1S53. 



NEW ENGLAND FARMER. 



381 



conveyed upwards from the root exclusively through 

 the woody tissue of trees, while oxygen and carbon 

 are absorbed and given out only by the leaf. As 

 this process is essential to growth, the inference is 

 inevitable that there can be no growth when there 

 are no leaves. AVhether this is in accordance with 

 supposed facts, we are not so clear. Tlie descend- 

 ing sap, after its preparation in the leaf, descends 

 only in the hark, forming new layers on the outside 

 of the wood already formed. Hence cutting a ring 

 through the bark does not prevent the_ ascent of 

 sap, nor its elaboration in the leaf, nor its descent 

 until it encounters the ring. Here its progress is 

 stayed. The result is a greater growth above the 

 ring, more wood, and more fruit. Hence this may 

 prove of practical benefit to the fruit-grower. 



The excess of sap, or that portion which is not 

 used up in new formations, enters the wood through 

 the horizontal organs, and again ascends, thus 

 making a constant circuit, as in animals. We can- 

 not believe that capillary attraction does all this. 

 — Plousrh, Loom and Anvil. 



bor and care of the gardener in stirring the ground 

 and regulating the amount of sun and shade, air 

 and moisture they received. — Ham-pshire Express. 



Remarks. — Most of us assert that things are so, 

 and so, when we have neither felt them nor seen 

 them. Now we hav e never dearly seen the sap 

 ascend in the plant, yet, from much reading, from 

 long observation, and some investigation, we have 

 become so thoroughly satisfied with this and other 

 theories as to speak of them unqualifiedly as facts. 

 At the same time we suppose the general appre- 

 hension is, with nearly all, as we have stated. 

 Not that we know things as we assume to know 

 when we repeat them under the solemnities of an 

 oath, but use unqualified expressions with I'egard 

 to things which all know it is not given to finite 

 wisdom fully to comprehend. 



We are glad to copy the whole article, that we 

 may preserve the additional value which the wri- 

 ter has connected with'our poor remarks. 



HOEING CORN. 



Some ask how many times it is best to hoe coi'n 

 and other crops. The best answer to that ques- 

 tion was given us a few days since by a farmer 

 whom we had observed often at work in a field of 

 corn in sight of our window. In going over the 

 piece with him, and remarking the remarkable 

 growth, we asked him how many times he usual- 

 ly hoed his corn. "Why," said he, "I do as I 

 was brought up by my father to do. He never 

 had any particular number of times, but hoed it 

 all he could. I find it grows faster, and stands 

 dry weather better, the oftener it is hqed." This 

 is the true philosophy of culture ; stir the ground. 

 The direction for early and good crops, after the 

 proper previous preparation, would be to stir the 

 ground. Crops are like animals — they need pet- 

 ting and care. A friend was remarking to us one 

 evening, the difference in the growth of melon 

 vines in a neighbor's garden and in his own, side 

 by side, of the same kind of soil and both rich, 

 with the same kind of preparation for t'le seed, 

 and the seed sown at the same time. The neigh- 

 bor's melons were in blossom, while his own, he 

 said, were but three or four inches in height. The 

 difference has been produced by the constant la- 



A RESIDENCE IN CHINA. 



Settled down in the wilds of Kaffraria, away 

 from libraries and books of reference, having no 

 fear of "reviewers" to daunt him, but having a 

 huge and weighty ennui to be cheated occasional- 

 ly during the uncertain leisure of a tent life, Mr. 

 Power, son of the incomparat)le and unriplaccable 

 Power, turns over the old journals recording his 

 nomadic life, and from their somewhat illegible 

 pages he constructs a most readable and agreea- 

 ble book. 



Mr. Power has not only travelled, he has lived 

 in the countries he visited ; by which we mean 

 that he not only saw them, but tried to realize 

 their life ; and his sketches, even when of merely 

 slight externals are always vivid and suggestive. 

 A few extracts will suffice to indicate the variety 

 and amusement crowded into this single volume: — 



A TETUAN CAID "RAISING THE WIND." 



"He was by no means scrupulous in his mode 

 of acquiring wealth, and regularly 'squeezed' 

 every individual under his government. One in- 

 genious plan of extorting a loan from an unwill- 

 ing capitalist, was to tie his hands together, and 

 introduce a couple of wild cats into the wide seat 

 of his inexpressibles. This was a way of bring- 

 ing them to the scratch, which never failed, and 

 by degrees this excellent ruler grew to be enor- 

 mously rich. The Emperor, thinkiiig at last that 

 his sponge must be full, sent for him to Fez, to 

 have a grand squeeze. 



"The wretched old victim was thrown into pri- 

 son and soundly bastinadoed, a process which re- 

 lieved him of some of his too plethoric wealth. 

 Strips of cotton, dipped in turpentine, were tied 

 round his fingers and toes, and lighted, which 

 produced a grand haul. The wild cats continued 

 for half an hour to produce revelati(ras of fresh 

 hoards. A knight templar or a Norman king 

 could scarcely have been more ingenious in their 

 financial experiments on a miserable Jew. Re- 

 newed tortures produced further discoveries of 

 treasure, till the old man's last doubloon and 

 last breath were yielded up together." 



Mr. Power's estimate of the Chinese is by no 

 means flattering : a cowardly, sensual, floolish 

 set of barbarians, for whom no interest but that 

 of curiosity can be excited. 



THE VALUE OF AN OLD MAN IN CHINA. 



"The reasonableness and placability of the na- 

 tives were, on one occasion, evinced in rather a 

 remarkable manner at Chusan, while I was there. 

 An Englishman had come across some wild ducks 

 in the canal inside the city, at which he fired with 

 ball, all his shot having been previously expended. 

 The bullet missed the birds, and glancing from 

 the water, killed an old Chinaman, who was sit- 

 ting at his own door, enjoying his pipe. 



"The unfortunate sportsman, horrified at the 

 result of his silly thoughtlessness, hurried away to 

 take counsel with his friends, who recommended 

 liim to try to settle the matter with the relatives 

 of the deceased, to prevent their complaint from 

 being laid formally before the authorities, who 

 would be obliged to award a heavy punishment for 



