194 Foreign Notices: — Finland, India, North America. 



FINLAND. 



The Boundaries of Bread Corn in Finland. — Corn is grown in the neighbour- 

 hood of Uleaborg and Torneo, but chiefly barley ; farther south, rye is also 

 grown, and wheat is only grown in the south, and that but very rarely. In 

 these regions, on an average, the produce of the seed sown is, for barley, five- 

 fold ; for rye, eight-fold ; but failures in harvests are not uncommon. The 

 seed is sown in the course of May (new style), as soon as the grain is dry. 

 The harvest takes place at the end of July or beginning of August. The sun, 

 during the summer, disappears under the horizon for a short time only; and, 

 there being little difference of temperature between day and night, vegetation 

 advances very rapidly. There are instances, at Torneo, of reaping following 

 the sowing within seven weeks. Oats are never seen in Uleaborgs-Lan. In 

 Wasa-Lan they are rather common. Herr Besser, in travelling from north to 

 south, first found this grain, about four Swedish miles from Camba-Carlby, 

 half way between the towns of Uleaborg and Wasa. However, barley is the 

 common grain there, though towards Wasa rye is more frequent. In the south 

 the Kumo forms a distinct boundary. The soil along the left bank of this 

 river is well cultivated. The common grain is rye. Here there are also oats 

 and flax in abundance, particularly at Lautakyla, where the Kumo makes an 

 elbow: as a set-off to this, barley diminishes remarkably. Under these cir- 

 cumstances, the idea was natural that the wheat boundary could not be far 

 off; and, in fact, Herr Besser met with some fields of wheat behind Lautakyla, 

 on the road to Tammersfors; but these were all. At a subsequent period, 

 however, Herr Besser saw a small field of wheat between Tammersfors and 

 Tawastehus. At Kymmene, under the same latitude, wheat is also to be met 

 with. But these are solitary instances, which only show that wheat does 

 actually live in these parts of Finland. 



It thus appears that wheat thrives even in Finland, under the 61st degree of 

 latitude ; that oats grow on the coast as far as the 64th degree ; and rye 

 almost to the 66th ; and that barley is found growing one degree beyond the 

 polar circle. (From the German, by G. R.) 



INDIA. 



Culture of the Tea in India. — In the Times of January 10. 1839, is an article 

 entitled " The genuine Tea Plant in Upper Assam." It is stated to be com- 

 piled from two important pamphlets on the subject, and principally from one 

 by Mr. Bruce. The article is of considerable length, and we shall only extract 

 from it what is interesting in a gardening point of view. 



" Does the China tea plant grow mostly on the mountains of China, or in 

 the valleys ? About seven parts grow on the mountains, and three in the 

 valleys. — Does the tea plant grow amongst the snow ? Yes. — Does not the 

 snow kill or hurt the plants V It hurts them very little : it may kill some of 

 the old trees, but often new shoots come up from the old plants. — Do you 

 ever sow or plant in the shade, or have you any trees to shade the plants ? 

 No ; there are a few large trees, here and there, but not for shade. — If jour 

 plantations are on the side of mountains, they cannot have the sun all day ? 

 True ; in some plantations the plants are in the shade for half the day : some 

 China merchants, that come to purchase tea, pretend to know which is shady, 

 and which is sunny, by the smell, the sunny being preferred. 



" The tea plants in Assam have, in general, been found to grow and to 

 thrive best near small rivers and pools of water; and in those places where, 

 after heavy falls of rain, large quantities of water have accumulated, and, in 

 their struggle to get free, have cut out for themselves numerous small channels. 

 (Times, Jap. 10. 1809.) 



NORTH AMERICA. 



An American Sash-fastener. ■ — In fig. 36. a represents a plate of brass or 

 other metal, fastened to the sash-head {b b) by the screw-nail c; d is a piece of 



