Nature.

Wairarapa Standard, Volume XX, Issue 2014, 7 January 1887, Page 2 (Supplement)

Nature.

Growing Roses.—Several years ago I | bought a collection of ever-blooming roses, and selected for my garden a spot formerly used for a strawberry bed. The vine* had been ploughed under a year before, and when I took possession tbe ground was mellow and full of well decayed vegetable matter. After the beds were laid off I had a hole about two feet deep dug for each rose. These holes were filled half full with compost from th« horse stable, which was well dug in. The earth was then filled in till the holes were almost full, and I carefully planted and watered the young plants. They began to bloom immediately, and by the fall had become large, strong plants. They lived through quite a cold winter, without protection, and bloomed finely the next year. A friend who had bought roses at the game time, said to me, “You must water yours, they are so much larger than mine.” I never did, however, after they were first planted, and think the difference was due to the soil which seemed to sq>t them exactly. Since then I have bonghf roses almost every year, and have tried quite a number of varieties. They require a great deal of sun, and should be enriched only with old manure, as the fresh is liable to bum them up. Last spring I planted sixteen or eighteen varieties ; two of them, Niphetns and Duke of Connaught, died, but the others grew very well. After the month of January a few of the most tender varieties, such as Marcchal Neil, Etoile de Lyon, etc., grew in the pit bnt the rest were left in the beds, with a slight protection of cedar bough*. The ground around them was mulched with litter from the stable. This serves the double purpose of protecting tbe roots from the cold, and enriching the beds. An Oregon Fish Story—There are several fine trout streams in the vicinity of Silvorton, and H. G. Guild, who edits and publishes the “ Appeal” there, has become quite a fishologist. Like all who write or talk about fish, some of his statements seem almost incredible, as the following sample will show :

About three years ago, afarmeron Pudding ; iver built a fish pond and stocked it with yea> ling carp. That winter the river overflowed the pond, and the fish escaped, and have since remained in the river. Not long since, a farmer who had a field of fine fall grain adjoining the river, noticed that something had been wallowing it down. There were no tracks of animals— nothing but long, irregular, snail-like trails leading up from the river. One night, the farmer, curious to know the cause of the new “ roller process,” posted himself conveniently at hand, and in the bright moonlight stood a watchful sentinel iivcr his field, He had not long to wait before his vigil was rewarded by the appearance of a long train of objects that came waddling up from the river into the grain. Waiting until the intruders had flapped ovora considerablespace of ground, thefarmer made a rush toward them, and was almost paralysed to find that tho visitors were carp who were feeding like swine upon his succulent wheat. Procuring a club, he killed a dozen of tho largest, and took them home. The fi=b displayed considerable awkward agility in escaping to the river.

That fanner will have fresh fish all winter Carp are known to be very fond of wheat, and it is a scientific fact that they can sustain life out of their native element for several hours at a time.

Birds and their Feathers.— The best time for seeing perfect feathering is in the winter, or onward to the spring j then, after a very short honeymoon, the birds settle down to domestic drudgery with exemplary ardour, with the result that at the end of a few weeks their tail feathers are rough and irregular, their pinions worn and ragged from contact with the nest in sittihg, and by the time their new suit comes at midsummer they are more than ready for it. The spring, of course, is the climax of a bird’s life. With scrupulous care he hourly arranges his feathers, all their markings are seen to perfection, and many peculiarities of decoration are then and then alone displayed. The fleshy combs and protuberances become scarlet and enlarged, and any one who has not seen a pheasant or a cock grouse at this season of love would be astonished at the alteration from his normal state. The cock pigeon swells that part of his body most adorned with iridescent feathers to make the grandest show he can; and every humble finch and small bird brushes up his modest finery. It is said that not a single brightcoloured feather on any bird’s body is left idle of nndisplayed. If birds have brightcoloured tails, they raise them to their highest and fullest and abase their heads; if bright heads, then they shake out their plumes, their eyes distend, and their wattles swell; and if. as in some cases, they have large tippets of feathers falling on both side* of the head, they contrive that the bewildered hen shall see all the glories of both sides at a glance, and so drag all the feathers of the far side round to the near side, making such a huge mass that the face is nearly bidden, and the projecting beak alone shows where the head must be. All this is done for the hen’s benefit, and it is only done when she is near; it ail turns on her existence, and ceases if she is absent.

A Fish as a Doctor. —In Africa, they use a live lish as a doctor. I tirst noticed this peculiarcure on the old Malabar Hirer, where 1 went several years ago on a collecting tour. I was awakened one night by dreadful groans and cries, aod getting up to see what was the trouble, 1 learnt that a child in the adjoining hut bad been taken sick. Upon going in to see if I could do anything, I fanud the women filling a great basin with water. Into this placed at cat-fish, the one we know as malaptenm elect ricus, that they took from a gourd that served as an aquarium, and put into the water ; they then forced the child in, making it pick up the fish. That it received a shock at first was evident, os it dropped it and yelled all the louder ; but the women made it again take hold of the fish ; whether it did any good or not 1 am unable to say, but the child soon stopped crying and seemed better. Possibly the fish benumbed it. The next morning I made some inquiries, and found that the cat-fish was a sort of African soothing syrup, aud given to babies ouite regularly, or anyone else who happens to need a dose. As soon as a native child began to complain, a tub or vessel of water was brought out and several of the fish caught, if they were not on hand, and the child made to get into it and play with the fish. Not only do they do this to cure the sick but in some tribes the mothers, when washing their infants in the morning, invariably make them take a shock by touching the fish. This, they said, made the baby grow to be a strong man. The children, however, objected toil, and the squalling and screaming, when the water was brought out, was somethin i appalling. The children are also made to drink the wafer in which the fish have been, and finally the fish itself is eaten, so that the remedy is a veritable cure-all, and can be taken externally or internally, as the ease may bn. It is curious to note that the old Greeks and Homans used the torpedo in the same way, and even the wat'r that surrounded it was supposed to contain the means of miraculous cure. Tbit was tne primitive electric cure that has been developed into the artificial electric battery of to-day.