Tr is now some fow years ago that Chineseducks were first exported toAmrica, They were the Peking breed, of a creamy white, with a deep orange bill, and very large. They fatten easily and are very pleasing to the gourmand. From America they wont to England, and at present Peking duke are highly prized in that country; at good shows they rauk with the ducks of Rouen and Aylesbury at the head of all others. Lo a lower class belong the Cayuga or American black duck, Those who ought to know say that the large kinds are the best, because they not only lay as well as the smaller varieties, but they are very good for the table, which is the chief use of ducks, the eggs being not in request for food like those of the domestic fowl. The Peking ducks are not allowed to sit on their own eggs. They are fattened on the meal of Barbadoes millet or Kao-liang. Hous sit on ducks' eggs, and the Leu's own eggs all go to market, The tables of the rich in Peking need to be well supplied with ducks. That is the reason why flocks of these creatures may be soon in the city moat, lending an ornamental appoarance to what is in itself, as being fringed with no vegetation, far from ornamental, The object of placing them there is of course not aesthetic, but the love of gain. How often docs it happen that, while man is intent on utility, nature adds hor own touches of beauty! So it is in this case. These wob-footed creatures, with their broad bills 80 well. adapted to take large quantities of food from the water, are bretly to watch whau paddling on the surface of a canal from their uniform white colour and curved necks. But if we make use of the faculty of imagination and transport ourselves to St. Jumes's Park where there are on the lake twenty or thirty different kinds of geese, ducks, nnd swans, the contrast is great. They lave there probably the Chinese duck as they certainly have the Chinese goose, as well as varieties from many countries and climates, Compared ith this China is far behind. When will she begin to make parks for the people and stock them with flowers, trees, and aquatic birds from various parts of the world? For thia we must jast wait patiently, knowing for our satisfaction that there is text from the classics to quote on this subject as there is on everything else. It is the passage in the Odes which describes the pleasure-park of Wéu Wang where he had his deer, and, on the lake, white birds swimming. Mencius knew the passage well, and has introduced it into his book just at the beginning, to point a moral, Hia object was to show that a prince should not enjoy himself alone, but share hia pleasures with his people. Wen Wang was beloved by his subjects, who rejoined in his Laviug a park for his recreation with a tower in the centre, and white door, and a lake where he kept
Text read from the printed page and cleaned; old type leaves the occasional error.