Sand Showers

The singular phenomena oí sand showem occurs cvery ycar in China. During the showers there is neither cloud nor fog in the sky, but the sun is scarcely visible, looking very much as when seen through smokcd glass. The air is filled with a fino dust, entering cyes, nostrils and niouth, and often causing serious diseases of the eye. This dust, or sand, as the people eall it, penetrates houses, reachiug apartments which seem srourely closed. Ifc is supposed to come i'rom tlie great desert of Gobi, as the sand of Sahara is taken up by whirlwinds and carried hundreds of miles away. The Chinese, while sensitivo to the personal discomfort arising f rom these showers, are resigned to them from a conviction that thcy are a great help to agriculture. Thcy say that a yeir of numerous sand showers is ahvays a year of large fertility. The sand probably impartí some enriohing elemente to the soil, nu it íiIko tends to loosentho compact alluvia matter of the Chinese valleys. The Burlington (Vt.) Fr cc Pro says : "On the top of Prospect moun tain, near Addison, is a remarkabl pond about throe-quarters of an acre i extent. Except a small space in th center it is covcred -with a thick moss stroDg enough for jjeople to walk upon Poles are pushed through this moss a any point, but none have ever touchet bottom, yet there are large trees grow ing and people walk in safety. The mos formti a thick mat or carpot, and is dt criboil as boing exquisitüly boautiful.