The Liverpool Standard and General Commercial Advertiser.
Liverpool, Merseyside, England, 1849-10-09 00:00:00

NEW POST-OFFICE REGULATIONS.

The following form of petition may be adopted with
advantage in every part of the empire :
" TO THE QUEEN'S MOST EXCELLENT MAJESTY.
" The Humble Petition of
" Most respectfully showeth,—That your Majesty's
petitioners have heard, with feelings of the deepest alarm
and regret, that it is in contemplation by your Majesty's
responsible advisers to open the General Post Office, in
London, for the transmission of letters on the Lord's-day.
"That your Majesty's petitioners most firmly believe
that such a course, if persevered in, would tend to the
dishonour of Almighty God, and consequently provoke
his displeasure ; would banish from the service of your
Majesty in the department of your Majesty's Post Office
all God-fearing men ; would prejudicially affect the moral
character of those remaining in that department, to whose
care so large a portion of public property is intrusted ;
would deprive a considerable portion of your Majesty's
loyal subjects of the opportunity afforded them by the
Sabbath, both of bodily relaxation and spiritual edification ;
and, generally, would lead to much disregard of the Sab-
bath in the metropolis of your Majesty's dominions, and
in the country at large.
" That for these reasons, among others, we, your
Majesty's petitioners, most earnestly pray that your
Majesty will take such steps as shall prevent the opening
of the General Post Office on the Lord's-day.
" And your petitioners, as in duty bound, will ever
pray."
[lnstructions.—The petition must be in writing, and
when signed, forwarded to the care of the Right lion.
Sir George Grey, Secretary of State for the Home
Department.]

The Duke of Cambridge arrived in town on Tuesday,
from Heaton House, Lancashire, the seat of the Earl of
Wilton.
The Earl of Winchilsea will shortly lead to the hyme-
neal altar the accomplished Miss Rice, eldest daughter of
the hon—member for Dover. With this view, Eastwell
House is undergoing extensive repairs.
ANOTHER WALTER RALEIGH.-Mr. Fisk, a young
artist, a nephew of Mr. Fisk, a clergyman, of St. John's-
wood, London, was sketching in the neighbourhood of
Balmoral, and went to the church on a very fine Sunday
morning. At the end of the service the rain came down
in torrents, and the Queen had to approach her carriage
through pools of water. Mr. Fisk, with great propriety,
took the plaid from his shoulders, and spread it on the
ground ; the Queen walked thereon, and thus reached
her carriage.

THE
Rgrintiturai atib Yortirtiltural
COLUMN.

The taste which has of late years arisen amongst tho
gentry of this country for planting forest trees, especially
the Coniferm, is one of the most pleasing horticultural
features of the age; for it is not only an indication that
the truly beautiful can be appreciated without being ne-
cessarily dressed in gaudy colours, but it also exhibits a
disposition to rear up more lasting pleasures, which will
add to the enjoyments and profit of succeeding genera-
tions.

Thanks to the aristocracy of our country, this is no
new fashion with them, and to its early encouragement in
that class of society we owe the principal wooded glories
of Old England. Planting ornamental forest trees has
always been a favourite pleasure with the higher classes;
and we may trace its origin in those feelings which led to
the exultation of Squire Bracebridge, when pointing to
his noble beech avenue, and to the glaring stuccoed and
treeless habitation of his parvenu neighbour.
But with the diffusion of wealth, intelligence has be-
come an essential characteristic of our merchant princes,
and the liberal tastes of the aristocracy are cultivated in
every direction, and with complete success, by the empo-
rocracy, whose vast and accumulating wealth constitutes
a new and imposing feature in society.
Not one of the least benefits, is the impetus given to
the introduction of valuable timber trees, and others of
highly ornamental character; the result of which will be,
that in the course of a few years some of the grandest
features of other countries will he transported to our own.
The gracefully drooping and feathery Deodar will become
the most beautiful denizen of our forests, whilst its tim-
ber will add new strength to the " wooden walls of Old.
England"; the symmetrical Altingia and towering Arau-
caria, the elegant Taxodium and the silvery-leaved Pious
Brunoniana, will give their rare charms to our woodlands,
and their valuable timber to our shipyards ; and thus this
now fashionable taste will lead to incalculable good. So
general is it becoming, that all the energies of our intel-
ligent nurserymen are required to supply the incessant
demand.

PAPERS ON AGRICULTURAL CHEMISTRY.

NO. 11.
In our last we stated that too little attention was paid
to those substances which are useful as mediums for the
conveyance of the essentially nutritious particles. It
therefore becomes necessary that we give our readers
some insight into the physiology of plants ; their powers
of assimilation ; the substances most easily assimilated,
and those substances which are not taken sip by the
plant, but whose presence seems essential to the vigorous
development of the vegetable organization.
First, then, of the physiology of plants, we will endea-
vour to give the idea. The details of known facts have
formed extensive volumes, and future discoveries will
furnish matter for many more.
From the most minute seed, even from that which " is
less than all the seeds that be in the earth," whatever it
may be, up to the giant king of the forest, all vegetable
life is composed of small cells, in most instances micro-
scopically minute. Every one of these cells is in itself a
perfect organism ; it is equal in every respect to every
other cell in the plant ; it has the power of reproduction
in itself, which it exercises with a rapidity proportioned
to the amount of inorganic matter furnished to it for
nutriment.

But these cells, though all formed in the same way
originally, are modified by the organs in which, or for
which, they are formed. The power which determines
the choice, if we may so call it, is one the mysteries of
primal causes with which we have no intention to meddle.
Suffice it to say the seed is a cell, or combination of cells,
having the power of increasing their numbers. At the
same time, the new cells perform different offices in the
economy of the plant.
Thus, though the cells of the root, stem, and leaves of
a plant have all the same origin, they have not the same
powers. Their action is modified by circumstances.
Manure applied to the roots would be rapidly decom-
posed, and its particles taken up by the cells forming the
spongioles, or root points, whence they would be distri-
buted as cambium, or food for the cells of every organ in
the plant ; but the same manure applied to the leaves or
branches, would not produce similar results.
It is, then, plain that the cells are not alike in their
action, but the cells of the foliage and bark have equally
important duties to perform ; they absorb and elaborate
the gaseous products of the atmosphere, and may be
called the lungs of the plant, while the root may be re-
garded as the mouth and stomach. Upon the proper
action of these important organs, tkte whole development
of the plant depends ; and the best means of sustaining
and nourishing these organs, constitutes the principal aim
and object of agricultural chemistry.
(To be continued.)