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Hawke's Bay Weekly Times, Volume 1, Issue 11, 18 March 1867, Page 61

The Countess Foetescuk. —The London corresponbent of the Birmingham Post writes :—“ The Countess Fortesctte, whose untimely death has plunged her family in the deepest sorrow, will Obtain a place in some future edition of the “ Romance of Peerage.” About 20 years ago the beautiful and accomplished Miss Daw son was sought in marriage by two suitors —the one an exiled prince, heir to the fortunes. and traditions of the French empire, and the other the son and heir to an English earldom. She gave her hand to the latter and at the time every one said that in. a worldly point of view the young lady had made the better match, leaving out of view altogether the moral consideration that the Prince was esteemed in society somewhat of a mauvais sujet, while the young viscount was one of the most amiable rising, and philanthropic among our youtiiful nobility. The Prince was very much in love and deeply chagrined at the lady’s preference for his rival. A year after the lady became Viscountess Ebrington the unsuccessful suitor became Prinee President of the French republic, and five years afterwards he was proclaimed Emperor of. the French. About this time her husband, in the zealous and courageous discharge of his official duties, visited a public building, the inmates of which were suffering from one of the forms of the zymotic disease. He caught the contagion, was prostrated by fever, and for many weeks his life whs despaired of. He was nursed with all womanly devotion by the Countess, but only emerged from his sick room' with the loss of his eyesight. For months his eyes, “bereft of light their seeing bad forgotand although, time and the skill of his physicians, have brought some small alleviation of his calamaty, a faint glimmer of light alone remains, and known by a green shade over his eyes, Earl. Fortescue, is scarcely able, without assistance, to find his way to his seat iu the House of Pe.-rs.

Potatoes “ Taking Co id.” —A writer in the English Gardener’s Magazine says there is no doubt that the sudden cooling of the earth at- the critical period of ripen* ing, is the main cause of murrain which so frequently spreads alarm throughout the country. We have demonstrated, both in these pages and elsewhere, not only of late but in years pone by, that if the visitations of heavy rains, accompanied with an extraordinary low temperature, occurs when the liaulin has nearly done its work, and the tubers have ceased to increase in size, disease is almost sure to break out, and there is not a variety of potato known that is thoroughly proof against it. But if the plant is still growing vigorously, or if the haulm has perished and the tubers are full ripe, these peculiar conditions of atmosphere do not in any way affect them. When potatos are thoroughly ripe they cannot be infected with disease. They may be infected while ripening, and the scarcely visible germs may spread and devastate the store. Even then, the sound tuberß may be picked out from the mass of rottenness, and will be found unhurt. So of potatoes iu full vigour of growth, they may be affected with diseases, as all plants are at times, but the particular form of fungoid consumption known a* “ potato disease ” par excellence never touches potatoes that are increased in Bize, and in the heydey of their growang. Cold, however, may check their growth and bring on premature ripening, and in the end the ripening may be attended with an outbreak of disease. The conclusion derived from these premises is, that the crop should be taJcen vp,at once , if indications of the rot are presented. “ The act of removal operates benefioally in two ways: it causes first, the removal of the haulm, by means of which the disease iB conveyed to the tubers; and it hastens the maturation of'the tubers, and so places them out of reach of the plague, which never touches them i| they are quite ripe before disease begins. The tubers should be spread out in a dry place, with a thin covering of dry sweet, straw, or other rough clean litter over them. Exposure to light for any . length of time, is an injury, but they will be greatly benefited by a free circulation of air, which a light spread of litter over them will allow.

A Tale op a Shake. —The Launceston Examiner is responsible for the following. It is as good as any . snake story:—“ The master of one of the coaster says that whilst sailing it Emu Bay in a small dingy, in company with a two-ton boat, the Wafcerlily, the following adventure occurred :—The Waterlily was gliding along the smooth waters of the bay when suddenly she struck on some resisting substance. Immediately a commotion took place in the water—a monster shark, about twenty feet long and of great cercumference made his appearance. It was evident that lie had been basking in the sun in a kemi-slumber and the, saucy little Waterlily ' had interrupted his sublime reverie. He was, perhaps, dreaming .of some. memoriablefeastor some feastin anticipation. Perhaps-rhe .was. a statesman shark, and how he might meet his

Parliament.-., -.Whatever,- may have beet* the laboring of hia subtle intellect, he by no means »eemed disposed to sufisr ’ with impunity the izioeremonious kick the insignificant Lily had administered to hi* latter .‘extremity, so he turned round in » paroxysm of fury and seized the ‘ nose ’ of the boat,and shook it as.a dog would, a rat, and in his madness drove the boat backwards at a rate as fast as a tug woilld draw it through the water. The master of til* boat became as pale as death, and evidently .thought his end was near j but not giving up in despair, he advanced to the head of the boat and struck the animal several times on the head with a large This did not appear to have the least effect on the monster, for he did not let the boat go until he was tired. He then' sailed majestically round the Lily in a threatening manner, as if undetermined as ,to whether he would let the offender off. At length his wrath was appeased, and he kept at a greater distance ; but he had left his mark, by driving liis great tketh through the boat, so> that it begau to leak, though not to a dangerous extent.”

The Last op the Leiohabdt Explosing Pasty.—The Australian News, of January 19, says:—“The Leichardt Exploring Expedition seems to have no end of. misfortunes. . Just a year after poor Duncan MTntyre was placed in hie bush-grave, near the Gilliot, his successor, Mir. Sloman, died of apoplexy, at theLandsborough river; and three other members of the party have since perished of fever, at the G-ulf. ‘ Now and then, trees are still Occasionally discovered bearing traces of Leichhardt, and the ' two white men and a guide,’ said to hare been killed seven.years ago by the. natives of Western Australia, may have been therein nant of his party. The information concerning them is given in Mr Hunt’s account of his exploration upon the Hampton plains,' Western Australia. This was the gist of it, as elicited from one of the most intelligent of the natives " That a long time ago two white men and a native were killed by the natives on the shore of a large lake; and, oh Mr Bde asking why they killed them, they stated that the natives first speared a horse, and then the white fellows went out to shoot some natives for. doing so.; and whan coming upon a camp close , by, one white man fired at them, but the ball missing, the other man fired and killed two.- The natives afterwards, following to their camp, speared them while one was in the act of making a damper. ' They, them killed the native belonging to the white men. These natives gave the names of three of the murderers—Yercimah, Cunyallie, and Walghedee. This information fully coincidas with that gained froin some ofiier natives- on a previous occasion; it was obtained through one ot the explorer’* party, who had been found trustworthy and truthful.” Narrow Escape op the Ship Eleo teic from: Fire.—This vessel, which arrived Bafely in harbour from England a few weeks ago, had, as it now appears, a narrow aud providential escaoe from destruction, which was passed through unknown to hes officers and passengers during the voyage, and which has only como to light within the last few days. It appears that a. case was shipped from London to a party in Auckland, as part of a shipment of. drysaltry, which really contained muriatic and nitric acids. When got up from the hold the outside even of the case was quite soft, saturated with the aoid, and which, on examination, proved to be nitric and muriatic. 'ln all probability the acid has damaged a considerable portion of the cargo, and the only wonder is that it did not set the ship on fire, as was with the John DuthieThe penalty for shipping dangerous good* under a wrong designation is £SOO, and we think that this case should be further investigated, and an example be made to prevent the repetition of au occurrence,, the results of which might be 'so disastrous to life and {property. We understand that the agents here intend refering the matter home, with a view of proecutingtbe shippers.—N.Z. Herald. . Preparation op Oxygen Gas; new process has been patented ; inFrahooi’ for obtaining a'supply of oxygen gas frptnSfe common air by means of highly ated compounds, such as chromatef and|p bi-cliromates, manganates,. and, ganates, which, if deprived of a portion 'dtp-: their oxygen by means of steam, have lKor power of absorbing oxygen again when exposed to a current of dry, heated air. The improvement consists in making the action continuous by placing in the retort a current of steam, A current of oxygon is carried off and collected xn a gas holder,, while the steam is condensed to water. When oxygen has ceased to be eliminated, a current of dry, heated air is forced intothe retort. The compound absorbs a portion of oxygen, and is again ready for theaction of steam. Thus by the alternate action of air and steam, the Came coinpound produces oxygen for an unlimited period. The process is said to work with, great regularity and may yet be .of considerable importance in metallurgy. An, Original Anecdote. Lately au Irish recruit arrived at the depot. A common soldier seeing the raw fellow, exclaimed—‘Well, Paddy, how do she Hatoes taste in Ireland?’— * Ah, jewel, (said the recruit) as I can’t give you a taste of the ’tatoe, here’s a taste of the stalk,’and with his thorn stick knocked down thw soldier to the great amusement of- th» - i bystanders..