A gentleman travelling in China some few years ago, bought some chickens, the feathers of which were curiously curled. In a few days, he observed the feathers straight, and that the chickens were of the most common sort. The man who sold them had curled the feathers of the whole brood, a little while before he sold them. ―――― EFFECT OF CLIMATE AND CULTIVATION ON VEGETABLES.――The myrtle-tree, which with us is a small shrub, grows in Van Dieman’s Land to the height of two hundred feet, and has a trunk from thirty to forty feet in circumference. The wood resembles cedar. [Illustration (walrus)] The Morse. There is only one species of this remarkable animal, yet the singularity of its appearance has procured for it a variety of names, as the Walrus, the Sea-Cow, the Sea-Horse, &c. The only animal which it resembles is the Seal. It has two large tusks growing out of the upper jaw, directed downwards. From the high latitudes to which the Morse is chiefly confined, there has been but little ascertained respecting it. It is not even known with certainty upon what it feeds. Some suppose its food to be entirely animal; whilst others have represented it as feeding upon sea-weed. It is probable, however, that it may turn over the sea-weed with its long tusks, to dislodge the animals upon which it feeds, from the rocks. The Morse is sometimes found eighteen feet long, with tusks about two feet in length. Its general color is brown. It is a social animal, and resorts in great numbers to favorite places on the far northern coast, where it lies on rocks and icebergs, till hunger compels it to resort to the water for food. It is not active on land, but its tusks enable it to climb up high banks with facility. The Morse is esteemed for the oil which it affords. Their tusks also are very valuable. They are hunted for these articles, the ivory being harder and whiter than that of the elephant. When one of these animals is encountered on the ice, or in the water, the hunter strikes him with a strong harpoon made expressly for this purpose. The animal is then drawn to the nearest flat iceberg. They then flay him, separate the two tusks from the head, cut out the fat, and carry it to the vessel. A morse will furnish half a ton of oil. [Illustration (girl feeding poultry)] Inquisitive Jack. CHAPTER III. _The poultry yard._