292 
AMERICAN AGRICULTURIST. 
return the refuse to be used for feeding pur¬ 
poses. An immense quantity of potatoes would 
be consumed in this establishment if they could 
be procured; but it was feared operations would 
be suspended half the time during the approach¬ 
ing season, on account of the prolonged drouth, 
which had been injurious to the crops. The 
disease had not made its appearance in this 
canton at the time of my visit. 
I learned during a conversation with the 
steward of one of the farms which belonged to 
the estate, that the Bannat, a very fertile coun¬ 
try, is inhabited in a great measure by Ger¬ 
mans, who are good farmers, very honest and 
economical. They were prosperous prior to the 
civil war which laid waste this rich province, 
destroying the villages, and scattering the in¬ 
habitants. 
The facilities for traveling are very limited in 
this part of Hungary, as there are no good 
roads. The first stage between Szolnock and 
Arad—two of the principal towns—was started 
at the time of my visit. The horses endure 
great hardships, and are badly treated by their 
drivers. They suffer severely from dust and 
heat in summer, and on their return after a trip, 
are turned out to dried-up pastures. 
After leaving Pesth, I proceeded by way of 
Vienna to Brunn, the capital of Moravia, and 
inspected the land around that city. Industry 
is in a more advanced state in Moravia than in 
any portion of the Austrian dominions. During 
this trip I crossed a track very barren and badly 
cultivated, up to the gates of the city. At a 
distance the soil and cultivation are both greatly 
improved, which is owing in a great measure 
to the establishment of several beet sugar facto¬ 
ries. 
The railroad by which I proceeded, crosses an 
excellent black soil, the active portion of which 
s deep. Maize is cultivated on a large scale, 
but the drouth is evidently injurious to it, as 
’well as to the potato crop, which has been un¬ 
usually affected by the disease during the past 
season. 
I had some interesting conversation with a 
priest of the order of Franciscans, from whom 
I obtained some information respecting the so¬ 
cial and political condition of the part of the 
country in which he was located. He had charge 
of one of the parishes of Buda, where it is ne¬ 
cessary, he says, for a minister to speak several 
languages. 
For the American Agriculturist. 
THE AGAVE AMERICANA, (American Aloe.) 
At sundry and divers periods, I have been 
moved to write for the public, a short account 
of this plant, and as often given up the idea j 
thinking that my information would be but con¬ 
firmation of an old story, known to all who 
would be likely to read the communication. I 
am at this time urged to the execution of my 
purpose, by seeing, in a late Albany Cultivator , 
an account of the American aloe, giving so in¬ 
different a description of it, that I have concluded, 
if agricultural editors know no more, the public 
may know still less. 
The Agave Americana, the great American 
aloe, the century-plant, or the maguay—for it 
bears each and all of these names—is found in 
great abundance upon the table-lands of Mexico, 
the Terra Tcmplada; it is cultivated in large 
plantations on these plains, and is left without 
the protection of fences, its own stout spikes or 
leaves being more than sufficient for that pur¬ 
pose. It arrives at maturity in five or seven 
years, according to the favorable position it hap¬ 
pens to occupy ; the spread of the leaves of a 
full-grown plant is from six to ten feet from the 
center. As it approaches maturity, the plant is 
closely watched by the proprietor, who, upon 
discovering the germ of the flower-stalk spring¬ 
ing from the center, cuts it out, and also a few 
of the centre spikes, at the same time scooping 
out a basin in the center that will hold from two 
quarts to two gallons, according as the plant will 
admit; this basin is examined twice a day by a 
man in attendance, who generally is accompanied 
by a donkey carrying two leathern bags. The 
man is provided with a gourd having a long, 
slender neck and a bulge at the extremity. This 
is carefully cleaned out, and a small hole cut in 
each end. The collector of the sap proceeds by 
thrusting the large part into the basin, and with 
his lips at the other end exhausts the air in his 
instrument, which at once is filled with the sap. 
By a dexterous movement he slips his thumb 
upon the aperture previously covered with his 
lips, thus conveys the sap to his leathern bottles, 
and empties the gourd. Having procured his 
load, the contents of the bottles are poured into 
stone jars; here it is left to ferment; and fer¬ 
mented, is the favorite beverage of the Mexican, 
from the grandee to the peone, called “pulkee.” 
This drink to foreigners is at first almost revolt¬ 
ing ; but time brings them to it, and finally it 
becomes palatable. It looks like very weak 
milk and water, with less strength than cider; 
distilled, it is “muscal,” one of the most fiery 
and intoxicating of drinks. Should the flower- 
stalk, by the neglect of the attendant, get a start 
of a day or two, it is permitted to grow, and 
when about to flower is cut down, and, if near a 
market, cut into small pieces and sold to chil¬ 
dren, who eat or chew it, as children in the In¬ 
dies chew sugar-cane, it having a sweet and ra¬ 
ther agreeable flavor. The plant never flowers 
but once, the exhaustion produced by throwing 
up such an enormous stalk, often more than 
twenty feet high and six inches in diameter, is 
fatal. Hence the common belief that it flowers 
but once in a hundred years; true—and equally 
true, it flowers but once in a thousand. The 
plant being dead, has not yet lost its value—the 
leaves are cut up and dried, the inner part being 
of a long fibrous texture, is used in the manu¬ 
facture of cordage, mats, pack-saddles, &c. The 
plants are valued, waen five or six years old, at 
from five to ten dollars each. When the cen¬ 
tury-plant from the Patroon’s was exhibited in 
New-York, you may judge of the feelings of the 
Mexican gentlemen who went to see this much 
talked of wonder, one with a shrug of the shoul¬ 
ders saying, “No mas un maguay”—“Nothing 
but a maguay”—and walked off. 
Ringwood. 
MANUFACTURE OF GUANO FROM FISH. 
The first of a series of meetings for the dis¬ 
cussion of scientific subjects connected with 
practical science, was held at Dublin, the 25th 
of November. The subject under discussion 
was “The manufacture of guano from fish.” 
The scarcity and high price of Peruvian guano, 
the probable early failure of an adequate supply 
of this valuable fertilizer, alluded to in a former 
number, (page 259,) together with the im¬ 
portance of seeking new sources of fertilizing 
materials, renders the subject of “fish guano” 
peculiarly interesting at the present time, and 
we copy some extracts from a report of the dis¬ 
cussions at the meeting above alluded to. 
Dr. William Barker said: The subject is 
one which was brought under my notice not 
many days since, and which seems to me of 
such importance that I do not think it will need 
any apology in bringing it before the society, 
especially as my object in doing so is to subject 
it to full investigation, and endeavor, by eliciting 
opinions, to prove its commercial value. We 
are all aware of the extent to which the import¬ 
ation of guano has been carried for more than 
ten years past. The importations from Africa, 
South America, and Australia have varied from 
100,000 to 200,000 tons per annum; and if we 
take an average price of £9 per ton, we find 
that the money value of a year’s import has ex¬ 
ceeded in some years one million sterling. It is 
therefore palpable that any substitute that could 
be found for this substance would prove a valu¬ 
able adjunct to our wealth; and if we could 
direct a portion of this, expenditure to this part 
of the British Empire, we should be conferring 
a substantial benefit on the country; and still 
further, if we could, in producing this effect, 
give employment to a branch of industry de¬ 
serving of encouragement—we should be doing 
an amount of benefit to the country only limited 
by the extent to which it was employed. Now, 
these benefits would, in my opinion, be all ob¬ 
tained were we to find that there was a source 
of a similar manure to be found around our own 
coasts, which, with a slight expenditure of ca¬ 
pital and labor, could produce a profitable in¬ 
vestment, and secure to our own country the 
money expenditure at present bestowed upon 
Africa, Australia, and South America. That 
such might be done, will be at once apparent, 
if we can show that we have around our sea¬ 
board in Ireland a reservoir of similar products 
to those of the places mentioned, and if we 
could, instead of trusting to the chemical agen¬ 
cy of birds, .convert the fish which swarm upon 
our coasts into as profitable a manure as they 
(the birds) produce. I think that could be ac¬ 
complished, provided we could procure the 
supply of fish and a chemical agency—equal in 
efficiency to that of birds. Now, with regard 
to the latter part, I feel no doubt that the in¬ 
vention which has become the object of a patent 
by Mr. Pettit effects this. He has patented a 
plan for producing an artificial guano, by sub¬ 
jecting fish and all their parts to a process ana- . 
lagous to that which fish undergoes in the 
stomach of a bird. The fish, either fresh or 
dried, is treated with a small quantity of sul¬ 
phuric acid, by which it is reduced to a pulpy 
state. In this state it is dried, either by the 
direct application of heat, or by the admixture 
of substances capable of absorbing moisture. 
This, then, forms an artificial guano, which, if 
tested by the usual criterions of manure, may 
be considered equal, if not superior, to any im¬ 
ported. We all know that animal matter is the 
best manure, owing to its presenting azotised 
principles to the soil. Dung, urine, blood, ani¬ 
mal remains are, as we know, the most power¬ 
ful fertilizer of soils, and that fish ranks at least 
equal to any of these. Owing, however, to the 
facility of its decomposition, and the consequent 
difficulty of transport, it has heretofore been 
unemployed for this purpose, except on the 
coasts were it is found ; but by means of this 
process it may be converted into a dry, inodor¬ 
ous, and easily transported article of commerce. 
With respect to the sufficiency of the supply on 
our coasts, papers read in this society prove the 
enormous supplies of fish on our coasts, and 
especially of fish not available for human food. 
Skate, dog-fish, congers, fishing-frogs, &c., may 
all form a good manure. Prawns and small 
Crustacea may be all converted into valuable 
manure. Every fisherman around the coast will 
testify that from one-lialf to two-thirds of the 
fish is lost or thrown overboard, which £2 per 
