June 1. 
THE COTTAGE GARDENER. 
1GT 
I 
An unsightly red brick structure stands before, you. It is 
long since it was painted, and the masonry is decaying and 
broken. You trample down the long grass to get up to it, 
and look through the rusty grating. Inside there is a plain 
marble slab, covered with dust and discoloured with mildew. 
On it you may read the carved inscription that time and 
exposure leave legible: 
GEORGE WASHINGTON. 
And that is the grave of the first in the hearts of his 
countrymen ! 
\Ve do not wish to be understood as desiring to blame the 
present owner of the estate—Mr. John A. Washington. 
Not rich, surrounded by needy dependents, and subjected to 
a constant stream of visitors, who certainly have no claim to 
his hospitality, whatever title they may fancy they have to 
look at his grounds—it would be impossible for any one to 
keep the extensive estate in suitable order, or even in repair. 
The fault is not his, but America’s, who ought to have made 
Mount Vernon a National Monument, owned and kept by 
the government, and open to every American citi/.en. 
The State of New York has set an example for Congress, 
in its purchase and presentation of the old head quarters 
of Newburgh. 
It is said that Mr. Washington, being no longer able to 
maintain Mount Vernon, has sold it to a company, with the 
reservation that Congress shall first have an opportunity of 
buying it if they will. We know nothing of the company. 
They may be patriotic men, who have determined to take 
upon themselves the duty that Congress has neglected; or 
they may be a set of speculators, who intend to make it a 
show and place of amusement for their own profit. But in 
either case, Congress should avail itself of the opportunity 
now ottered. Washington’s home and his grave should pass 
only from the guardianship of his family to that of his 
country —Albany Evening Journal. 
SOME ACCOUNT OF THE HORTICULTURE OF 
TACNA IN PERU. 
BY JOHN REID, ESQ. 
The cultivation of Tacna, as well as that of all other 
parts of the coast of Peru, is carried on by irrigation. The 
small stream, dignified by the name of river, has its rise in 
the neighbouring mountains: and the “ chacras ” or farms 
extend on either side from where the water leaves the 
ravine to about two miles below the town, beyond which 
point the moisture rarely or never reaches. The whole 
length of the cultivated track is about twelve miles, but its 
breadth is extremely unequal, caused by inequalities of the 
surface in some place, and the stony and uncultivable 
nature of the soil in others; in no part, however, does it 
exceed a few hundred yards, and GOOO acres may be taken 
as a fair approximation to the area of the whole cultivated 
land. When the Spaniards first took possession of Peru, 
they parcelled out the ground along the rivers on the coast 
amongst the Indians, allotting to each division its proportion 
of water, and fixing the hours at which it was. to be taken ; 
this original regulation is still followed. The valley (all 
cultivated tracts in Peru are called valleys) is divided into 
seven districts, to each of which the river belongs exclu¬ 
sively, on one certain day of the week, and is subdivided 
among the farms of that part, under the superintendence of a 
“ principal,” nanied^ yearly for the purpose. The whole 
body of water in ordinary times occupies only a channel 
about four feet in width, by sixteen inches deep, and runs 
with a very' moderate current, so that it is astonishing to see 
the effects it is made to produce; three hours weekly of the 
twentieth part of this streamlet is called a “partioion,” and 
is barely sufficient for about two acres, which seems to have 
been the extent of the original divisions. 
Where water is so precious, of course great care is taken 
in applying it in the most economical manner; the ground 
is divided into a series of squares, of six or eight yards on 
the side, by ridges of earth thrown up between them, 
sufficiently thick to resist the water, and to serve ns foot¬ 
paths or alleys; these communicate v\ ith each other, and 
are successively filled with water to the depth considered 
necessary ; or ridges are thrown up in parallel lines, through 
which the water flows in a zig-zag direction, until all is 
sufficiently moistened. 
The staple productions of the valley are “Alfalfa” or 
Lucerne, and “ Mais ” or Indian Corn; the first for the 
support of the large gangs of mules, and the last forming 
an important item in the food of the people. 
When Alfalfa is to be sown, the preparation made for it is 
scratching the soil to about the depth of six inches, with a 
plough formed of the trunk of a crooked tree, and drawn by 
a pair of oxen; the ground is then divided into “ eras,” or 
squares, by the “ lampa,” a heavy, ill-formed, concave shovel, 
made in the country, and the only implement besides the 
plough they ever use; the surface of the beds is then 
levelled, they are watered on next watering day, and sown, 
I as thickly as we sow Cresses at home, in a few days after, 
the seed being covered in by dragging a branch over the 
surface. In the coui’se of two months the Lucerne is fit 
for cutting; an operation ingeniously and elegantly per¬ 
formed by means of a “ cuchuna” or the blade of a common 
! table knife, tied at right angles into the end of a slit piece 
of wood, the operator meanwhile being on liis knees. 
Shortly after cutting the ground is again irrigated, and thus 
j alternately cutting and watering the plant retains it vigour 
j for years, giving, when well attended to, eight or nine crops 
j annually, and this without manure of any kind except a 
i slight powdering of guano every second year. 
After the Lucerne, in point of importance, comes the 
Indian Corn. For this crop the ground is formed into 
ridges witli the lampa, and the seeds flung into holes, six or 
I eight in each, at the distance of fifteen inches, and covered 
in with the foot, the usual watering then follows, and in a 
: fortnight after the braird is several inches high. The 
' general crop is sown about the end of June, and reaped in 
December, the return being from .‘100 to .000 fold, although 
even this might be greatly increased, were the plants grown 
at a greater distance from each other, for more than one- 
half of them are literally smothered. This grain is a most 
exhausting crop, and its success depends entirely on the 
application of guano, a substance I shall now attempt to 
describe. 
Guano, or huano, is a reddish-brown earth of a disagree¬ 
able smell, found on several parts of the coast and the small 
rocky island adjoining; it is supposed by some to be the 
decomposed excrement of sea-birds, millions of which still 
frequent the neighbourhood of the places where it is found, 
whilst others contend that it is a fossil earth of a peculiar 
kind. The strongest arguments are on llje side of the 
former opinion; the upper stratum of the beds is always 
white, and evidently the recent deposition of birds; it is 
found gradually darkening in colour, as it deepens, and for 
several feet under the surface the bones and feathers of birds 
are plentifully discovered in it; nor is this all, it has been 
examined by Freuch chemists of eminence, who pronounce it 
as of animal origin. Opposed to these mighty facts, is the 
difficulty of conceiving it possible that any number of birds, 
even in a period of time as remote as the wildest tradition 
of Chinese chronology, could have sufficed to produce the 
guano in the immense quantities in which it exists. Tt 
seems, indeed, inexhaustible; there are large hills of it 
hundreds of feet in height still untouched, and the supply 
in our time is still drawn from the very same, deposits that 
furnished the Indians with manure anterior to the conquest. 
Numbers of small vessels are employed in carrying it to the 
different ports, where it is sold at the rate of from 10 to 12 
reals (5s to Gs) per funega, nominal weighing 150 lbs., and 
is conveyed on jackasses to all parts of the country within 
00 leagues of the sea. 
Before using" the guano it is mixed with three or four 
times its bulk of dry horse-dung, broken down to. cliaff, not 
for the purpose of adding any new or increased virtue to it, 
but to make it more easily managed, and to increase the 
volume of the substance to be handled, and thus facilitate 
its economical distribution. When the Maize is a few inches 
high, owing to the poverty of the exhausted soil, it always 
assumes the appearance of, what at borne is technically 
called, “setting up;’’ it gets yellow, bard, and sickly looking, 
and this is the signal for the first application of guano. 
One man, with a “ lampa,” makes a small hole at the root 
of every rlnmti of plants; another follows with the guano 
