180 
VARIETIES. 
are  incredible,  many  persons  having  assured  the  writer  that  it  would 
average  ten  feet.  Nearly  all  the  rains  are  with  the  wind  from  the  south, 
probably  caused  by  the  simple  cooling  of  the  air  in  moving  from  a  lower 
to  a  higher  latitude.  Occasionally,  about  once  in  a  season,  there  is  a  rain 
with  the  wind  from  the  north.  The  climate  is  remarkably  serene.  There 
are  very  few  gales  or  high  winds.  In  the  winter  it  is  generally  calm. 
In  the  summer,  in  the  interior,  there  is  generally  a  very  mild  breeze,  more 
than  half  of  the  time  from  the  south  ;  and,  very  unaccountably,  the  wind 
from  this  direction  is  generally  cooler  than  the  wind  from  the  northwest. 
Probably  the  reason  why  there  is  no  thunder  and  lightning,  or  so  little,  is, 
that  there  are  no  showers  or  clouds  in  the  summer.  That  the  sea  breeze, 
with  its  accompanying  dryness,  does  not  continue  through  the  winter,  is 
probably  attributable  to  the  diminished  force  of  the  sun's  rays  in  his  with- 
drawal to  the  south. — American  Journ,  of  Science  and  Arts,  Sept.,  1856. 
On  a  Cause  of  Atmospheric  Electricity. — There  exists  between  the  living 
plant  and  the  soil  supporting  it  an  electric  current,  which  always  moves  in 
the  same  direction,  that  is,  the  soil  is  constantly  positive,  the  plant  con- 
tinually negative.  This  fact  was  first  observed  by  M.  Becquerel,  Sr.,  and 
for  several  years  it  has  been  poiuted  out  by  him  as  one  of  the  causes  of 
atmospheric  electricity.  On  repeating  the  experiments  a  year  since,  he 
was  struck  with  the  anomalies  presented  in  operating  on  the  bank  of  a 
stieam,  in  the  water,  and  also  at  a  certain  distance  from  the  plant,  and 
was  thus  led  to  study  the  effects  under  these  circumstances.  These  effects 
are  complex  and  change  their  direction  and  intensity  with  the  chemical 
composition  of  the  water  and  the  soil.  In  each  case  the  results  depend 
on  heterogeneity  between  the  water  and  the  soil ;  alkaline  waters  are 
negative,  and  acid  waters  positive ;  it  follows  therefore,  that  sometimes  the 
effects  are  null,  as  happens  on  the  waters  of  a  river  and  along  the  sandy 
banks  washed  by  the  floods. — Ibid. 
Fecula  of  the  Horse-chestnut. — Among  the  products  in  the  Agricultural 
Exhibition,  the  different  kinds  of  fecula  were  of  prominent  interest,  and 
especially  the  fecula  of  the  horse-chestnut  (iEsculus  hippocastanum).  The 
exhibitor  of  it,  M.  Callias,  has  been  honored  with  the  silver  medal,  because 
of  the  simple  and  economical  method  of  extraction  which  he  has  brought 
into  use,  permitting  the  fecula  to  be  sold  25  to  30  per  cent,  less  than  other 
related  products. 
This  fecula  has  been  many  times  commended  to  attention  since  Bachelier 
in  1615  brought  the  tree  from  Constantinople,  (it  coming  originally  from 
Southern  Asia).  Parmentier,  Beaume  and  others  sought  successively  to 
bring  it  into  general  use.    But  the  mode  of  manufacture  was  not  satis- 
