AMERICAN AGRICULTURIST. 
them off close, so that they may not again spring 
up; but this is not the usual way of going to 
work. 
The most careful pas3 a spado between the 
stem of the tree and the suckers; then striking 
vigorously, they wound the former, and by 
breaking and tearing away the suckers from the 
roots, wounds are foi - med, which, in healing, ab¬ 
sorb a portion of sap which would have gone to 
promote the growth of the tree. But still more 
frequently no attention is paid to the removal of 
these suckers, the care of stopping their growth 
being left to the cows and sheep. 
In arable land bruises and tearing of the bark 
by axes, plow beams, collars of horses, &c., 
are of frequent occurrence, because the ground 
is worked as near as possible to the tree, in or¬ 
der to have less to dig. These wounds and 
cankers continually recurring, if they do not 
directly kill the trees, soon stop their growth, 
diminish the produce, and shorten their ex¬ 
istence. 
. Gathering the Fruit .—This is also a frequent 
cause of injury to the trees. Instead of waiting 
till the apples are sufficiently ripe to detach 
themselves by the branches being shaken, either 
by a person up in the tree, or by one on the 
ground with a hooked stick, they are often ga¬ 
thered too soon, and as they do not readily part, 
the branches are struck with poles. By thus 
bringing down the fruit, many fruit-spurs and 
leaf-buds which would possibly become flower- 
buds, are likewise broken off. 
Modes of keeping the Fruit .—If the quality 
of the cider depends on the fitness of the instru¬ 
ments and vessels used, on the temperature, on 
the manner of crushing and pressing the apples, 
as well as on the fermentation of the juice, it 
also greatly depends on the mode adopted in 
preserving the fruit, on its state of ripeness, and 
on the mixture of particular varieties in certain 
proportions. If the growers only knew how 
much rain deteriorates apples that are laid in 
heaps out of doors for want of sufficient build¬ 
ings to protect them, they would construct very 
cheap sheds by means of straw mats, formed and 
supported with rods, in order to preserve the 
fruit from this drenching, which, being repeated, 
doubtless takes away part of the juice, especially 
when the}'- are ripe or nearly so. If this fact 
were not acknowledged, I would say to the un¬ 
believing, “ put a sound and nearly ripe apple 
in a glass of pure water, and leave it there for 
seven or eight days; after that time you will 
find that the water is of a reddish tint, and the 
apple almost without flavor. Now, how can this 
be explained, if not by the fact, that a part of 
the juice of the apple has passed through the 
pores of the skin, and diffused itself in the wa¬ 
ter ; whilst the latter has taken the place of the 
juice and penetrated into the flesh of the fruit. 
Apples, therefore, should be gathered in dry 
weather and afterwards sheltered from rain. 
The custom of mixing together different kinds 
of apples is also injurious, for the following rea¬ 
sons. The different sorts, although gathered at 
the same time, do not afterwards acquire, in 
equal periods, the same degree of maturity, and 
some keep longer than others after being fully 
ripe. The consequence is, that whilst waiting 
for the ripening of the latter sorts, the others 
rot, and no one, I should suppose, will venture 
to say that the pulp of rotten apples can give a 
juice fit for making good cider. Occasionally, to 
to avoid this evil, the apples are crushed too 
soon, and those that are not ripe only yield a 
colorless juice, which is very liable to become 
acid. It is, therefore, advantageous to separate 
the sorts, because each heap being composed of 
equally ripe fruit, we are not exposed to the 
danger of crushing green or decayed apples with 
those of which the color and perfume indicate a 
perfect degree of maturity. This is not the only 
advantage derived from keeping each sort se¬ 
parate, for by adopting this plan we can mix 
any sort in proper proportions so as to obtain 
cider of the best quality. Those well acquainted 
with cider-making know, by experience, that if 
a certain sort of apple were employed by itself, 
it would produce a sour, pale cider; and, on the 
other hand, that another sort would yield thick, 
syrupy juice, which would clarify with difficulty ^ 
or would even become dark by the action of the 
air; but by mixing these two sorts of apples, a 
cider of very good quality is obtained. It would 
be difficult to generalize the principles on which 
we should make mixtures of the varieties of 
apples with the view of improving the quality 
of the cider, because the nature of the soil, the 
aspect, and the age of the trees greatly affect 
the quality of the juices of fruits, and also be¬ 
cause it is almost impossible to know the identity 
of varieties, the names of which vary according 
to the locality. 
This important part of cider-making cannot 
therefore have any light thrown, on it without 
repeated experiments made by good practical 
observers. We know that intelligent cultivators 
manage well in this respect, but no one as yet 
thought of assisting his brethren by publishing 
those modes of proceeding which are the results 
of his own experience ; and this is much to be 
regretted. The action of frost also injures the 
quality of cider, and late apples are nearly always 
kept, if not out of doors, at least in buildings 
readily penetrated by cold. In this case we can 
easily prevent the frost from affecting the apples, 
by covering the heap with a layer of straw from 
8 to 10 inches in thickness, which is again covered 
with damp cloths, such as waggon tilts, &c. This 
simple and easy protection is neither new nor 
unknown, but it is too seldom made use of. 
We will not continue further our strictures on 
the neglect and bad treatment of which the ap¬ 
ple trees are too generally victims. Although 
this enumeration is far from being complete, we 
think that we have said enough to show the 
advantage there would be in taking better care 
of this tree, which is in Normandy what the 
vine is in the countries more favored in point of 
climate. To manage better than is generally 
the case is neither attended with more difficulty 
nor with greater expense, as we shall endeavor 
to show in the following part of this manual. 
(To be continued.) 
Correspondence of the Providence Journal, 
CHINCH A. GUANO ISLANDS. 
Chincha Islands, Saturday, Aug. 20, 1853. 
I have now been here about three weeks, 
and will endeavor to give you some idea of 
the islands and vicinity, matters and things in 
general. The islands are situated in the heart 
of the trade winds, which blow continually 
from E. S. E. to S. S. E., about 120 miles S. and 
E. from Calloa. The wind seldom varies from 
the points of the compass above named, and 
this causes an almost constant current to the N. 
and W., which is dead ahead for vessels coming 
from the north. An average passage for com¬ 
mon vessels from Calloa to the islands, is eight 
to ten days; many are twenty, and some even 
thirty coming down. The wind in shore being 
very light, the constant current to the N. and 
W. makes it at times almost impossible to reach 
the islands. There are now some forty. Ameri¬ 
can ships here, among them eight of the finest 
clippers belonging to the United States, all 
bound home with guano. The fleet here is 
composed of 140 vessels, American, English, 
French, Russian, Italian, Dutch and Swede. 
In describing the islands and vicinity to you, 
I would refer you to a draft or sketch enclosed, 
showing you the situation of them, the main 
land, &c. On the right you see the city of 
Pisco, of which I cannot give you a description, 
as I have not yet visited it. I hear it is almost 
impossible to land there in common ship’s boats, 
on account of the surf on the beach. There 
are three of the Chincha Islands, or others off 
at the left, merely detached rocks or pinnacles, 
which have, I think, in past ages, been reft 
from the other islands. The water around the 
main ones-is very bold. A ship would strike 
her jibboom afoul of the rocks before her keel 
would touch. The fleet now lies moored off at 
the N. and E. of the islands. The farthest say 
one mile off, thence close in to the rocks, and 
some made fast to the rocks. One part of the 
fleet lies in between the middle and the north 
islands. In this fleet I am now lying. My bow 
anchor is in ten fathoms water with thirty-five 
fathoms chain eut, with roy stern in five fathoms, 
99 
within one hundred feet of the rock3, being fast 
to them with two hawsers, one on each quarter, 
the rocks and guano about two hundred and 
fifty feet perpendicular above me. The lower 
part of tho rocks arc worn full of caverns by 
the sea. We were at first very much disturbed 
nights by the surf roaring under our stern, but 
are now quite used to it. The ships lie close to 
each other and often swing afoul. Close to the 
rocks we have much more swell than off, say 
one quarter of a mile. On certain days of the 
moon, as the full, we have much more swell 
than on others. Little is then done, as boats 
cannot lie at the rocks, but we then have to 
keep a sharp look out to prevent getting afoul 
of each other. 
A few days since, a ship moored near ma 
dragging her anchors, and came afoul of me. 
We were together about two hours ere we 
could get her clear. The islands are from one 
hundred to one hundred and fifty feet high. 
The south one, the lowest, and these covered 
with guano, the north one to the depth of one 
hundred and twenty-five feet. This seems 
almost incredible, but I assure you it is no ex¬ 
aggeration. The middle one lia3 about eighty 
feet of guano, and the south one but little on it. 
None of the other isles or main land have any 
on them. Few birds are seen here in compari¬ 
son to what one would suppose. It is still a 
question with many what this guano igf I can¬ 
not believe it is wholly the excrements of the 
birds. On the very top of the middle island 
are rocks completely bare, of tuns and tuns 
weight, beautifully polished, apparently by the 
birds’ feet, but not one particle of guano on 
them. There are also on the very tops of these 
mountains, caves that go down to depths yet 
unknown. They have been explored one hun¬ 
dred and twenty-five feet. The mouths or 
entrance resemble very much the crater of a 
volcano. 
Vessels all load at the lee of the island. At 
this time the guano has been removed from the 
edge of the island in places, say one thousand 
feet. Rails are laid and cars are used to bring 
it to the edge of the rocks and dump it into 
large bins or sliutes made of long poles inter¬ 
woven with ropes and chains to support them, 
wide at the upper ends and narrow at the lower. 
These hold from one hundred to five hundred 
tuns. At the lower end are gates or scuttles, 
and from these gates are canvas bags of about 
two feet in diameter, leading down to the ships 
and boats below. The ships are hauled close 
to the rocks and moored off and on. Tho hose 
are led at once into the hatch, the gates above 
are hoisted, and you can imagine the force with 
which it comes down through this hose of one 
hundred feet. A thousand tun ship can be 
loaded in forty-eight hours. Smaller bins are 
used by tho boats, which all prefer, as we have 
much less dust. A ship under the spout or 
hose is completely enveloped in a cloud of dust, 
making it almost impossible to exist on board. 
The guano is trimmed away in the hold by 
natives with oakum tied over their mout’na and 
noses (this lets in air and excludes the dust) 
and veils over their eyes. They can only stay 
below from twenty to thirty minutes. They 
are in gangs of eight or ten, and relieve each 
other as above. Every part of the vessel is 
penetrated with this dust. It will go where 
smoke will. I can compare it to nothing but so 
much dry asdics. The guano abounds in harts¬ 
horn, and is said to be very healthy and bene¬ 
ficial in some complaints. 
The vessels arc all of one color from truck to 
water. Not a spear of grass, rush or reed, is 
to be seen anywhere, no vegetable matter of 
any kind on the islands. Where the guano is 
now removed, is a perpendicular bank of about 
one hundred feet. In it are found dead birds, 
some even on their nests with eggs under them. 
I have several of them perfect in shape, still 
pure guano. Must of them crumble to dust 
when exposed to the air. Layers of reeds and 
twigs are to be found through the guano, said 
to be brought there from the main land by the 
birds for their nests. As we walk over the 
islands we find holes innumerable. These are 
the habitations of the birds. With daylight 
