142 



NEW ENGLAND FARMER. 



Makch 



able instance of tenacity of life in a fish out of its 

 "natural element," occun-ed under our OAvn obser- 

 vation a few days ago. A salt water aquarium 

 had to be removed some distance, and the animals 

 and plants, with a full supply of water, were put 

 into a large zinc pail for conveyance. Among the 

 animals was a sole, a fish which has the habit of 

 clinging to the sides of the aquarium or any other 

 perpen(licular object. Following this habit, it was 

 left adhering to the side of the pail Avhen its con- 

 tents were emptied into the aquarium. It re- 

 mained there, without any water, for four days and 

 nights. "When found, it was still living, was re- 

 turned to the aquarium, and for a fortnight has 

 continued apparently healthy. AVe have not read 

 of an instance of such tenacity of life in a fish out 

 of its element. — N. Y. Commercial Advertiser. 



WHAT IS ENGLAND DOING? 



We are bound, in common civility, to take some 

 interest in the afi'airs of foreign nations, seeing 

 how tenderly solicitous they all are about ours. 

 Indeed, it is not without some gi-ains of satisfac- 

 tion and complacency that we observe, in reading 

 the foreign journals, how large an influence our 

 conduct has upon the rest of the Avorld. Just now, 

 it is quite evident that all England, at least, is 

 drawing a long breath of relief at her sudden ex- 

 trication from danger of war with America. John 

 Bull is very full of what he calls '-pluck," and he 

 really meant war, when he politely suggested the 

 propriety of our releasing Mason and Shdell ; that 

 is to say, tlie British government had found an oc- 

 casion to interfere Avith our affairs, in which their 

 people would have supported them. The people 

 of England do not Avant Avar Avith us. Their sym- 

 pathies are Avith us, as they ahvays are Avith free- 

 dom, and laAV and right. But the aristocracy are 

 not our friends. They are jealous of our poAver, 

 and of our republican institutions, and Avould 

 gladly see us divided into several rival nations, in- 

 stead of composing one grand and overshadoAving 

 power. 



And noAV that Mr. Seward, so honorably and so 

 adroitly, has avoided the threatened conflict, the 

 people of Great Britain are really glad, and the 

 government is obliged to pretend to be so. The 

 English are a fair-minded people, and pride them- 

 selves on ahvays doing the manly thing. We can- 

 not help thinking that such a people, on the 

 Avhole, must be a little ashamed of so A'iolent and 

 manifest an attempt of their government to make 

 trouble Arith us, just Avhile Ave Avere engaged in a 

 pretty severe scene of family discipline. As the 

 poet says : 



"It don't seem lianlly rifrlit, John, 



AVlien both my liiuicis were full, 

 To stump me to a /JKlit John, 



Your cousin too, John Bull." 



Everybody, everyAvhere, sees that, had Ave been 

 at leisure to give our undivided attention to John 

 just at that time, he Avould have been someAvhat 



more polite, and a trifle less peremptory in his de- 

 mands for satisfaction. But Ave are farmers, and 

 our business is Avith corn and Avheat, more than 

 Avith great guns, yet it is surjirising to see hoTr 

 much the actual fighting condition of the nation 

 depends on its present supply of grain. 



The old saying that "one cannot afford to quar- 

 rel Avith his bread and butter," applies Avith equal 

 force to nations and individuals. The great obsta- 

 cle to the forAvard movement of our vast armies 

 is, not that Ave have not men and guns enough to 

 march at once straight doAvn to the Gulf of jMexi- 

 co, but that Ave cannot transport supplies to feed 

 the army in a rapid march. 



England has ships and soldiers enough to have 

 troubled us sorely, had she pounced suddenly up- 

 on us Avhile Ave Avere in this death-grapple Avith re- 

 bellion ; but her oAvn journals clearly shoAV, that 

 she must have had a famine at hand next spring, 

 such as she never felt before, had aa'c accepted the 

 war she proffered us. 



SCARCITY OF GRAIN IN EUROPE. 



The Mark Lane Express of January 20th con- 

 tains estimates by con-espondents, not controvert- 

 ed by the editors, Avhich indicate so enormous a 

 deficiency in the AA'heat crop, that it Avould seem 

 that America, Avith her best endeavors, could 

 hardly supply the demand, and it is quite certain, 

 that had her trade been cut off" by a Avar, the cry 

 for food in the large toAvns of Great Britain Avould 

 have been so loud as to have droAvned all com- 

 plaints for Avant of cotton. The estimate is as fol- 

 loAvs. We hope our readers will take the trouble 



to understand it. 



Bushe's. 



The regular crop of wheat in Great Britian and Ire- 

 land is 164,000,000 



Short planted for last crop '4 40,000,000 



Short yield of that sown 20,000,000 



Quantity shed by beinpr over-ripe 8,000,000 



Extra quantity taken for seed for crop 



of 1862 6,000,000 



Exportfd to France from August to 



December, 1861 8,000,000 — 82,000,000 



82,000,000 

 To which add the usual importation 40,000,000 



Making the requirements 122,000,000 



It is admitted that France AA'ill Avant in all, for 

 the year, 80,000,000 bushels, and probably more, 

 because the chestnut crop, Avhich usually feeds tAvo 

 millions of people in France, failed last season, 

 Avhile Italy, Spain, Portugal and Belgium had all 

 of them bad harvests. 



It is estimated that since September 1, 1861, 

 there have been imported into Great Britain and 

 Ireland 19,200,000 bushels of Avheat and flour, 

 turning the flour into grain, against o2,800,000 for 

 the corresponding period in 1860, and that France, 

 up to January 20, had imported but little more 

 than one-third of her necessary supply. The 

 granaries of Great Britain Avere probably ncA'er so 

 empty at this season of the year, as noAV. Yet the 



