Untitled

Hawke's Bay Times, Volume 17, Issue 92, 27 January 1871, Page 2

Agricultural societies generally fail in doing as much good as might be reasonably expected from them, because they devote too much of their energy and the means at their command in making great shows, rather than in promoting the diffusion of practical information and scientific knowledge. Whatever price may be given for the soil, and whatever trouble proprietors may go to in preparing ground for cropping, all will be in vain and profitless unless good, clean, and pure seed be obtainable. This refers to grasses and roots as well as to grain, , Although the principal Auckland newspapers have for some time past been raising an outcry for " protective" legislation, they almost daily contain items which prove how little anything of the kind is required. Here is an instance from a late Herald :—" A communication has been made to us that a gentleman of this town is prepared to. make and supply the whole colony with an article termed painters 5 dryers, of which there is a very large consumption. The material required is the produce of the province. The attention of the Protection League is called to this fact, not that the manufacturer requires protection, but that he wants it to be circulated that he can supply it in any quantity, and of an equal quality to the imported, the article referred to. He is prepared to give evidence if required. Specimens can be seen at Mr Gilberd's, No. 8, Wyndham street, where it has been left by the manufacturer."

Mark Twain, having been elected an honorary member of a poultry society, recunmends himself in the following style; —"Even as a schoolboy poultryraising was a study with me, and I may say without egotism that as early as the age of seventeen I was acquainted with all the best and speediest methods of raising chickens, from raising them off a roost by burning lucifer matches under their noses down to lifting them off a, fence on a frosty night by insinuating the end of a warm board under their heels, The very chickens came to know my talent by and by. The youth of both sexes ceased to paw the earth for worms, and old roosters that came to crow remained to pray when I passed by," A capital joke, and all the more palatable because it is true, and can be vouched for, took place a few Sundays since at one of the prominent Fourths street churches. It seems that a worthy deacon had been very industrious iu selling a new church book, costing 75 cents. At the service in question, the minister, just before dismissing the congregation, rose and said, " Ail you who have children to baptise will please present them next Sabbath." The deacon, who, by the way, was a little deaf, and having an eye to selling the books s and supposing his pastor was referring to them,immediately jumped up and shouted, " All you who haven't any can get as many as you want by calling on me, at 75 cents each," The preacher looked cross-eyed at the brothers, the brothers looked at the clergyman, the audience punched the audience in the side, the bubble grew larger until it burst into aloud guffaw; ladies crimsoned, There was no benediction that morning worth speaking of. The deacojj, after he had found out his mistake, changed his pew from the front of the church to the third from the rear; and, though he cannot hear the sermon, he is consoled with the thought that the young ladies can't snicker at him, —New Jersey Patriot,

Referring to Mr Vogel's candidature for Auckland City East, the Auckland correspondent of the Otago Daily Times wr } tes : —« The uncontradicted report that he intends going home as AgentGeneral, or in some similar capacity, did him much harm. This has been increased by a new report that Mr Lowther Broad (formerly warden at the Arrow) is to go as his private secretary. People are asking how it is that Ministers who notoriously do far less departmental work than any of their predecessors, should suddenly require the attendance of private secretaries wherever they go. That they should commence this system at a time when the colony is steadily expending at least from <£7oo to £BOO a day in excess of its income, and when any Maori troubles would add materially to this deficit, is regarded with great disfavour. The recent news from England as to the posting in the Stock Exchange of a manuscript notice, warning investors against the projected big loan, and the leading article in the Economist, in which the loan is very unfavourably treated, have created a doubt as to its being ever negotiated, especially in the case of a general European war. With this doubt comes destruction to many a fond dream of official employment, and a strong tendency in the public mind to insist on a more watchful scrutiny into the expenditure of the General Government."

Paris is not yet taken, but the pen with which Count Bismarck is to sign the treaty of peace is already prepared Herr Bissenger, of Pforzheim, has manufactured out of massive gold an imitation of an ordinary stout goosequill. The .quill itself is polished, iu order that it may be more conveniently handled, but the feather closely resembles a real quill, .every fibre being represented, while the back of the feather is thickly studded with brilliants, and below them a count's .coronet and Bismarck's monogram are engraved. Besides the engraver and maker, two goldsmiths were engaged on it for five weeks. The gold employed is 4)f eighteen carats, and that part in which the brilliants are set is of twenty-one carats.

Mrs Hawthorn, of Gunthgai, informs the Gundogai Times of a simple mode of keeping slugs from flowers, which she considers should not be kept secret from those who have a valuable floral assortment. She says:—"l took a parsnip and cut it up into flat slips, one of which I placed about two inches from each flower. About 9 p.m. I took a candle to look at these slips. On one I killed twenty-five snails or slugs, and altogether I killed hundreds. The parsnip slips may be gathered up in the morning and placed in a little water, which will cause them to serve for two or three nights." The London Standard of September £9 relates that considerable excitement was caused in Leominster a few days previous, by the publication of a handbill stating that a wedding would take place on the following Tuesday, the 27th, at 10 o'clock, at the Primitive Methodist Chapel, Leominster; and which concluded by stating that the attendance of the public was requested by the bridegroom. The service commenced at the appointed time, the chapel being crowded in every part. The clergyman proceeded with the service until it came to the place for the rev. gentleman to ask if there were any persons present who knew any cause or impediment why the ceremony should not be proceeded with, whereupon the bridegroom stood up, and said that six months ago he asked the lady to release him from his engagement. She declined, and afterwards stated that her father would not consent to its being broken off, and had expressed his determination to compel him to marry' her. He went on to say that coercion had teen resorted to to bring her to the ceremony, and he should marry her because he was bound by law to do so ; it was in this spirit only that he could proceed with the ceremony. The service was then continued, but when the bride was asked whether she would take this man to be her husband, she replied emphatically, "No, I will not!" which caused intense excitement in the chapel. This, of course, brought the service to an abrupt termination. The bride immediately left the chapel, and the bridegroom (who seemed perfectly satisfied with the result) drove away, followed by an immense number of persons, who cheered him most heartily.

SILK CULTURE.

Every now and again, a rush of correspondence breaks out about the above, so violently indeed sometimes as to induce colonists to believe that they are neglecting an extraordinary means of making money rapidly and easily. The matter deserves to be examined thoroughly by the great test of " Will it pay ? " I hold in my hand a drawing representing a silk grower's family in the neighborhood of Beyrout. The home of this silk grower is not inviting for Australians. There are three forked sticks erected, sheltered by boughs. Under this is a pot simmering on a few sticks. There is a man (so a foot note informs me) dressed in a sheep skin, with a goatskin cap. His wife has a nondescript garment of calico, and his two children are dressed " nchows." By the side of the man is another man, accompanied by a donkey, on which is deposited the provisions, which he supplies on "tick" until the crop is gathered. Now John Ball very naturally asks, " Have you ever seen silk growers dressed in broadcloth, or fed on beefsteaks ? " and I can answer, " No. It is an industry accompanied by rice and squalor." " I like," he says, "to grow something which will fill my drays, railway trucks, and ships." But here we require 10,000 cocoons to form a pound of silk. I have known silk to sell at <£l 10s, it were £5, every cocoon has to be gathered and submitted to some manipulation or other, which takes up time. I do not like it. I have had great trouble even with the manufacturers in the old land. My purse has repeatedly been open for the relief of Spitalflelds. I would prefer to let it stop with the Chinese and the Lombards. I prefer beef, mutton, hides, wool, upon which men wax fat and get rich. Ido not care even for coffee, spices, opium, or tobacco. But suppose it was proved that silk wonld pay what Britons look upon as wages. Who has got nerve to be the pioneer ? Who will be found to bear the sarcasms and the sneers thrown upon the originators of a new industry ? How many a wistful look will he cast round him for hailstorms, frost?, and floods, before it is established ? How long was Macarthur bringing his merinoes into notice ? Haw long was Scott advocating the growth of sugar ? If it can be proved that silk culture will pay —which has not yet been done —and that there is some man fitted with nerve to conduct it, by all means give it a trial. —Queenslander.