NOTES.

Ashburton Guardian, Volume V, Issue 1487, 19 February 1887, Page 2

NOTES.

Valentine's Day has come and gone, and nobody seems to have noticed it ; indeed, but for the usual annual display of lace-bordered and satin-cased billets-doux intended for the amorously inclined, and eke of villainous caricatures adapted to the purpose of the spitefully-minded, which has made, its accustomed appearance m the stationers' windows, nobody hardly would have given it a thought As it is, we fancy, there has been precious little demand, for valentines of any sort m Ashburton this year, and shouldn't like to go m heavily for stock of that sort if we happened to be carrying on that line of business. Very probably the prevailing scarcity of coin of the realm has a good deal to do with the falling-off m valentine sending, and by consequence of valentine selling and buying, but the universality of the custom which now obtains of sending Christmas and New Year cards has also, we believe, something to do with ir. Anyhow, let the cause be what it may ,the fact remains that the once all-prevalent custom of the Fourteenth of February is fast falling into desuetude, and it is evident that ere long the day itself will be alto* gether forgotten, or rather will only take rank as one of the common run of days. For it is not m Ashburton alone that the change has been noticed, the Wellington Post recording a similar circumstance m the Empire City. Writing on the evening of the 14th it says :— " The observance of St. Valentine's Day by the interchange of anonymous pictorial and poetical love tokens between the young folks of the opposite sexes is fast dying out. This morning not more than fifty valentines passed through the General Post Office, whereas a few years ago the 14th of February was always marked by a great ! increase m the business of the offices, owing to the large number which were posted." The public revenue will lose a few pounds m respect of the diminished sale of postage stamps, and some hundreds, perhaps thousands, of persons who, m London and elsewhere, earned money as the artists, poets, printers, or vendors of millions of valentines will no doubt suffer by the entire extinction of the demand, but otherwise there is no reason to regret the dying out of an antiquated custom which was often more' honored m the breach than m the observance.

An interesting account is going the rounds of the colonial press of certain experiments which appear to demonstrate a remarkable predilection on the part of savage animals, such as the tiger and the leopard, for the perfume of lavender. It is said that under the charms of this most delicious of sweet smells they forget their ferocity, and fawn upon the hands of those who bring the odour. Strange though this may appear, it is yet not at all improbable other curious predilections on the part of /era natuta being more or less well ! known. As for example the fondness of snakes tor music, and of rats, pigeons, and dogs for the smell of the oil of rhodium. But there is a nearer parallel si ill, though, perhaps, not generally known, it is that of the wonderful charm which the pretty garden flower nemophila insignis possesses for the domestic cat. The nemophila m question, which bears a very pretty blue flower, is entirely scentless, that is it possesses no odour to the human perception, but it appears to afford to cats the most exquisite delight They stretch themselves out upon it, they roll upon it, m apparently a perfect abandon of enjoyment, and that m all stages of the growth of the plant— from its first appearance above the ground. Indeed, we have known of gardeners having to abandon the use of this very pretty bedding plant for this simple reason. The fact may admit of tome explanation, but it so it is not known to us. Meanwhile it is worth noting as one of the curious facts of natural history.

This year, an m several preceding years, great havoc has been wrought m gardens and orchards by that disagreeable pest the tree leech. It is a nasty gelatinous-looking little creature, about two -fifths to half an inch m length, of a pale olive color, with a black broad head, which makes its appearance shortly after the cherries have begun to form. It first attacks the hawthorn, then the cherry, then the pear, and then the plum trees, and the evidence of its presence speedily appears m the turning brown, and then the fall of the leaf. All the haw thorn hedges that we know of at this moment have their leaves the color of spent tea leaves, and we do not know of a single cherry or pear tree m the whole district that is not as bare of leaf as m the winter; while, the leeches having attacked them m turn, the plum trees are just now following suit. The crop of pears is seriously injured, as the fruit cannot arrive at its full perfection when the trees have lost their lungs (for such their leaves are), but the plums will hardly suffer at all, as the fruit was nearly all ripe before their turn came. The mischief done to orchardists is, however, very great, and it is very desirabie if any means of prevention is available that it should be generally made known., We say prevention, because that is much more important than cure. The leech may, we believe, be killed by syringing with a solution of hellebore, but it is not at all easy, sometimes not possible, to syringe all the trees m an orchard, . especially when tall ones, and what is wanted is some means of preventing the leech attacking the trees at all. If, as we fancy, they ascend to the branches from the ground, possibly something applied to the trunk of the tree would prevent their climbing, without injuring the tree by its application. If any of our readers know of such a preventative we should be glad to hear what it is, as, m view of the increasing importance of the fruit industry, the sooner such a remedy is generally known the better.

The fuller news from Tonga now to hand goes to show that not only the Government, as represented chiefly by the Rev. Shirley Baker, is gteatly to be condemned for the manner m which the ministers and people of the Wesleyan Church m those islands have been treated, but that the latter art also highly blameworthy for the method* which they have adopted m return. The imprisonment and deportation of men whose only offence Is the refuial

to conform to a newly-set-up State Church, the destruction of the buildings ot the nonconforming church by dynamite, and other 1 1 h-handed and tyrannical acts of the kind, are simply monstrous'and altogether unendurable, and nobody could have blamed the persecuted natives for resisting such unwarrantable treatment, if need be, by force of arms. But secret plots to assassinate and murder are as utterly to be condemned as are the grievances which inspired them, and it is pc t .-• t y astounding to read that a Wesieyan minister (even though a native) and the students of the Wesleyan College were accessories before the fact to such crimes as these, and that leading Wesleyan natives have for months past been "urging runaway criminals to murder the Premier, the Minister of Police, and the Police Magistrate." It is sincerely to be hoped that we shall ere long learn that this is an incorrect version of the affair, but if not, then all we can say is that bad as has been the conduct of the Government of Tonga, that of its opponents has been no whit better, and it would indeed begin to appear to be absolutely necessary that some outside authority should step m with a view to the establishment of something like decency and order m the conduct of affairs m the island realm of which Hii dusky Majesty King George is king, but over whicn the Rev. Shirley Baker rules.