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Hawke's Bay Times, Volume 17, Issue 1017, 15 May 1871, Page 3

A correspondent writes to the Canterbury Press:—"l was-sorry to see in your columns that there was a great deal of spi-outed grain iii different parts of the Province, occasioned by the long continuance of wet weather. This must, no doubt, be a very serious loss to the farmers, and I should think the following information would be of service : " I was a visitor at a farm house within ten miles of Derby ; every sheaf of wheat was sprouted ; it would not make bread, chemical remedies were resorted to in vain,, hands could not make, the oven could not bake a loaf; ten or twelve hours in a hot oven did not set the dough. I mention this as a proof of the very bad quality of the flour. The farmer's wife at length tried the experiment of boiling the flour, and then pounding it; and admirably it succeeded, more beautiful bread, cakes, and pikelets than this flour produced were ne\ er eaten. T now give the plan adopted and pursued. The quantity for a week's consumption was put into a clean bag and then into the brewing copper of boiling water.; four or five stones of flour were boiled as many hours; the bag was then placed on a drainer, over a tub, until the next day, when a boy with a wooden mallet pouiided the flour in a bag until rather small. It was pounded fine with a rolling pin on the table- it is double trouble; • but my friend was amply repaid for this by most excellent bread."

America will drive all competitors in the food-preserving trade out of the market when it fairly turns its attention to the subject, for what is required is the abundance of provisions and ingenuity in their preservation rather than labor. There is nothing more curious than the history of what is called the " hog crop," and it illustrates in a remarkable way the truth of our statement. At Cincinnati, one of the greajfc porking centres, the animal is driven tip an incline, ; to the factory, caught by machinery, and run along by the hind legs, killed, cleaned out, cut up, #,nd packed in brine so speedily that the look of astonishment remains on the face of the porker when immersed in the barrel. —Anglo-American. A man named John Soar, a private in the Nottingham Robin Hood Rifles, recen% met with his death under shocking circumstances. It appears that Captain "Madden, on resigning his commission in the Robin Hoods, gave the members of his company a dinner, at the Exchange Hall Deceased attended, and got somewhat the worse for liquor. He returned to his home, on the Woodborough Road, about three o'clock in the morning, some of the neighbors hearing him walk down the yard at the back of the house. His wife, finding he had n«b come in, rose soon alter six o'clock and went down stairs. On opening the back-door she saw him lying on his face in the yard. He had fallen with his head against a wall, and his shako was crushed over his eyes. She tried to r#se him up, but he was quite dead. He had fallen in such a position as to be unable to breathe, and could not raise himself up. —Manchester Examines

A successful application of the pneumatic principle to coal mining lias been accomplished at Holmes' Colliery, Rotherham. After making a series of experiments the manager has succeeded in inventing a mode by which compressed air can be made available to pumping water from the pit .and hauling coal along tramways. It is believed that the principle will Boon be exten sively and economically applied to various other useful purposes. A Boston .clergyman who is fond of dogs bought a couple of pups of rare breed while on a visit to New York, and left t hem with a dog fancier to train Returning home one dav he found his wife, abetted by her mother, about to quit his house and apply for a divorce, on the of the following telegram from the dog fancier, which had come for him a few hours .before :—"The little darlings are doing well and looking lovely. . T Send money for their board/' ;•;;"•