210 



Chinese Agricultural Population. — Floors of Poi'iicos. Vol. XII. 



mencing on a large scale the culture of fruit, 

 than there is that everybody will commence 

 the raising of onions, or the making of razor 

 strops, or the cultivation of roses? 



Yours, etc., B. G. Boswell. 



Pliiladelphia. 



Chinese Agricultural Population. 



There are fevi' sights more pleasing than 

 a Chinese family in the interior, engaged in 

 gathering the tea leaves, or indeed in any of 

 their other agricultural pursuits. There is 

 the old man, patriarch-like, directing his de- 

 scendants, many of whom are in their youth 

 and prime, while others are in their child- 

 hood, in the labours of the field. He stands 

 in the midst of them, bowed down with age. 

 But to the honour of the Chinese, as a na- 

 tion, he is always looked up to by all with 

 pride and affection, and his old age and grey 

 hairs are honoured, revered and loved. When, 

 after the labours of the day are over, they re- 

 turn to their humble and happy homes, their 

 fare consists principally of rice, fish and ve- 

 getables, which they enjoy with great zest, 

 and are happy and contented. I really be- 

 lieve that there is no country in the world, 

 where the agricultural population are better 

 off than they are in the north of China. La- 

 bour with them is a pleasure, for its fruits are 

 eaten by themselves, and the rod of the op- 

 pressor is unfelt and unknown. 



I was one day travelling amongst the hills 

 in the interior of the island of Amoy, in 

 places where I suppose no Englishman had 

 ever been before. The day was fine, and 

 the whole of the agricultural laborers were 

 at work in the fields. When they first savv- 

 me, they seemed much excited, and from 

 their gestures and language, I was almost 

 inclined to think them hostile. From every 

 hill and valley, they cried, " Wyloe-san-pan- 

 fokie,'''' that is, "Be oft' to your boat, friend;" 

 but on former occasions I had always found 

 that the best plan was to put a bold face on 

 the matter, and walk in amongst them, and 

 then try to get them into good humor. In 

 this instance the plan succeeded admirably; 

 we were in a few minutes excellent friends, 

 the boys were running in all directions ga- 

 thering plants tor my specimen box, and the 

 old men were offering me their bamboo pipes 

 to smoke. As I got a little nearer to the 

 village, however, their suspicions seemed to 

 return, and they evidently would have been 

 better pleased had I either remained where 

 I was, or gone back again; this procedure 

 did not suit my plans, and though they tried 

 very hard to induce me to " wyhe" to my 

 ^'■san-pan," it was of no use. They then 

 pointed to the heavens, which were veryj 



black at the time, and told me it would soon 

 be a thunderstorm — but even this did not 

 succeed. As a last resource, when they 

 found I was not to be turned out of my way, 

 some of the little ones were sent on before 

 to apprise the villagers of my approach, and 

 when I reached the village every living 

 thing, down even to the dogs and pigs, were 

 out to have a peep at the " FoAie." I soon 

 put them all, the dogs excepted — which have 

 the true national antipathy to foreigners, — 

 in the best possible humor, and at last they 

 seemed in no hurry to get rid of me. One 

 of the most respectable amongst them, seem- 

 ingly the head man of the village, brought 

 me some cakes and tea, which he politely 

 offered me. I thanked him, and began to 

 eat. The hundreds who now surrounded 

 me were perfectly delighted; "He eats and 

 drinks like ourselves," said one. "Look," 

 said two or three behind me, who liad been 

 examining the back part of my head, "look 

 here, the stranger has no tail!" and then the 

 whole crowd, women and children included, 

 had to come round and see if it was really a 

 fact that 1 had no tail. One of them, rather 

 a dandy in his way, with a noble tail of his 

 own plaited with silk, now came forward, 

 and taking off" a kind of cloth which the na- 

 tives wear here as a turban, and allowing 

 his tail to fall gracefully over his shoulders, 

 said to me in the most triumphant manner, 

 "Look at that!" I acknowledged that it 

 was very fine, and promised if he would 

 allow me to cut it oft", I would wear it for 

 his sake. He seemed very much disgusted 

 at the idea of such a loss, and the others had 

 a good laugh at him. — Fortune^s Wander- 

 ings in China, 



For the Farmers' Cabinet. 

 Floors of Porticos. 



Mr. Editor, — Will some of your scien- 

 tific correspondents have the goodness to 

 give information on the following subject, in 

 which many of your readers are interested. 

 Is there any substance or material, economi- 

 cal and durable, that would answer to cover 

 the floors of porticos and piazzas, so as to 

 be impenetrable by water and unchanged by 

 the action of the atmosphere. A floor of 

 boards tongued and grooved is not so, as the 

 boards, though dry when put on, will change, 

 swell and shrink, with the changes of the 

 weather. Further, it is ascertained by ex- 

 perience, that the joints, after being puttied 

 and painted, will, after a spell of wet wea- 

 ther, close and force out the putty; and the 

 joints, after the boards again shrink, will be 

 left open for the admission of water at the 

 first dashing rain, to the injury of the ceil» 



