I860.] 



THE SOUTHERN PLANTER. 



575 



their coarse, spongy paper — which is quite 

 as useful and durable. As they have no 

 sheep or goats, the manufacture of woolen 

 is unknown among them. Very little leather 

 is produced in Japan, owing to a Bud hist 

 superstition, which makes those manufactur- 

 ing or vending it outcasts from the rest of 

 the population. It is never used for shoes 

 or other covering for the feet, such being- 

 made from plaited straw, for the lower class- 

 es the nobility and dignitaries wear slip- 

 pers made of fine rattan slips, neatly plaited. 



The ragged appearance of their feet fre- 

 quently affords a ridiculous contrast to the 

 splendor and richness of the other portions 

 of their picturesque costume. 



We had alluded to the ingenuity of the 

 Japanese ; take the following as an example 

 in clock making. It is in the description of 

 one given by a former Governor (Dutch) of 

 Dezima, an island of the Dutch Company, 

 and to which they are exclusively confined : 

 " The clock is contained in a frame three 

 feet high by five feet long, and presents a 

 fair landscape at noontide. Plum and cher- 

 ry trees in blossom, with other plants, adorn 

 the foreground. The background consists 

 of a hill, from which falls a cascade, skill- 

 fully imitated in glass, that forms a softly 

 flowing river, first winding around rocks 

 placed here and there, then running across 

 the middle of the landscape, till lost in a 

 wood of fir trees. A golden sun hangs aloft 

 in the sky, and turning upon a point, indi- 

 cates the striking of the hours. On a frame 

 below, of beautiful finish, the twelve hours 

 of the day and night are marked, where a 

 slowly creeping tortoise serves as a hand. 

 A bird perched upon the branch of a plum 

 tree, by its song and the clapping of its 

 wings, announces the moment when the hour 

 expires, and, as the song ceases, a bell is 

 heard to strike the hour, during which ope- 

 ration a mouse comes out of a grotto and 

 runs over the hill." — American Ruralist. 



their leaves and stems were rejoicing in the 

 summer sun and air. This influence is 

 hardly injured by any merely surface cool- 

 ing which evaporation may produce, and the 

 probability that drained land experiences, 

 during summer, even more of this surface 

 cooling than land that is undrained, is thus 

 no difficulty in the way of our understand- 

 ing the immense influence of land drainage 

 on fertility. 



Braining. 



The great advantage of land drainage, 

 apart from that circulation of the feeding 

 agent through the soil which it promotes, 

 depends no doubt on the immediate pene- 

 tration of the spring and summer showers, 

 and their conveyance of the atmospheric 

 temperature into the soil and subsoil, which, 

 without some such agency would retain the 

 winter season for the roots of plants, while 



The Origin of "Hail Columbia." 



In the "Recollections of Washington," 

 just published., occurs the following anec- 

 dote : 



" The song of Hail Columbia, adapted in 

 measure to the President's March, was writ- 

 ten by Joseph Hopkinson, of Philadelphia, 

 in 1798. At that time war with France 

 was expected, and a patriotic feeling perva- 

 ded the community. Mr. Fox, a young 

 singer and actor, called upon Mr. Hopkin- 

 son one morning, and said : " To-morrow 

 evening is appointed for my benefit at the 

 theatre. Not a single box has been taken, 

 and I fear there will be a thin house. If 

 you will write me some patriotic verses to 

 the tune of the President's March, I feel 

 sure of a full house. Several people about 

 the theatre have attempted it, but they have 

 come to the conclusion that it cannot be 

 done. Yet I think you may succeed."- Mr. 

 H. retired to liis study, wrote the first verse 

 and chorus, and submitted them to Mrs. EL, 

 who sung them to a harpsichord accompani- 

 ment. The time and the words harmonized. 

 The song was soon finished, and that even- 

 ing the young actor received it. The next 

 morning the placards announced that Mr. 

 Fox would give a new patriotic song. The 

 house was crowded — the song was sung — 

 the audience was delighted — eight times 

 was it called for and repeated, and when 

 sung the ninth time the whole audience 

 stood up and joined in the chorus. Night 

 after night i Hail Columbia' was applauded 

 in the theatre ; and in a few days it was the 

 universal song of the boys in our streets. 

 Such was the origin of our national song, 

 * Hail Columbia.' " 



The bark of a willow tree, burned to 

 ashes, mixed with strong vinegar and applied 

 to the parts, will remove all corns or excres- 

 cences on any part of the body. 



