are put on board by 
this method; and as there is seldom much wind 
or swell a ship can lie very well. Boats that go 
under smaller shoots, are sometimes loaded and 
return to the ship, where it is taken on board in 
tubs made from barrels. 
ON THE CULTIVATION OF ONE GRAIN CROP 
AFTER ANOTHER ON HEAVY LAND. 
If I was asked to define “What constitutes 
the most profitable course of agriculture.” I 
should say it consists in pursuing that system 
which is most suitable to the soil and climate, 
and at the same time making use to the fullest 
possible extent of every natural and local advan¬ 
tage peculiar to the district. It will be found, 
I think, that whenever the profits made in farm¬ 
ing have been higher than usual, the great 
source of success may be traced to the above 
causes. In the published statements of suc¬ 
cessful farming, which have appeared from time 
to time, will be found much to confirm my 
views. While, however, we assign to the au¬ 
thors full merit for their skill and enterprise, it 
is necessary to employ extreme caution either 
in recommending or adopting their system. 
The local advantage which constitutes the main 
element of their success may be wanting in an¬ 
other district, and it must be borne in mind 
that the deficiency of one link in the chain may 
be sufficient to invalidate the whole of the con¬ 
clusions. One of the most difficult problems of 
the present day is to decide how far we may de¬ 
viate from the beaten track, and how far the va¬ 
rious novelties may be profitably adopted. The 
enterprising farmer feels a growing conviction 
that much is still to be learnt, he feels that if, 
with his present knowledge, he could obtain the 
prices which his father had fifty years ago, he 
would make great profits; and if he now pos¬ 
sessed the knowledge which his son will possess 
fifty years hence, he would doubtless make still 
larger profits. The adoption of the four course 
rotation on the light soil may be taken as a 
happy adaptation of a peculiar process to a suit¬ 
able soil, and we consequently find a progres¬ 
sive increase in the value of these soils, while on 
other soils the value has been either stationary 
or declining. The root crop, which may be 
considered the basis of the four course rotation, 
although extensively cultivated on heavy soils, 
is generally admitted to be less essential to pro¬ 
fitable farming than when grown on light soils, 
and in my opinion the benefit derived from it is 
very much lessened whenever the soil is injured 
by the treading of stock in the winter. 
The large supplies of artificial manures con¬ 
taining ammonia which have been in the market 
for some years, offer advantages to the cultiva¬ 
tors of heavy land which they have not, per¬ 
haps, fully understood, and they have employed 
them in increasing the growth of root crops 
rather than in the direct growth of corn. 
The growth of one grain crop after another 
has been pronounced by many to be a bad sys¬ 
tem of farming; there is, however, no scientific 
ground for this opinion. Loss of ammonia is 
the principle cause of the exhaustion of land 
from the growth of corn, and this may be re¬ 
placed by a direct supply of ammonia in the 
form of an artificial manure, as easily as by the 
growth of a crop which does not exhaust it. On 
heavy land a crop of barley after wheat, man¬ 
ured with three cwt. of guano, or two cwt. of gu¬ 
ano and one cwt. of nitrate of soda, will often 
yield a more valuable produce than the same 
crop taken after turnips. The selection of the 
1 crop to follow the previous crop of corn should 
