October 31. 
THE COTTAGE GARDENER. 
85 
laterals to grow to prevent any of tlie eyes breaking. This 
stopping of the Vine I hold to be a very important point. 
The object is not to let the Vine run to a great length, 
and thus rob the soil; and from its length, the wood would 
not be sufficiently ripened, and fit for early forcing; hut to 
get the wood well ripened, and the buds perfectiy organised 
during the summer, when the sun is powerful. 
I notice Mr. Frazer uses cow-manure with his compost. 
The compost I use is good spit turf from the hill, with fresh 
horse-droppings, the fresher the better. 1 use nearly half- 
and-half for the last potting, with sand, but very little when 
I pot the eyes. I consider horse-droppings the best of 
manures. 
I would water entirely with clean water, because I think 
that Vines should find enough of their constituents in the 
soil in which they are growing to build their structure. It 
would, moreover, leavo the soil more open for the next 
season.—T. S. 
INFLUENCE OF PARENTS ON CHICKEN. 
In further confirmation of the remarks of “ W." on this 
head, I am happy to add my testimony, which I do from 
experience in two instances; that is, in two broods by the 
same cock and hen. The cock being a dark Cochin, the 
hen a variety of the silver Hamburgh. My first brood, last 
year, consisted of seven chicken, of which six were pullets, 
strikingly resembling the dark or Partridge Cochin in 
plumage; the seventh was a cockerel, exactly resembling 
his maternal ancestors—the Hamburgh family. My other 
hatching of this year gave me three pullets, identical in 
colour with the other pullets, and two cockerels identical 
with the cockerel of the former brood. 
The parent’s colours were thus, in these two instances, 
exactly reversed ; but unlike “ W.’s ’’ pullets, mine partook 
more of the light arid active figure of their Hamburgh 
mother, hut each had the true Cochin tail. I may further 
add, that as layers, my last year’s pullets partook of the 
Cochin habit, showing, also (unlike their mother), the 
amiable weakness of the Cochin for sitting.—R. 0. 
STUPIFYING BEES BY CHLOROFORM. 
The pros and cons touching the intoxication of Bees by 
means of ohloroform has lately been mooted in your 
columns. Until recently I was an unbeliever in its success ; 
and seeing in your number, that it seldom answers, I 
desire to make known the experiments which have induced 
me to change my mind, for the benefit of all whom it may 
concern. 
I had previously used the fungus, and, indeed, was pre¬ 
pared with bellows, <fcc., to act in a similar manner with the 
two hives of which I am about to speak. 
No. 1.—Two or three teaspoonfuls of chloroform were 
placed in a cup, and some wool about the size of a pigeon’s 
egg wa3 allowed to suck it up. This was introduced into 
the entrance-hole of the hive as it stood on its hoard, and 
the hole stopped with mud. It was thus left (though un¬ 
intentionally) for an hour, or even more, and upon my 
[ taking up the hive every Bee was motionless, and apparently 
' dead, and, as I then thought, perfectly useless for joining to 
other stocks. When, however, the honey was being strained 
on th e following day, before the fire, it was found that some 
of the bees remaining in the cells showed signs of life, and, 
accordingly, I went in search of those that had been left in 
the garden uncared for, put them into a common garden 
■ glass or cloche, and after remaining before the fire for an 
, hour they revived, an:l they are at this moment as brisk 
and active as though it were the middle of summer, and I 
purpose joining them this evening to one of my other stocks. 
N. 2 was treated similarly, except that at the expiration 
of twenty minutes the hive was lifted up. I removed them 
then and there to another stock, and the greater part shew 
signs of life, and are finding their way, though somewhat 
sluggishly, from a side to a centre compartment in a colla¬ 
teral set of boxes. 
I lay great stress upon the application of heat after the 
operation. Never, again, will I have recourse to the dirty 
and unsatisfactory process of fumigation. The hone}', I 
should add, is totally uninjured, and free from smell with 
the chloroform, which cannot be predicated of the fungus. 
I enclose my name and address.—B. J. B. 
THE GUANO ISLANDS. 
We seem to feel incredulous when we hear of islands of 
manure. The very fact of such enormous accumulations of 
rich organic ammoniacal, reposing quietly in the bosom of 
the Pacific ocean, uninjured by storms, unwashed during 
ages by a shower of rain, is, indeed, a marvel. There are 
minor accumulations of manure, it is true, found in various 
quarters of the globe, some gathered together by nature’s 
operations, others, by those of mankind. The rich black 
earths of Russia, the deep and fertile soils of central 
America, are instances of the first kind of huge gatherings. 
The large accumulations of neglected manure around the 
farm-houses of the Ukraine and of North America are ex¬ 
amples of man’s neglect of the source of agricultural riches. 
If, h owever, the farmers and gardeners of other lands j 
have been neglectful of manure, such a charge does not 
apply to the enlightened cultivators of our islands. They 
are ever ready to purchase even the most expensive fer¬ 
tiliser ; and manures are brought to them from almost every 
sea, and from all quarters of the globe. “ During the last 
two years,” remark the editors of Johnson and Shaw’s 
Farmer’s Almanac, “ there have been imported into England 
the following amount of the chief foreign articles used as 
manures [Pari, papers, 1853, Nos. 102, 314)— 
1852. 1853. 
Ashes.cwts. .151,044. .155,730 
Bones—green and burnt.tons.. 48,835.. 37,785 
Guano .tons. .129,880. .123,106 
Saltpetre and cubic petre.cwts. .561,137. .641,014 
The guano chiefly came to us in 1853 from the following 
places:— France, Portugal (viz., Azores), Spain, China,' 
Brazil, Republic of Uruguay, Buenos Ayres, Chili, Bolivia, 
Peru, Patagonia, Falkland Islands.” 
An intelligent correspondent of the “ Canadian Agricul¬ 
turist ” gives the following graphic account of the working 
and loading of the guano, on the warm and dry little islands 
of the Pacific, to which we have referred:— 
“ The island of Ichaboe, on the west coast of Africa, from 
■whence guano was first obtained in large quantities, is per¬ 
haps the most remarkable instance of a desolate rock be¬ 
coming suddenly the port of destination for hundreds of 
large ships, and the source of immense wealth to numerous 
individuals. But Ichaboe was soon exhausted, and the 
dusty treasure that had for many centuries been accumu¬ 
lating on its rocky bosom was literally swept away. The 
once busy island has now returned to its former loneliness, 
and the fleet of ships that gathered round it seek, on still 
more distant coasts, the fertilising powder that shall fatten 
the impoverished fields of Old World countries. 
“ More than half the guano imported during the last ten 
years has been obtained from a small group of islands 
called the Chincas, that lie off the port of Pisco, on the 
Peruvian coast. Of these islands, the largest, Sangallan, 
has very little guano upon it, the principal deposits being 
found on three smaller ones, the most northern of the 
group. These are distinguished as the north, middle, and 
south islands. The north island has been constantly worked 
ever since the introduction of guano. The middle one has 
also been occasionally invaded; but the south island, on 
which we believe the accumulation to be greatest, remains j 
untouched. 
“ Every ship hound to the Chincas is compelled to anchor , 
at Pisco, in order to pass the necessary custom-house for- ! 
malities before proceeding to her loading-ground. A couple 
of hours are then sufficient to carry her across the few miles 
of water that intervene, and she soon drops her anchor 
amongst the numerous fleet that is ever laying off the 
island, waiting their turn to load. The odorous scent of the 
guano is distinctly perceptible at several miles distance, and 
is far from unpleasant when thus mingled with the pure i 
sea air. 
