tion of a horse-ring in the upper lip, so that they cannot turn it up to take hold of the maternal udder, and it is often in bad times a matter of life or death to the cows to get them ringed. After a conference of a few seconds, the Marylander shifted the rifle to the saddle of the Englishman (already ornamented with the frying pan and coffee-pot), and calling to the cow-boy, dashed off for the bunch of cattle. Next moment the cow-boy shot past us at full speed, gathering up his lasso as he went; the bull-calf was "cut out of the bunch as if by magic, and went straight away, through mesquitebrush and prickly pears, at a pace which kept his pursuers at their utmost stretch not to lose ground. It was all they could do to hold it, never for a full mile getting within lasso-reach of Boliborus, the ranche-man following like fate, upright from shoulder to toe (they ride with very long stirrups), bridle-hand low, and right hand swinging the lasso slowly round his head, awaiting his chance for a throw, the cow-boy close on his flank, ranche-man No. 2 clattering along, pot, kettle, and rifle soaring and swinging round his knees, but availing himself of every turn in the chase so as to keep within thirty or forty yards. I, a bad fourth, but near enough to see the whole and share the excitement (if, indeed, I hadn't it all to myself, the sport being to the rest a part of the daily round). The crisis came at the foot of a mound up which Boliborus had gained some yards, but in the descent had slackened his pace and the pursuers were on him. The lasso flew from the raised right hand and was round his neck, a dexterous twist brought the rope across his fore legs, and next moment he was over on his side half throttled. I was up in some five seconds, during which his lassoer had him by the horns, ranche-man No. 2 was prone with all his weight on his shoulders, and the cow-boy on his bind quarters, catching at his tail with his left hand. That bull-calf's struggle to rise was as superb as Bertram Risingham's in "Rokeby,” and as futile; for the cow-boy had caught his tail and passed it between his hind legs, and by pulling hard kept one leg brandishing aimlessly in the air, while the weight of the ranche-men subdued his fore-quarters. The ring was passed through his upper lip and the lasso off his neck in a few seconds more, and the ranche-men turned to mount, saying to the cow-boy, "Just hold on a minute." The cow-boy passed the tail back between the hind legs, grasped the end firmly and stood expectant. Boliborus lay quiet for a second or two, and then bounded to his feet, glaring round in rage and pain to choose which of his foes to go for, when he became aware of something wrong behind, and looking round realized the state of the case. Down went his head, and round he went with a rush for his own tail end, but the tail and boy were equal to the occasion, and the latter still holding on tight by the former, sent back a defiant kick at the end of each rush, which, however, never got within two feet of the bull's nose, and could be only looked upon as a proper defiance. Then Boliborus tried stealing round to take his tail by surprise, but all to as little purpose, when the ranche-men, who were now both mounted, to end the farce, rode round in front of the beast, caught his eye, and cried, "Let go." Whisking his freed tail in the air he made a rush, but only a halfhearted one, at the nearest, who just wheeled his horse, and as he passed administered a contemptuous thwack over his loins with the lasso. Boliborus now stood looking down his nose at the appendant ring, revolving his next move, with so comic an expression that I burst into a roar of laughter, in which the rest joined out of courtesy. This was too much for him, as ridicule proves for so many two-legged calves, so he tossed his head in the air, gave a flirt with his heels, and trotted off after his mother, a sadder, and, let us hope, wiser bull-calf; in any case, a ringed one, and bound in future to get his own living. On my ride home my mind was much occupied by that cow-boy, who rode along by me-telling how he had been reading "Gulliver's Travels" again (amongst other things), found it wasn't a mere boy's book, and wanted to get a life of Swift — in his battered, old outfit, for which no Jew in Rag-Fair would give him five shillings. The last time I had seen him, two years ago, he had just left Haileybury, a bit of a dandy, with very tight clothes, and so stiff a white collar that on his arrival in Texas he had been nicknamed "the Parson." At home he might by this time be just through responsions by the help of cribs and manuals, having contracted in the process a rooted distaste for classical literature. Possibly, he might have pulled in his college boat, and won a plated cup at lawn-tennis, and all this at a cost of, say, £250 a year. As it is, besides costing nothing, he can cook a sparerib of pork to a turn on a forked stick, hold a bull-calf by the tail, and is voluntarily wrestling (not without certain | from the flowers and leaves of these plants glimmerings of light) with "Sartor Re-requiring low, warm, and sheltered spots. sartus." Which career for choice? How But the violet grows sweeter and sweeter say you, Mr. Editor? VACUUS VIATOR. [Our bright correspondent answers his own question. Why is he pleased because of that "Sartor Resartus"?- ED. Spectator.] From The Standard. ESSENTIAL OILS. as we ascend from the lowlands, and is most highly scented just as the foot hills of the Alps are approached. Again, though France and other southern countries send us plenty of oil of peppermint and lavendar, none of it can rival that grown at Mitcham, in Surrey, almost a suburb of London, which is said to bring eight times the price of the foreign oils. It is thus clear that the Kentish flower farmers have some margin within which to work. Every year there is imported AMONG the various devices for making into this country between two hundred the soil of England commercially profita- and three hundred thousand pounds ble, the growing of flowers for the sake of weight of essential oils, the greater por the essential oils, though it can hardly tion of which leaving out of account become a great enterprise, deserves en cassia, vanilla, cloves, and lemon, which couragement wherever success is possible. are scents of far-away lands could just A considerable acreage of land at Grove, as easily, and a great deal more profitably, near Canterbury, has lately been planted be produced within the bounds of the with lavender and mint, and the result United Kingdom. Lavender, for examhas proved so successful that it has been ple, has for centuries been grown at determined to establish extensive works Hitchin, in Hertfordshire, and as a comon the spot, in order to carry on the proc-mercial speculation it dates back for at ess of extracting the essential oils. So least sixty years. The plants at present far there is no reason to question the in cultivation do not produce seed, being profitable outcome of the venture, though, propagated by slips or by dividing the of course, the demand for the oils of lav-roots. The crop is, however, somewhat ender and peppermint is more limited precarious. During the severe winter of than for wheat or Kentish pippins. Still, they are used in more industries than people generally know of, and there is, moreover, this to be said for them, that if the market is not so great, neither is the competition for purchasers so keen. No discovery of the laboratory has ever yet managed to supply an ether which will replace the natural scents elaborated by nature in the cells of wild herbs. Nor can the cultivator of the plant yielding the precious oils contrive to so stimulate his crops that the products of one locality will fetch the same figure as those of a more favored region. It is not more hopeless for the tobacco-grower of Germany to pass the rank leaves which have matured under the Teutonic suns for real Habana, than it is for the flower farmer of one spot seemingly as suitable as any other to deceive the perfumer with the tale that the herbs have been nurtured in a soil the reputation of which stands in greater esteem. Curiously enough, it does not always follow that the lands of sunshine are always the best for this description of harvest. Thus, the shores of the Mediterranean, near Grasse and Nice, are the best localities for the orange and mignonette, the perfection of the essential oils extracted 1860 many of the plants were killed, and of late years a peculiar fungus has so decimated them that the price of the oil has, in consequence, risen considerably. At Market Deeping, in Lincolnshire, where lavender was formerly grown, the business has been discontinued on that account. Hitchin, however, still harvests the crop of about fifty acres a sandy loam with a calcareous substratum being regarded as the best soil for the purpose, while the most favorable position for the lavender plots is a sunny slope, which the fogs do not reach, and where light airs blow freely, but which is not so high as to be in peril of early frosts. At Mitcham, Carshalton, and Beddington, localities all near each other, about three hun. dred acres are still under lavender, and a considerable area under mint, though here as elsewhere, for the reason mentioned, and other causes connected with the altered habits of the people, the culture is reported to be on the wane. At one time it was an important industry, and the Church tithes of the parishes in question were proportionally valuable. The lavender flowers are collected in August and taken direct to the still, when the turn out of oil to a great extent de pends on circumstances beyond the control of the farmer. If June and July have been bright the result is satisfactory; but if there has been dull, wet weather during these months, only half as much oil will be expressed. The oil from the stems is ranker and less valuable than that from the flowers; consequently, the portion which first distils over is collected separately, that which appears after about an hour and a half bringing a lower price. Should the flowers be distilled separately a finer oil is obtained. But as the extra labor demanded by the operation adds about ten shillings per pound to the cost of the oil, it is not usually done, since the "fractional distillation " described effects nearly the same end. After three years the oil which has been mellowing up to that date deteriorates, unless it is mixed with alcohol, or redistilled. In France, Piedmont, and especially the vicinity of the villages of the Mont Ventoux district, and those to the west of Montpellier, the collection and distillation | of lavender is widely practised; but the very best French oil does not approach in price that of the English article, and the cheapest varieties are made by distilling the entire plant. Some oil comes also from America. Near New York the plant is affirmed by Professor Johnston not to be very hardy, but in the neighborhood of Philadelphia it is grown in considerable quantities, chiefly for “sachels," or sweetscent bags, and for "laying up linen," a use for lavender which is, unhappily, not on the increase in this country. The Lavandula spica, which yields the "oil of spike" is a variety which cannot be grown in this country except in very sheltered situations, and is in any case inferior to that yielded by the common species. Peppermint culture requires no such nicety, and the distillation of the leaves is a very simple operation. The oil is still in good demand as a flavoring for lozenges, and as one of the drugs used in the pharmacopoeia both as a stomachic and as a means of disguising the taste of other medicines. The cultivation of roses for the distillation of the precious attar would, in our uncertain climate, be a losing speculation, taking one season with another, though the profits for a fine crop are tempting enough to send some discouraged wheat-growers into the business. The oil yielded by roses is very little; hence it is said that twenty thousand blossoms are required to yield a rupee weight of the "attar," which sells for £10 sterling, a little fact which may suggest to the lady that the "real Oriental attar " which she brought in the Stamboul Bazaar for 10s. the ounce was not quite what the Moslem merchant so loudly swore by the Prophet it was. In reality, the true. attar is almost invariably adulterated with sandal-wood oil, or diluted with sweet salad oil, even in the Indian bazaars close to the far-famed rose gardens of Ghaze. pore. This seems almost pardonable when we remember that, during unfavora ble seasons, it will take as many as one thousand roses to yield two grains of the oil. In the forenoon the red blooms are collected by hand and distilled into clay stills with twice their weight of water the water which comes over being set to cool all night, and throwing up the thin film of oil which covers it in the morning like cream on new milk. This is the attar, which must be carefully swept off with a feather, and transferred to a small phial. After repeating this operation night after night, and morning after morning, nearly the whole of the oil has been extracted, the little which it is impossible to separate so flavoring the liquid that it is sold as "rose water," just as the minute particles. left in the course of distilling lavender or peppermint are known as the "waters" of their essences. It is also quite out of our power in England to compete with the south for the production of jasmine oil, which is almost as costly as attar of roses, the "neroli" which is obtained from orange flowers, or the petit grain extracted from its leaves. But there is no reason why the anise, the carraway, and the iris should not be more grown for the purposes indicated, nor why the rosemary and the juniper should not be pressed into the service of the perfumer by the hands of the English agriculturist. At present attar of roses reaches this country mainly from Smyrna and Constantinople, the oil of lemons from Sicily and Portugal, bergamot from Sicily, anise from Germany and the East Indies, and oil of cloves to a small extent from the Malay Islands, though it is believed that a large amount is distilled by the London wholesale druggists. Carraway is, however, still mainly a home product, and should the experiment pronounced so successful in East Kent be extensively followed, the not inconsiderable quantity of oil of lavender and oil of peppermint distilled in England is likely to be largely increased. From The Spectator. MR. LOWELL ON THE COMING KING. Nevertheless, the readers of the address, and especially the readers who are like Mr. Lowell, thoughtful friends of de MOST Englishmen who read at all have, we fancy, read Mr. Lowell's address, democracy, will be somewhat disappointed. livered on Monday evening, to the Mid- He has either not perceived, or did not land Institute in Birmingham. His name, care to deal with, their secret fear, which to begin with, always attracts, for English is not whether democracy will arrive — men who know nothing else of American they do not doubt of that any more than thought know Hosea Biglow's satires, of the coming of Christmastide — or and have been expecting from Mr. Low- whether it will be strong- they recognize ell, ever since he landed on our shores, that it will be gifted with supernatural something funnier than it has quite suited strength and clad in enchanted armor the decorum of the American minister to or whether it will be wise, for the wisdom bestow upon them. Since his appoint- of all the world must at least be great, ment he, like O. W. Holmes, though for and "human experience" is but the ver another reason, has "never dared to be dict of democracy, but they question, withas funny as he could." He has spoken out denying, whether it will be good. repeatedly and always charmingly, but not With Mr. Lowell they recognize that it is so as quite to satiate the desire that he a new king which is coming, an irresistiwould for once let himself go, and talk to ble king, and a king who has shown caus as he alone could talk, in the vein of pacity in all ages. It is not only Lincoln Birdofredum Sawin. Perhaps we should whom the democracy chose, though their not like it if he did; but we all, neverthe choice of him was, perhaps, the most less, feel an indiscreet hope of such a marvellous instance of their instinctive display, and turn to Mr. Lowell when he discernment, but the strong men of all talks three columns with whetted expecta- ages. Has there ever been a ruler on tion. Suppose he should laugh at aris- earth whom the people did not recognize, tocracy as he did at slave-owning, what or who did not owe half his strength to would become of "Debrett"? His pres- that popular recognition? Even conquerent subject, too, democracy, is his own, ors like Jenghiz have owed much to the the one on which he built the reputation unrecorded democratic vote which caused which made him representative of the him to be raised on the bucklers; and no United States and a sort of personal king has ever been great whom the peofriend to every man who thinks in En- ple steadily resisted. But though they glish. [It must be something for a quiet have chosen great rulers, they have often man to know that there are ninety millions stoned great prophets; and there is as who would be unwilling that harm should yet little conclusive evidence that the come to him. We wonder how it feels?] coming king will possess the morale which Everybody, therefore, has read him, and will alone make his strength and his wiseverybody, we think, will be at once de- dom safe. He will choose the man he lighted and disappointed. It is more than wants for his work, and choose well, pospleasant, at a moment when great orators sibly better than most kings; but will the are pitching sentences at us as some work he wants be, so far as his intention writers pitch their note-books, and as Mr. goes, altogether good? Kings have often Browning pitches verses, to read an ad- been merciless, and the proof that Demos dress which is so perfect in literary form, will be merciful is yet to be made comin which, while every sentence is complete plete. True, he was merciful after the and polished, the thought flows on as American war; but he was not merciful easily as if it had just occurred to the after the French uprising, and we cannot speaker's mind. Chat never slid more judge by a single experience alone. He easily into eloquence, or eloquence into seems very intolerant of rebellion, espechat. Englishmen, too, love epigrams, as cially by colored people; hyper-sensitive witness the charm of Lord Beaconsfield's about invasion, at least as sensitive as oratory, and the address is studded with monarch ever was; and not too much inthem, while the pungent sense which is clined to spare traducers. We lack full the distinctive quality of the whole has confidence in his mercy yet; and merci. for them a double attraction. They un-lessness in a ruler who cannot be assas derstand pungent sense, and they are sinated, and will not die, would be a qual always striving to utter it, usually with a ity for a world to shiver at. Whether it sense of failure which makes them only will have to quake or no, Mr. Lowell tells more alive to Mr. Lowell's complete suc- us not. Kings have been intolerant; will Demos be tolerant? He is so in Amer cess. From Nature. ica, bearing with obnoxious ideas right | Mr. Lowell, who has seen so much of the patiently; but are we sure the patience is operation of this temptation, and whose Christian and not Mahommedan the false patriot said, "I don't believe in prin. patience which is imperfect only from ciple, but, oh! I du in interest," might pity, and endures unto seventy times sev- have reassured us on this point; but he en; not the patience which is perfect only leaves us to our doubts- perhaps enterfrom utter scorn, and bursts into a flame tains them himself; for all through his at last? We see signs outside America address runs its melancholy keynote, the as if Demos might be intolerant, might more melancholy because of his humorsay to the priest "Vade in pace," as heart- ousness, — this also, O Englishmen, is lessly as ever the priest said it to a nun but an experiment. Yes, but is it not the with broken vows. Paris is as intolerant last? We derive little comfort from beas Louis XIV., a Mahommedan people is ing told that the world has passed through harder on a convert than the khalif is. much, and man has contrived to be hapMr. Lowell might have comforted us as py, for we greatly doubt his happiness, to this; but he has not. Kings have and deny that happiness is his end. If been men of blood; will Demos be always democracy also is to rot-not, it may be, peaceful? No man knows, or can know, of malaria, but of luxury- what remains? for he has not yet controlled armies; but That democracies do not stifle individualthere is a look in his eye sometimes as if ities, we not only concede, but hold the be could thirst for empire, and did not contrary opinion ridiculous; but are the greatly regard human suffering when his individualities they foster all good? Linown imagination had taken fire. The coln was good; but that cry for Barabbas German Demos is tranquil; but will every sounds still across the centuries. other be? We could fancy him in certain parts of the world, England for one, a little mad with vainglory, a little intoxicated with triumph, a little in need of that slave behind his ivory car. Is Mr. Lowell fearful, or fully confident as to that? THE CONNECTION BETWEEN CHINESE Kings have been selfish; may not Demos MUSIC, WEIGHTS, AND MEASURES. be? It is hard to answer the question, CHINESE music can now be heard by all for in him, as in other kings, selfishness who desire to hear it at the Health Exhi may often be altruism; and at home he bition, and more may be learned on the bas this special gift, that being all, all subject from the pamphlet published by that he gains must be for all. But there the commissioners for the Chinese dewill be a king Demos for each race; and partment. A curious account of the comas regards other races, will he be less mon origin of Chinese weights, measures, selfish than Jenghiz or William of Ger- and musical notes is contained in a paper many? We see no proof of it yet, and read some years ago before the German much reason for doubt. It is not an old Asiatic Society of Japan by Dr. Wagener. monarch, but the new one, who orders The story is based on native legends, and "judicious destructions" along the bor is also to be found among the Jesuit ders of a feeble State. Selfishness, how-" Mémoires concernant les Chinois." Dr. ever, in Demos is so intertwined with patriotism that it is hard to separate the impulses; and it is more profitable to ask, Will he be sensual as other kings have been? We fear it greatly. Money is very attractive to King Demos, and ease, and in many places lasciviousness too. We can conceive of him resistless and keen, yet sordid and comfort-loving and even brutish, with all nobler aspirations stifled, raging with thirst for pleasure, and saying, as cynically as it ever was said by king or noble, "Thou shalt want ere I want." It may be that God will preserve him, for in him lies the last earthly hope of man, who has exhausted and thrown aside every other instrument of rule; but there is no certainty yet. Wagener says there is not the slightest doubt that the Chinese system of weights and measures is more than forty-six hundred years old; and it is a highly remarkable circumstance that, quite irrespective of the fact that it is more scientific and exact, it possesses all the advantages for which the French metrical system is so much praised. In the first place, it starts from a basis supplied by nature; secondly, the decimal arrangement is almost consistently employed throughout; thirdly, linear and dry measure proceed directly from the same unit as the measure of weight; and lastly, what the metrical sys tem does not do, it regulates in the simplest manner the relations of musical notes, which latter form the starting-point |