e
vicinity of large preserves, the fields where the dead birds have been
so placed, have not been visited by a single rook."

The scarcity of the rook in France, and the antipathy which the French
have to that bird is thus accounted for:--

"The fact has been often related by a very respectable Catholic Priest,
who resided many years at Chipping-hill, in Witham, that such was the
arbitrary conduct of the owners of abbeys and monasteries in France, in
preserving and cultivating the rook and the pigeon, that they increased
to such numbers as to become so great a pest, as to destroy the seed
when sown, and the young plants as soon as they appeared above the
ground; insomuch, that the farmer, despairing of a reward for his
labour, besides the loss of his seed, the fields were left barren, and
the supply of bread corn was, in consequence, insufficient to meet the
necessities of so rapidly increasing a people. The father of the
gentleman to whom we have alluded, was, for this offence, one of the
first victims to his imprudence. The revolutionary mob proceeded to his
residence, from whence they took him, and hung his body upon a gibbet;
they next proceeded to destroy the rooks and pigeons which he had
cultivated in great numbers, and strived to preserve with the same
tenacity as others do in this country. We are told by the son of this
martyr to his own folly, that the mob continued to shoot the birds
amidst the loudest acclamations, and that they exulted in the idea that
in each victim they witnessed the fall of an aristocrat."

* * * * *

THE BANANA TREE.

The amount and rapidity of produce of this plant probably exceed that of
any other in the known world. In eight or nine months after the sucker
has been planted, clusters of fruit are formed; and in about two months
more they may be gathered. The stem is then cut down, and a fresh plant,
about two-thirds of the height of the parent stem, succeeds, and bears
fruit in about three months more. The only care necessary is to dig once
or twice a year round the roots. According to our author, on 1,076
square feet, from 30 to 40 banana trees may be planted in Mexico, which
will yield in the space of the year 4,414 lbs. avoirdupois of fruit;
while the same space would yield only 33 lbs. avoirdupois of wheat, and
99 of potatoes. The immediate effect of this facility of supplying the
wants of nature is, that the man who can, by labouring two da