192 
THE COTTAGE GARDENER. 
June 12. 
fieial effects in improving agriculture, by affording an abund¬ 
ance of tbe richest manure, but on the commerce, and espe¬ 
cially on the shipping interests of the country, it lias already 
occasioned considerable improvement. Everything relating 
to it is, therefore, a matter of importance, and even the 
natural history of the article is something more than a mere 
matter of curiosity. Its name, it would appear, is of Peru¬ 
vian derivation, and had been called, in the language of the 
natives, Huuno, signifying, dung or manure; the Spaniards 
now name it Guano or Guanar. 
The aborigines on the coast of Peru seem to have used 
guano from time immemorial as manure; and at the time 
of the European discovery of the country, strict laws had 
been enacted by the Incas to guard the islands in which it is 
found, and to punish even with death those who killed the 
sea-fowls from which it was derived. Much doubt was 
entertained for some time after being brought to this coun¬ 
try, with regard to the origin of guano; the Spaniards early 
questioned that which seemed to have been clear to the in¬ 
habitants of Peru; but chemical examination, and other 
evidence, leave it no longer undetermined, that the enormous 
accumulations of this matter on sea-islands, in various 
localities, are nothing more than the droppings of the 
myriads of sea-fowls which inhabit them for the purposes of 
rest and incubation. Morrell has termed such associations 
of sea-fowl, “ Rookeries,” which is the common appellation 
given to them by the South Sea navigators. His description 
of one of the Falkland islands is very graphic, and as it is 
instructive, it is here, in substance, introduced. Those 
islands extend north and south from latitude 50 deg. 58 min. 
to 52 deg 40 min. S.; and east and west from longitude 57 
deg. 32 min. to 01 deg. 29 min. W. The feathered tribes, 
he remarks, are very numerous on the lonely isles in the 
Southern hemisphere, both in the South Seas and in the 
South Atlantic Ocean. Of penguins there are four kinds 
which resort to the Falkland Islands, viz:—the King, the 
Macaroni, the Jackass, and the Rookery penguin; but the 
most remarkable bird found on those shores is the pen¬ 
guin’s intimate associate and most particular friend, the 
Albatross. 
When a sufficient number of penguins, albatrosses, Ac., 
are assembled on the shore, and a deliberate consultation on 
the subject has been held, they proceed to the execution of 
the grand purpose for which they select their favourite ele¬ 
ment. In the first place, they select a level piece of ground, 
often comprising an extent of four or five acres, as near the 
water as practicable, always preferring that which is the 
least encumbered with stones. 
As soon as they are satisfied on this point, they proceed 
to lay out their plan, which they commence by tracing a well- 
defined parallelogram, of sufficient magnitude to accommo¬ 
date the whole fraternity. One side of this square runs 
parallel with the water’s edge, and is always left open ; the 
other three sides are differently arranged. 
These industrious feathered labourers next proceed to 
clear all the ground within the square from obstructions of 
every kind, picking up the stones in their bills and carefully 
depositing them outside of the lines before mentioned, they 
sometimes create a little wall on three sides of the rookery; 
within this range of stones and rubbish they form a path¬ 
way, quite smooth, six or eight feet in width. This is for a 
general promenade by day, and for the sentinels to patrol by 
night. The whole area is then laid out in little squares of 
equal sizes, formed by narrow paths, which cross each other 
at right angles, and which are also made very smooth; at 
each intersection of these paths an albatross constructs her 
nest, while in the centre of each little square is a penguin’s 
nest, so that each albatross is surrounded by four penguins. 
In this regular manner the wide area is occupied by these 
feathered sojourners of different species, having at conve¬ 
nient distances, accommodations for other kinds of oceanic 
birds, such as the shag, or green cormorant, and another, 
which seamen call the nelly. 
1 he penguin’s nest is merely a slight excavation in the 
earth, just deep enough to prevent the egg rolling from its 
primitive position, while the albatross throws up a little 
mound of earth, grass, and shells, eight or ten inches high, 
and about the size of a water bucket, on the summit of 
which she forms her nest. 
Nono of the nests in these rookeries are ever left 
unoccupied for a single moment, until the eggs are hatched, 
and the young ones old enough to take care of themselves ; 
male and female alternately relieving one another when in 
search of food. Ey this precaution they prevent the eggs 
being stolen by the other birds, which would be the case if 
left exposed, but which, nevertheless, must bo often done, 
tor it frequently happens that when the period of incubation 
is terminated, the young brood will consist of three or four 
different kinds of birds in one nest. 
( To be continued .) 
TRUE VALUE OF A FARM. 
There is something in the owning a piece of ground 
which affects me as do the old ruins of England. I am 
free to confess that the value of a farm is not chiefly in its 
crops of cereal grain, its orchards of fruit, and in its herbs, 
but in those larger and more easily reaped harvests of asso¬ 
ciations, fancies, and dreamy broodings which it begets. 
From boyhood I have associated classical civic virtues and 
old heroic integrity with the soil. No one who has peopled 
his young brain with the fancies of Grecian mythology but 
comes to feel a certain magical fancy for the earth. The 
very smell of fresh-turned earth brings up as many dreams 
and visions of the country as sandal-wood does of Oriental 
scenes. At any rate, I feel, in walking under these trees 
and about their slopes, something of that enchantment of 
vague and mysterious glimpses of the past which I once 
felt about the ruins of Kenilworth Castle. For thousands 
of years this piece of ground hath wrought its tasks. Old 
slumberous forests used to darken it; innumerable deer 
have tramped across it; foxes have blinked through its 
bushes; and wolves have howled and growlod as they 
pattered along its rustling leaves with empty maws. How 
many birds; how many flocks of pigeons, thousands of 
years ago ; how many hawks dashing wildly among them; 
how many insects, nocturnal and diurnal; how many mailed 
bugs, and limber serpents, gliding among mossy stones, 
have had possession here before my day! It will not be 
long before I, too, shall be wasted and recordless as they.— 
Henry Ward Beecher. 
TO CORRESPONDENTS. 
White Poland with Black Crest.— Mr. Tegetmeier is desirous 
of communicating with the gentleman who recently enquired after a 
fowl of this variety, and would, therefore, feel obliged if he would say 
where a letter would reach him.—Wood Green, lottenlium. 
Barrelling Pork and Beef.— We shall be obliged if any of our 
readers, in reply to a query from “T. F. A.,” will send us full and 
known good directions for this. 
Orange Wine. —We shall be obliged by recipes for this, in answer to 
“ Fanny ” and others. 
Jasminum Wallichianum {A Subscriber).—This is the Jasminum 
pubigerum of most botanists. It is yellow-flowered, and a native of 
Nepaul, whence it was introduced in 1827. A warm greenhouse suits 
it. Write to any of the London nurserymen who advertise in our pages. 
Names of Plants ( Rev. R. M. Evans). —The yellow flower is 
Cheiranthus alpinus, a very pretty, desirable plant, and will survive the 
winter in warm, dry borders, or upon the rockery ; but in low situations 
a few plants should be kept in pots for frame protection in the winter. 
It requires some attention yearly by the way of increasing it, either by 
cuttings, or by taking up the old plants after flowering, dividing them, 
and replanting them in new spots, as it soon tires of the same soil. The 
other specimen is plucked from the tip of some shoot or other in a 
young state, too imperfect for us to say what it really is. (H. J.) —Your 
plant is Echium violacetim. Buy “ Loudon’s Encyclopaedia of Plants,” 
new edition. We do not know the price. We use pocket magnifiers, 
three in one case, cost about 4s. 
London : Printed by IIdgii Barclay, Winchester High-street, in 
the Parish of Saint Mary Kalendar ; and Published for the Proprietors 
at The Cottage Gardener Office, No. 20, Paternoster How, in 
the Parish of Christ Church, City of London.—June 12, 1855, 
