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THE WAX-INSECT TREE.

IN THE LAST FLOWER-SHOW but one, of the Royal BOTANIC SOCIETY, there was exhibited in one of the tents, by Messrs. Rollisson, a by no means conspicuous-looking shrub, labelled-the "Wax-Insect Tree of China." By many, doubtless, the shrub in question was passed unnoticed; lost in the blaze of floral splendor by which it was surrounded. But all those who are in any measure acquainted with the controversies to which it has given rise, and its greal value in an economical point of view, will like to know more about it.

The inhabitants of the Celestial Empire have, it seems, great use for candles. Their gods can not be worshipped acceptably without them, and no one ventures abroad after dark without a candle and lantern. Hence the consumption of these articles is very great. As among ourselves, both tallow and wax candles are used; the latter being the more costly. Prior to the thirteenth century, wax candles were made in China exclusively from bees'v wax; but at that time a discovery was made of a new kind of wax, the product of another and very different insect from the bee. This, from its superiority, gradually, and in the end entirely, superseded the former material, and came to be exclusively used-being known under the name of Pe-la, or insect wax.

The excellence and peculiar qualities of this substance have long attracted the notice of Europeans, and accounts have at different times been published, both of the insect itself, and the tree or plant it feeds upon. But such discrepancies have appeared in these accounts, that we have hitherto been in the greatest uncertainty upon the subject. Very recently, however, investigations have been made, which have thrown great light upon it. The chief of these have been made the subject of a long and interesting article in "The Pharmaceutical Journal," by Mr. Daniel Hanbury, from which much of our information on the subject has been derived.

And first as to the insect itself. The Abbe Grossier considers it a species of Coccus; Sir George Staunton, on the contrary, regards it as belonging to the Cicada family; and, as nobody can decide where doctors disagree, the matter has remained undecided. By the persevering exertions, however, of Mr. William Lockhart, of Shanghae, the question may now be considered definitively settled. That gentleman has transmitted to England, within the last three months, specimens of the crude wax, with some of the insects embedded in it. These were exhibited on the 7th of February, by Mr. Hanbury, before the Entomological Society. Mr. Westwood, on examining them, pronounced them to be an undescribed species of Coccus, to which he has applied the name of Coccus sinensis.

In the absence of the male insect, and from the imperfect condition of the specimens, a complete scientific description is impossible. The existing remains consist of a dry, hollow, nearly-spherical mass-frequently somewhat shrivelled, externally shining, and of a deep reddish brown color. This mass or shell, which is the full-grown body of the female insect, varies in diameter from three-tenths to four-tenths of an inch. It has a linear opening on one side, indicating the part at which it was

attached to the branch, and is besides frequently perforated with one or more small holes. Besides these large females, the wax contains, imbedded in its under-surface, an abundance of minute insects in a younger state, which are probably the real producers of the wax. In form, they are not unlike little oval woodlice.

Now as to the plant on which the insect is found. This has been most generally supposed to be the Ligustrum Lucidum. M. Julien, in the Comptes Rendus, endeavored to show, some years since, that the insect was found on four different plants, viz., Ligustrum Lucidum, or glabrum; Rhus succedanea, Hibiscus Syriacus, and a plant called in China Tchala, the botanical name of which is unknown. Mr. Fortune considers, however, that these conclusions are erroneous. He states that he has seen the Ligustrum Lucidum growing abundantly about Ningpo and Shanghae, but never observed the wax insect upon it, and is absolutely certain that it is not in those districts cultivated for that purpose. Mr. F. goes on to state, that he received from the French Consul at Shanghae two trees, brought by the Catholic missionaries, from the province of Sychuen, where the culture and manufacture of the wax are principally carried on. These he feels convinced are really those on which the insect feeds; they are totally distinct from the Ligustrum, or any of the other plants mentioned by M. Julien, being deciduous and greatly resembling the Ash. In support of this, it should not be omitted, that a single leaflet found imbedded in the wax sent home by Mr. Lockhart, and exhibited before the Entomological Society by Mr. Hanbury, bears such a resemblance to Mr. Fortune's plant, as to leave no doubt that it belongs to the same species; fully proving that the ash-like plant from Sychuen is at least one producer of the wax insect. We say one, because it is still undetermined whether or not it is confined to a single species. This was the plant which was exhibited at the Park by Messrs. Rollisson. Both Messrs. R. and Mr. Fortune state their belief that it will prove hardy.

A few particulars respecting the culture of this insect wax, and its nature and uses, will form an appropriate conclusion to our present notice. They are taken from the article in the Pharmaceutical Journal above referred to:

"In the spring, the cocoons containing the eggs of the insect are folded up, by the cultivators, in leaves-sometimes of the ginger plant--and suspended at various distances, on the branches of the tree which is to be stocked. After having been thus exposed for from one to four weeks, the eggs are hatched-and the insects, which are white, and of the size of millet seeds-emerge and attach themselves to the branches of the tree, or conceal themselves beneath its leaves. Some authors state, that the insects have at this period a tendency to descend the tree; and to obviate this difficulty the Chinese keep the gravel perfectly bare, so that they are induced to ascend. Fixing themselves on the branches, the young insects speedily commence the formation of a white waxy secretion, which, becoming harder, suggests the idea of the tree becoming covered with hoar-frost. The insect becomes, as the Chinese author says, changed into gradually imbedded in ?) wax. The branches of the tree are now scraped, the collected

matter forming the crude wax. Dr. Macgowan estimates the annual produce of Chinese wax at not far short of 400,000lbs. The only considerable importations into England that I am aware of, were in the years 1846 and 1847, when nearly three tons were imported into London. Some of this wax, sold in April 1847, fetched 1s. 3d. a pound, a price too low, I believe, to be remunerative, and no further importation, that I know of, has since taken place. In China, candles are made of the insect wax per se, but more commonly of a mixture of it with some softer fatty substance. To give to these softer candles a hard coating, they are dipped into melted insect wax-often colored red with alkanet root, or green with verdigris. As a medicine, the insect wax is used by the Chinese both externally and internally for a great variety of ailments. Grosier-besides mentioning its employment as an application to

wounds-states that it is sometimes swallowed to

the extent of an ounce at a time, as a stimulant, by those about to speak in public."

THE EARWIG.

THE EARWIG, which is one of our most common insects, is, to the generality of people, an object of unconquerable dislike. Shakspeare asks, “What's in a name?" In the case of this little insect, we have an instance that the corruption of a name, by the omission of even a single letter, is of considerable importance. Had the name of this insect continued as it originally was-namely, Earwing (from the resemblance which the wing of this creature is supposed to bear to the ear)--we should not, in all probability, have been burdened with the grossly erroneous and terrifying idea, that this little animal is in the habit of insinuating itself into the human ear. It naturally creeps into crevices and holes, and it may occasionally attempt to enter the ear; but the auditory member is too well protected by its own secretion and membrane to allow of any such intrusion.

The most remarkable facts connected with the history of the earwig are, that the eggs are hatched by incubation of the old earwig; and that the young earwigs, for a considerable time, are dependent upon the protection of the old one, who broods over them, and fosters them with all the tenderness of parental affection. If the young ones are disturbed, or scattered or if the parent is taken away from them, she will, on the first opportunity, collect them together again, and brood over them as carefully as before-allowing them to push her about, and cautiously moving one foot after another, for fear of hurting them.

These interesting circumstances have been repeatedly witnessed. De Geer, a celebrated French naturalist, took a female carwig, which he found sitting on a heap of eggs, and

placed her, for observation, in a box halffilled with earth. The eggs he scattered in various places. She however soon removed them, one after another, carrying them between her jaws; and in two or three days he

saw that she had collected them all into one

place, where she remained without quitting them for a moment. In due time the young ones were hatched-in figure precisely resembling the parent, except in being without wings; they also differed in color, being perfectly white. He fed them, from time to time, with bits of apples, and saw them change their skin several times. The mother died; and her offspring, like true cannibals, devoured nearly the whole of her body.

In the larvæ state, earwigs are very lively little animals; running about with great agility, even from the instant they leave the egg. On their metamorphosis to the perfect insect, part of the skin bursts, and gives full play to the wings.

Gardeners, and especially the cultivators of flowers, are loud and deep in their complaints against those interesting little creatures; and certainly it must be acknowledged that they claim, sans ceremonie, the right of pasturage in almost every cultivated spotthe only law which they seem to acknowledge being the universal one of self-preservation. Whether they have an original and indefeasible right to the food which they thus appropriate, or whether we, as lords of the soil, have a right to exterminate them, are questions we will leave in the hands of the

casuists.

The only certain method of destroying earwigs is, as Kollar observes, to catch them; which is best effected by hollow tubes laid here and there in orchards and flower-beds. The common reed is fit for this purpose; but the hollow stem of the sunflower is even more so, as the insects are eager in the pursuit of the remains of the sweet pith. They are also easily caught between the folds of paper, or in pieces of cloth or linen laid on the ground. They creep into these traps in the morning, after their nocturnal rambles; and may be easily shaken out and killed at any time of the day. Some amateurs of pinks and carnations place the feet of their Hower-stands in vessels of water. This certainly prevents the earwigs from creepingbut not from flying upon the plants.

THE RESPONSIBILITY OF MAN.

Ir is starting on a false principle, to suppose that a man can escape from his own deed-be it good or bad. As soon as he has committed it, he has given it an existence, an individuality, which he can never destroy. It becomes independent of him; and goes into the world, to deal its influence in widening circles far beyond his view.

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THERE is so much deception used amongst gardeners, seeds-men, and florists generally, that it is only right to give a passing hint to the public to "take care of their pockets."

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No one, perhaps, can speak more to the purpose than we can; for, in early days, believing that what certain advertisements stated was really true, we purchased a vast number of new and remarkable" strawberry plants, raspberry canes, &c., on their recommendation; and found they were even inferior to what were then growing in our garden! The fact is, all "novelties "must be viewed with suspicion. The dealers know John Bull's weak point, and they live by his ignorance. Then, as to the seeds purchased to make your garden look gay and animated,-threefourths of them are old and useless. You complain; and are told the soil was too dry, or too heavy, &c., &c. All those packets of seeds, so carefully done up in brown paper, and exposed for sale, with the names of the flowers on them, are refuse seed. They never come up, and we hardly need say they are perfectly valueless. Yet are they sold in hundreds. The public buy, and the dealer laughs at them.

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This subject has lately been taken up by the Gardeners' Journal, whose Editor has very honestly exposed the tricks of the trade. "We would not for a moment," he says, discourage the introduction of valuable novelties, either of plants or seeds. On the contrary, we are always pleased to give our meed of praise where praise is due, and to do all in our power to recommend novelty when we are convinced that it possesses qualities worthy of such recommendation. But our position demands that we should be firm in our opinions, and discriminating in our judgments, when such matters are subjected to us; and, no doubt, we sometimes offend by condemning where we were expected to praise. And every day increases our responsibility in this respect, and renders it necessary that we should be more watchful. For our own part, we believe that matters have been already carried too far.

"There are too many kinds of peas, of brocoli, of cabbages, and so on, of all other culinary plants, with few exceptions. And in florists' flowers a like evil is apparent. In fuchsias, in geraniums, in pansies, in hollyhocks, in verbenas, in chrysanthemums, we have lists of worthless or but duplicate kinds thrust upon our notice as novelties worthy of cultivation. We would have those lists submitted to a severe jury, who should thin overcrowded ranks without pity, and consign them in hundreds to the tomb

of all the Capulets. The difficulty is to know where to begin.

"We are assured that all the influential and respectable members of both the nursery and seed trade, are desirous of a curtailment being made in the numberless kinds of the flower and vegetable seeds required to be kept in stock; entailing, as it does, an enormous expense, without any proportionate return to themselves, or to their purchasers. There can be no possible good in retaining so many kinds. Why do we require peas and cabbages by the hundred sorts? Surely the most fertile imagination cannot conceive circumstances that should require a tenth of the number to meet every demand.

"The fault is evidently with private purchasers. While they exhibit a morbid demand-and it is a morbid demand-for novelties, there will always be found those who are ready to meet it, no matter how, or by what means. Look at the advertising columns of all our agricultural and horticultural periodicals, and it is at once evident that the raising, or at least announcing, novelties, is a winning game;' or the poor superlatives of our mother tongue would not be so tortured and heaped one upon the other as they are, to palm off some unknown upstart of a kidney bean or a dwarf cabbage on the public.

"We have heard that a distinction may exist without a difference. We believe it, and undertake to demonstrate it to the satisfaction of everybody. Take up any one of the seed lists now lying upon our table, and you shall find ten distinctions in name with no difference in the quality of the things represented. Now we must confess to a decided objection to this kind of trickery. The poet has said—

"A rose by any other name would smell as sweet ;' and so a quart of ordinary peas, or an ounce of common brocoli seeds, would doubtless be the same thing if called by any other name. To this change, if it were necessary and advisable, we should have no objection; but when under this new name we are called upon to pay four times the amount for either, that we should if it had only its own proper appellation attached to it, we become indignant.

"We can sit under Houdin, or Anderson, or Robin, or any other Wizard' of like celebrity in the Cabalistic art, and be fooled to the top of our bent,' and even feel a degree of pleasure in the process. We go to be cheated; and we should be disappointed if we were allowed to depart otherwise. But, when we are sold some cucumber seeds, for instance, at a shilling each, the plant from which we are assured will produce 'splendid and magnificent' fruit; or a dozen strawberry plants for a guinea, which we are in.

formed will far outstrip in reality every superlative, Latin or otherwise-it is probable the name ends in issima-and that, after proving them, we find they are old familiar friends in a new dress, with the addition of a little gilding by the way-we certainly cannot subscribe to the sentiment conveyed in the Hudibrastic couplet, that

the pleasure is as great In being cheated as to cheat." "But, joking apart, reformation is needed; and the sooner it is commenced the better. If the practice of seizing upon every little variation in the appearance of a flower or a vegetable, as of sufficient importance to force it into public notice, and to demand a high price for it, is to be followed up, when and where is it to terminate? The practice ought, and must be condemned sooner or later; but, while it is allowed to be a lucrative speculation, there is no chance of its dying out."

INDUSTRY AND IDLENESS.

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WE RECENTLY FELL IN WITH a very sensible travelling companion, in the form of New York Magazine. There was one short paper in this magazine which pleased us so much, that we were determined to let the readers of OUR JOURNAL share our pleasure. The writer says, when speaking of the part we are all called upon to play in the world:

It is the duty of every one, to take some active part as actor on the stage of life. Some seem to think that they can vegetate, as it were, without being anything in particular. Man was not made to rust out his life. It is expected he should "act well his part." He must be something. He has a work to perform, which it is his duty to attend to. We are not placed here to grow up, pass through the various stages of life, and then die without having done anything for the benefit of

the human race.

It is a principle in the creed of the Mahometans, that every one should have a trade. No Christian doctrine could be better than that. Is a man to be brought up in idleness? Is he to live upon the wealth which his ancestors have acquired by frugal industry? Is he placed here to pass through life like an automaton? Has he nothing to perform as a citizen of the world? A man who does nothing, is useless to his country as an inhabitant. A man who does nothing is a mere cipher. He does not fulfil the obligations for which he was sent into the world; and when he dies, he has not finished the work that was given him to do. He is a mere blank in creation. Some are born with riches and honors upon their heads. But does it follow that they have nothing to do in their career through life? There are certain duties for every one to perform. Be something. Don't live like a hermit, and die unregretted.

See that young man. No matter what are his

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circumstances; if he has no particular business to pursue, he will not accomplish much. Perhaps he has a father abundantly able to support him. Perhaps that father has labored hard to obtain a competence that is sufficient for his sons to live in idleness. Can they go abroad with any degree of self-complacency, squandering away money which their fathers have earned by hard labor? No one who has the proper feelings of a citizen, who wishes to be ranked among the useful members of society, would live such a life.

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Be something. Don't be a drone. You may rely upon your present possessions, or on your future prospects. But these riches may fly away, or hopes may be blighted; and if you have no place of your own, in such case, ten to one you will find your path beset with thorns. Want may come upon you before you are aware of it; and, having no profession, you will find yourself in anything but an enviable condition. It is, therefore, important that you should be some thing. Don't depend upon Fortune; she is a fickle support, which, often fails when you lean upon her with the greatest confidence. Trust to your own exertions.

Be Something. Pursue that vocation for which you are fitted by nature. Pursue it faithfully and diligently. You have a part to act, and the honor in performing that part depends upon yourself. It is sickening to see a parcel of idle boys hanging around a father; spending the money which he has earned by his industry, without attempting to do anything for themselves. "Be something," should be their motto.

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Every one is capable of learning some trade, or mystery," and can earn a competence for himself. He should be something, and not bring down the grey hairs of his father to the grave. He should learn to depend upon himself. Idle boys, living upon a parent, without any profession or employment, are ill qualified for good members of society. And we regret to say, it is too often the case that it is the parents' fault that they are thus brought up. They should be taught to be something, to know how to provide for themselves in case of necessity; and if they act well their part-they will reap the honor which

therein lies.

CORRECT TASTE IN ART. FLOWER-PATTERNS.

BY DR. W. H. HARVEY.

TO ARRIVE AT ANY DEGREE OF EXCELLENCE in the arrangement of flower-patterns, it is important to possess a knowledge of Botany: this, whether as regards muslin, damask, or wall papers.

It is quite certain that true taste will prefer the pattern which most nearly represents the natural flowers, with all their peculiarities of form, and in their true colors. The stems, in nature, may be stiff and angular: if they be so, it is vain to attempt, in the pattern, to give them graceful bends, and to hope, by so doing, to please the eye. To represent branches of hawthorn flowers on the twining

stems of a convolvulus,would be monstrously absurd. And yet faults as glaring are frequently committed by ignorant draftsmen, when they attempt the composition of floral patterns.

Of course, I am not now speaking of the combinations of "fancy flowers"-blossoms that exist wholly in the brain of the calicoprinter or the paper-stainer-these may be as fantastic as you please. But I speak of the unnatural distortion of real flowers, resulting from the ignorance of the proper proportion and number of their parts. Why is it that floral patterns on wall papers are out of fashion, or are driven up to the bedrooms on the third landing, or to the backparlor of the country inn? It is not, surely, that flowers are out of fashion; or that the taste for them is less general than it was formerly. But it is, that the taste of the public is not properly ministered to: it has outrun that of the manufacturer.

In a rude state of education, bright colors and gracefully-bended branches on the walls will please the eye that does not stop to question their propriety. But as refinement increases, truth in form will be preferred to brilliancy in color; and the twining of branches that is not natural, will be no longer thought graceful. It will be no longer regarded as a twining but a twisting-perverting nature for a false effect. This is the true reason why floral patterns in wall papers are now so much out of favor; and why, when selecting the paper for a room, one is forced (I speak from experience), after turning over books of patterns till you are weary, to take refuge in some arabesque design-some combination of graceful curves of no meaning-as an escape from the frightful compositions that are called flower-patterns.

It is surely high time that our manufacturers should seek to correct this evil. These are not days in which any one can afford to be left a step behind the rest of the world. He that once loses his place in the foremost rank, is pushed aside and lost; in the crowd that is eagerly pressing forward, and almost treading on his heels. Already French wall papers are in extensive use. They have brought down the prices of the home manufacture considerably, and they will undoubtedly drive home-made papers out of the market altogether, if the manufacturers do not exert themselves to produce more artistic patterns than they commonly originate at present. The French have been before us in the establishment of Schools of Design. At their schools artistic botany, or correct flower drawing, is regularly taught; hence the great superiority of their flower-patterns, whether on china, on silk, on muslins, or on wall papers. It is not that French taste is superior to Irish or English taste; but it is that, in France, the principles of correct taste

are more diffused among the class engaged in executing ornamental designs.

Our workmen have as much inventive talent, but it requires to be educated. At present, it wastes itself for want of proper direction and instruction.

SENSIBILITY.

SENSIBILITY is that susceptibility of feeling which lies at the foundation of all rational enjoyper regulation. Sensibility is the most exquisite ment. It however requires to be kept under profeeling of which the human soul is susceptible. When it prevades us we feel happy; and, could it last unmixed, we might form some conjecture of the bliss of those Paradisaical days when the obedient passions were under the dominion of reason, and the impulses of the heart did not need correction. It is this quickness, this delicacy of feeling which enables us to relish the sublime touches of the poet and the painter. It is this which expands the soul, and gives an enthusiastic greatness, mixed with tenderness, when we view the magnificent objects of nature, or hear of a good action. The same effect we experience in the Spring, when we hail the returning sun, and the consequent renovation of nature-when the flowers unfold themselves, and exhale their sweets, and the voice of music is heard in the land. Softened by tenderness, the soul is disposed to be virtuous. Is any sensual gratification to be compared to that of feeling the eyes moistened, after having comforted the unfortunate? Sensibility is, indeed, the very foundation of all our earthly happiness. sensualist, who is only moved by what strikes his But these raptures are unknown to the depraved gross thoughts and harmonises with his vicious propensities. As the embellishments of nature escape his neglected notice, so likewise do all the gentle and interesting affections. Sensibility can only be felt; it escapes discussion.

THE ELOQUENCE OF FLOWERS.

AMONGST all the pleasant things of life-and the all-bountiful hand of Providence has scattered the path of our days with innumerable pleasant things, if man would but enjoy them-amongst all the pleasant things of life, there are few more pleasant than a walk in the flower-garden before breakfast on a sun-shiny morning.

To see those mute and still, though not motionless creatures-we mean the blossoms, opening their painted bosoms to the beneficent rays which give them their color and their loveliness, welcoming the calm blessing of the light, as if with gratitude, and seeking, in their tranquil state of being, for nothing but the good gifts of Godmight well afford a monitory lesson. Everything in nature has its homily, to the eager the blossoms stand in their loveliness; how placid hunters after fictitious enjoyment. How calm do in their limited fruition of the elements that nourish them! How, in their splendid raiment, do they sparkle in the sun; how do they drink up the cup of dew, and gratefully give back honey and perfume in return! Avoid that man, or that woman, who can see nothing beautiful in buds, blossoms, flowers, and children.

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