Notes and Events.

Manawatu Herald, 9 November 1895, Page 2

Notes and Events.

Master, I mavvel how the fishes live in the sea Why, as men do a-!and; the great ones eat up the little ones. When the fish we know as Frosfc fish come ashore on our coasts the question is frequently asked, " Why do they ?" The answer is not because they have not been eaten by the great fish, but, as far as our observant men can make out, from a very different cause. The fish is a deep water fish and we are only permitted to taste it when it sails ashore on its own account or from the misfortune it meets with. The frost fish is not to be caught " by, hook or by crook " or with the best of nets. All fish have to come to the surface to breathe, except, of course, those who do not have, which with all due deference w«. bi'lieve is an open question. The fish under discussion has to come up to breathe, and on cold nights the air-bladder get 3 stiff and the fish being unable to descend is blown ashore. This is the be-t explanation, though it appears a little "out/) when other observers declare the most fish come on shore on frosty nights when the wind is blowing off 1 the laud. We have made thematter as clear as we can and have done our duty to our readers. Frost-fbli are found elsewhere than around this colony, u^frj Mlcrogadiia is found on the Atlantic Coast of the United States and is known as the Atlantic Tomcod. The Pacific representative is .known scientifically as Microgadm prornimuß. There are many odd things < h&x£"> to believe. If some one toldyoaihV. had come across a tree .-growing ( something like a cabbage tree but the leaves growing from the head of

<■■■»> ■' : i'J i ■ r ■■■ ■ ■■■■» it resembling flax leaveß instead of the ordinary leaves, and that these leaves were capable of being stretched like india-rubber, what would you say ? Well, well never mind replying for possibly it would be something which we would find impossible to print. In spite however of all this astonishment the statement is correct put in very sligliMy modified language. How we came to know anything about it arose in ijhia manner. We were taking oureiiseafc mine inn and talking in the smoking room the place above all in our latest fashioned inns where news is best detailed and pleasant acquaintances made. One speaker asked whether any of us had seen a tree the leaves of which would stretch, stating that some surveyor had been " gassing " about a tree he had come across in the ranges in the Nelson Province and had sent his account to a southern newspaper as though he bad discovered something wonderful, whereas he (the speaker), had happened dirsctly afterwards to walk into a friend's garden in Taranaki and saw* tree of thesaniespecies growing! Most of us owned up to perfect ignorance of the fact, but one to whom we all admitted to be an authority, Bpoke of the tree very familiarly and Baid it was to be found above the snow line. The tree 'in the settler's garden had been obtained from Mount Egmont. The above would really be of ser» vice in proving how useful book knowledge may prove at times, and what a lot of information can be obtained in such a manner, but as a corrective we will relate the following true incident which will show that practice is after all worth a sitting of theory. 'The case we refer to is this : — A gentleman who3e time has been served mostly in towns prepared himself for the possession of a landed estate by studying all readable matter on agricultural and all other •al's' matters. He got; into the country but lately and interested himself in poultry keeping, his strain of fowls being of the best and the eggs necessarily being also excellent. Eggs accumulated and it was necessary to sit a hen. We may say such took place and chicks would have been counted, the hen proving a capital sitter, had not theory proved, if not her destruction, at any rate, that of her brood. The owner of the hen read, the sitting hen should take a dust-bath daily. This hen became neglectful of this habit towards the last ! The owner decided the book was superior to the hen, and as she refused to attend to her duty, to make her do so he pushed her off her nest ! This went on day by day until the hen, not comprehending " How to make poultry pay " left the eggs to take care of themselves, which we know they were not able to do, nor was the owner, and thus there were no chicks. -Bpoks are very well in their way but^whole reliance must not be placed ifiUbem.