1856. 



NEW ENGLAND FARMER. 



151 



AN OCEAN RIVER IN THE PACIFIC. 



Lieut. Bent, of the U. S. Navy, read an interest- 

 ing paper before the New York Geographical and 

 Statistical Society, last week, on the existence of an 

 ocean river in the Pacific, flowing to the northward 

 and eastward along the coast of Asia, and corres- 

 ponding, in every essential particular, with the Gulf 

 stream of the Atlantic. We find a brief report of 

 this valuable paper in the New York Evening Post, 

 from which we condense a few of its facts, 



The existence of a strong northeast current on 

 the coast of Japan was noticed by Cook and other 



Jf'or tlie Neic England Fanner. 



COMMENDABLE FEATURE. 



If "commendation commonly animates mankind," 

 would the mention of the (;ommendal)le features of 

 the Farmer animate its contributors to perfect and 

 to perpetuate them ? The hope that it would, has 

 incited me to mention one which every contributor 

 can help perfect and perpetuate, and which adds 

 not a little to the interest and circulation of this 

 valuable paper, whose influence for ])opular educa- 

 tion is inestimable. It is the distinct signature of 

 each contributor, and the toivn from whence the 

 communication comes. How natural, before read- 

 in<r a piece, for the eve to glide down the column 



, • . ^ .X. ^ 1 • „„ ,-^ +!,„ to see what town IS represented. Will each writer 



early navigators, and the Japanese have given it tne . ,• . ^i i • <. • ^ <. <. 



•' " ' i „e 'give his town, therebv ensuring extra interest to 



name of the "Kuro-Siwo," or "Black Stream, from \ j • 



its dark blue color, as compared with the adjacent 

 ocean. Springing from the great Equatorial cur- 

 rent of the Pacific, the oceanic stream extends from 

 the Tropic of Cancer on the north, to Capricorn, 

 with a width on the south of three thousand miles, 

 and a velocity of from twenty to sixty miles a day. 

 Upon reaching the coast of Asia, it is diverted to 

 the west, and in passing through the great Polyne- 

 sian Archipelago is split into innumerable streams, 

 which diffuse a fertilizing warmth over that portion 

 of the globe. The influence of the Kuro-Siwo up- 

 on the climates of Japan, and the west coast of 

 North America, is, as might be expected, as striking 

 as that of the Gulf Stream on the coasts bordering 

 the North Atlantic. From the insular position of 

 Japan, with the intervening sea between it and the 

 continent of Asia, it has a more equable climate 

 than we enjoy in the United States. The soften- 

 ing influence is also felt on the coasts of Oregon 

 and California, but in a less degree, perhaps, than 

 those of the Gulf Stream on the coasts of Europe, 

 owing to the greater width of the Pacific ocean over 

 the Atlantic. Still, the winters are so mild in Pa- 

 get's Sound, in lat. 48 deg. north, that snow rarely 

 falls there, and the inhabitants are never enabled to 

 fill theu- ice houses for the summer, and vessels tra- 

 ding to Petropaulowski and the coast of Kamtschat- 

 ka, when becoming unwieldly from accumulation of 

 ice on their hulls and rigging, run over to a higher 

 latitude on the American coast, and thaw out, in 

 the same manner that vessels frozen up on om* own 

 coast retreat again into the Gulf Stream until fa- 

 vored by an easterly wind. 



his communication, and oblige many a 

 Brookfield, Dec, 1855. 



Yeoman. 



MANAGING BEES. 



S.4XT0X & Company, N. Y.,have published a lit- 

 tle Manual, or an easy Method of Managing Bees, 

 ivith infallible rules to prevent their destruction by 

 the Moth. It is by John ]M. Weeks, of Salisbury, 

 Vt., and has an Appendix, by WoosTER A. Flan- 

 ders, of Northfield, Vt. We have had sufficient 

 experience as a bee-master, to know that both these 

 gentlemen must have had a good deal of experience 

 in their subject to write as they have, as the work 

 abounds with excellent suggestions and directions. 

 Its descriptions of the bee and its management are 

 clear and pleasantly written. Having never seen 

 the practical workings of the hive which they rec- 

 ommend, we cannot speak of it from any personal 

 knowledge. It is for sale by Redding & Co., Bos- 

 ton, price twenty-five cents. 



BOYS' DEPARTMENT. 



How TO Raise Melons. — We w^ould in^-ite the 

 attention of all lovers of good melons to the adver- 

 tisement on the cover of this Number, of S. C 

 Abeel. The editor of the Wisconsin Farmer says 

 "From what we know of Mr. Abeel's method, we 

 think there is no humbug about it. When a rest 

 dent of Janesville, we lived neighbor to him three 

 years, and know that he has unbounded success in 

 cultivating melons — raising from one to ten acres 

 annually." 



EARLY MENTAL ACTIVITY. 



"Experience," says Dr. Spurzheim, "demonstrates, 

 that pf any number of children of equal intellec- 

 tual power, those who receive no particular care in 

 childhood, and who do not learn to read and write 

 until the constitution begins to be consolidated, but 

 who enjoy the benefit of a good physical education, 

 very soon surpass, in their studies, those who com- 

 mence earlier and read numerous books when very 

 young. The mind ought never to be cultivated at 

 the expense of the body ; and ])hysical education 

 ought to precede that of the intellect, and then pro- 

 ceed simultaneously with it, without cultivating one 

 faculty to the neglect of others ; for health is the 

 base, and instruction the ornament of education." 



Let parents then check, rather than excite in 

 their children, this early disposition to mental ac- 

 tivity, or, rather, let them counterbalance It by a 

 due proportion of physical and gymnastic exercises ; 

 for it is not so much the intensity as the continuity 

 of the mental action, which Is injurious to the con- 

 stitution. Let them not cause the age of cheerful- 

 ness to be spent in the midst of tears and In slav- 

 ery ; let them not change the sunny days of child- 

 hood into a melancholy gloom, which can, at best, 



