The Liverpool Standard and General Commercial Advertiser.
Liverpool, Merseyside, England, 1847-04-20 00:00:00

under the sentence of death, in the gaol of this city,
murder—the other (continued the minister with

emotion)—the third, through the infinite goodne
is even now about to address you—listen to him

IMITATIVE POWER IN BIRDS.—SO strong is the imita-
tive power of birds, that a canary who has been taught to
pipe, having heard a chaffinch that daily sung in a tree
near the window where the cage was hung, learnt his note
in a few days, omitting at that time the air he had been
accustomed to sing. At the end of the spring, after hay-
_ _

ing been removed from the neighbourhood of the chaffinch,
he resumed the air as before. A nestling- nightingale also
learnt the notes of a hedge-sparrow that sung near it, for
want of other sounds to imitate, and it was extraordinary
to hear the gentle, although agreeable warble of the lat-
e I ter, attuned to the full compass and power of the nightin-

gale. The effect was most pleasing, although, of course,
not equal to the natural notes of this bird, not one of
which he retained. Indeed, many birds are almost, if not
entirely, imitative, and, in default of hearing the parent
bird, borrow the notes of others ; soft-billed birds always
prefer the song of soft-billed birds, and vice versa. It is
hoped, from what has been said on the above subject, that
persons who are in the habit of keeping caged birds will
be induced to educate them in the manner suggested.
Then, instead of hearing the shrill, deafening natural
notes of the canary, they will be delighted with those of
the nightingale, the black cap, and other warblers.
" They will then breathe such sweet music out of their
little instrumental throats, that it may make mankind
think that miracles are not ceased." So said the good
Izaak Walton.—Tesse's Favourite Haunts. _ _

THE RURAL POPULATION OP CHINA.—The farms are
small, each consisting of from one to four or five acres ;
own little tea• garden, the

,
produce of xvhich ',supplies the wants of bis family, and
the surplus brings him in a few dollars, which are spent
on the other necessaries of life. The same system is
practised in everything relating to Chinese agriculture.
The cotton, silk, and rice farms, are generally all
small, and managed upon the same plan. There are-
few sights more pleasing than a Chinese family in the in-
terior engaged in gathering the tea-leaves, or, indeed, in
any of their other agricultural pursuits. There is the old
man, it may be the grandfather, or even the great-grand-
father, patriarch-like, directing his descendants, many of
whom are in their youth and prime, while others are in
their childhood, in the labours of the field. He stands in
the midst of them, bowed down with age ; but to the ho-
nour of the Chinese as a nation, he is always looked up to
by all with pride and affection, and his old age and grey
hairs are honoured, revered, and loved. When, after the
labours of the day are over, they return to their humble
and happy homes, their fare consists chiefly of rice, fish,
and vegetables, which they enjoy with great zest, and are
happy and contented. I really believe that there is no
country in the world where the agricultural population are
better off than they are in the north of China. Labour
with them is pleasure, for its fruits are eaten by them-
selves, and the rod of the oppressor is unfelt and unknown.
—Fortune's Three Years' Wanderings in China.
BAD AGRICULTURAL SYSTEM OF THE WEST INDIES.
-It is universally admitted (says Mr. Innes) that nothing
can be more imperfect than the prevailing system of agri-
culture except the process of manufacture, in which there
has been no perceptible improvement' since the settlement
of the colonies, if the few estates on which the boiling in
vaeuo has been adopted be excluded. In some of the co-
lonies, the yielding from plant-canes in favourable sea-
sons, does not average a ton of sugar per acre, although
with proper cultivation the return ought to be more than
double that quantity ; and that ton, from the imperfect
process of manufacture, is reduced from ten to twenty per
cent. before it is landed in this country, and even after it

is landed there is a still further reduction from, drainage.
How little do we find thorough drainage of the land,
either temporary or permanent, regarded ! It is only in
the colony of British Guiana, where the subject is abso-
lutely forced on the planter's notice, that we find any

neniion made of it

Flow partial altio has been the-intro-

duction of agricultural implements, notwithstam
care bestowed by the M

Ransome, of Ipswich On the
f durable ones, suited to the wants and cir-
imstanees of these colonies ! On most estates we see

fields on fields still,worked entirely by'tho hoe; and yet
the planters complain of the want of labour. To put this
evil in a striking point of view :—lt takes about twenty
days' labour to hole an acre of cane land with the hoe, and
three days to band it with the plough. Here is a saving

of seventeen days' labour per acre. Thus there are many
thousand days' labour unnecessarily: expended on the
lighter soils !—SiMmovds's Colonial-Magazine.
MATCII-MAXING EXTRAORDINARY.—The COUrrzer
humorous account of the result attend-

Francais give

Marshal Bugeaud's attempts at military
colonization.. About a year ago he founded the village of
Fouka, settling in it 60 soldiers ;- they were all bachelors,
and, to provide them with wives, he sent them by steamer,
in a body, to Toulon, where they found 60 virgins, all.
warranted of good character., The ladies had dowries,
furnished by the state, of sums-ranging from £24 to £4B,
and distributed in an inverse ratio to natural charms.
Three interviews were allowed between the matrimonial
band; one a distant and synoptical view ; the second,
still silent, an allotment of the brides and briclegroonis by
name—the gentlemen, apparently, being allowed some
choice. The third, the wedding. There were 59 mar-
riages, one soldier being quite unable to reconcile him-
self to the remaining maid. The heroes returned with
their brides, and the bachelor; to Algiers ; and the double
column was reviewed by the marshal, each husband be-
hind his spouse. The sixtieth stood solitary and trem-
bling in the rear of his line of comrades. The poor fel-
low quaked when the marshal put to.him the avvful ques-
tion, " Where is your wife ?" " Monsieur le Marcella',"
replied the soldier, " all the others have wives." 44
lons !" returned the Marshal, " you are not such a fool as
I thought you were." Ile was pardoned for his celibacy.
Alas, how fared these military marriages ? A year had
scarcely elapsed when most of those ladies fled from Fouka
to the seducers of the army of Africa ; shamelessly betray.
ing husbands, homes, and drums, without even regretting
the 10 hectares of land. Marshal Bugeatul had forgotten
to include conjugal fidelity among his orders of the day.
The spots now visible on the sun, on its western side
are upwards of 40,000 miles in diameter,

ing One a ti