THK HYACINTH. 
121 
but the trees do not thrive much in the neigh- 
bourhood, as the bark is apt to crack and 
secrete a gummy exudation. The pumeloes 
are ripe, but small, unenticing, and not well 
flavoured. They are called " Paw" here : the 
rind of the stunted sort is made into boxes. 
The sweet potato is now in great abundance. 
It has two varieties — the pale and red : the 
latter is preferred. Both are pleasant, highly 
nutritious, and easily digestible. They are 
steamed, and sold to workmen and passengers 
at an early hour. Onions are now plentiful 
and of easy purchase. The bulbs are small, 
and, not being intended for a winter stock, no 
pains are taken to make them apple. The 
supply of fresh onions lasts through the 
winter ; crop succeeding crop, till the spring. 
The jasmine still continues to flower, but the 
leaves lqse their freshness ; and the flowers, 
some of their scent. The chrysanthemum is 
seen in pots, but seldom in flower-beds, since 
the non-residence of the gentry checks the 
love of display. The Pyrethrum Indicum, or 
guey-tsy of the natives, is now fit for cutting, 
when the leaves appear in tufts, and the stems 
not yet developed. A cabbage called " Ky- 
lan-tsy," with blue bloom and lyrate leaf, is fit 
for table. It has little of the cabbage flavour 
when dressed. 
Animal Kingdom. — The yellow-headed 
starling, or "king-chow," with its gay piebald 
plumage, now perches on trees hard by dwell- 
ings, and cheers them with its song. Spiders 
of the Clubiona and Attus kind, now retire to 
the habitations which they form by drawing 
two leaves together, and lining them with a 
dense web. When the tree is of a deciduous 
kind, they anticipate the fall of the leaf by 
binding its footstalk to the stem. About the 
middle of the month the wagtail arrives, and 
utters its wintry note by the side of the pool 
or river, on the roofs of buildings and objects 
in the neighbourhood of man. Butterflies 
(papilio) distinguished for their size and beauty, 
are now less frequent, and the various pretty 
moths, which spring from the grass at every 
step, have retired to their hiding-places, except 
such as belong to the silk-worm kind, which 
sleep on the surface of leaves during the day, 
and enjoy their pastime at night. A dark 
coloured sesia may be seen in copulation on 
stems of grass and the stalks of plants. That 
curious sort of sand-wasp ( Ammopliilus) is 
seen occasionally asleep, hanging merely by 
its jaw. The adductor muscles of the mandi- 
bles are short, and draw them towards each 
other independently of the will of the insect. 
The white tippel. crow, noisy at all times, is 
now unusually vociferous. To native dames 
the magpie is always welcome, because he 
laughs; the crow otherwise, because he reite- 
rates, " I want, 1 want," (Cam, Caw.) 
Events and General Remarks. — An 
officer arrives from the ''Proserpine," to report 
an assault made by the natives near the 
mouth of the river (Woo ko mun how) upon 
some officers belonging to the steamer, at 2 
p. m. At 2 a. M. start for the steamer in 
company with deputies from the authorities 
to inquire into the causes of this assault. Met 
the Am. schooner "Petrel," and obtained a 
pilot for her at the station. Return to Foo- 
chow. Start for the " Proserpine" in com- 
pany with a deputy from the Fan-tae, and 
return to Foo-chow on the evening of the 7th. 
His Excellency arrives at Foo-chow. Takes 
a view of city from the Pagoda in the morn- 
ing. In the afternoon receives a visit from 
the Chinese authorities. Starts in the " Pro- 
serpine." 
There is scarcely any thing at the present 
moment more interesting to the horticultural 
world than genuine information of this kind, 
and the fact of its coming on the occasion, from 
such a source, renders it doubly so. 
THE HYACINTH. 
The Hyacinth is grown so largely in Hol- 
land, that it has never been taken up in this 
country as a thing worth raising from seed, or 
a subject worth cultivating to any extent as a 
nursery plant. The question all men ask 
themselves, is, whether a thing will pay to 
grow; and, so far as the bulbous rooted plants 
are concerned, very few are really taken up 
with spirit, in consequence of the Dutch pesple 
growing them so well, and selling them so 
cheap. It has been too generally fancied that 
there is something peculiar in the soil of Hol- 
land, which enables the cultivators to do that 
which cannot be done in England. It is not 
