Miscellaneous Items.

Manawatu Standard, Volume XI, Issue 1687, 17 April 1886, Page 4

Miscellaneous Items.

The Englsh sparrow m bin native land is captured by the thousand for the penny bounty paid by the farmer for each dozen head. Hin feet being also removed, he is extensively served m the London restaurants a* » lark. He is boiled with beefsteak nnrler crust to make a pie or pudding and toasted m a Dutch oven with, a slice of bacon over his breast, or curried and served with rice, or baked ; -with a potato. "ruth gives the following with regard to the Irish land question :— " There is at present no strike against rent, but there is a strike against impossible rents. In other words there is m Ireland, as tliei a is m every county and on every estate m England, Scotland, and Wales, a demand for reductions*' Tn Great Britain the landlords are having to meet their tenants and make the bosl of a bad job. And this is exactly what the landlords m Ireland will have xo do yer, and would do now if the uninstructcd Press of this j country would only give over cockering them with false hopes. Thu state of the case is this — and every resident Irish landlord knows it until he forgets himself m the golden daydrenm of the Times' leading article. The Iri*h farmers can't sell their cattle. They are prepared to sell at a loss ; to soil on almost any terms, if only to avoid the expense of winter keep— but they can't sell at all. The beasts are driven about from fair to fair and no one asks the price of them. This is the story that is comincr m from all parts of Ireland. What folly, then to 'call upon the" Government to stand firm, and the landlords to 'knop a stiff backbone." Stiff, indeed ! If they are stiff now they will be mighty limp m another sic rn»:i7.l)N. If thpy do not want to bre=ilc, they had butter bend. The choice is not between a little rent or much, but between a little renl and ! none." A New York telegram of Bocpraber 19th, which appears m the. Chicago Inter-Ocean, relates the f iliowingex- j ample of Yankee . ingenuity: -A number of dealers m eggs and produce m Pateraon wrro called on recently hv a man reproßcnlin<: himself as Garret Oiidenlonk, of Rockland County. New York. He sold each of the dealers a lot of " tresh country ejrg*" at a remarkably low figure. The •ggs were delivered by another man, to whom the dealers refused payment. Subsequently Onderdonk called for liis money, but was arrested under the Act prohibiting the sale of adulterated food. He pleaded guilty, whereupon he was fined 50dol and costs. This he paid promptly and left A.he. city without attempting to collect ' for the eggs delivered. He admitted to several dearlers that the eggs were artificial and were manufactured by a firm m Newark, whose name he declined to disclose. The shells? were made of a clear, transparent composition, and the shape was perfectly modelled. The portion surrounding the. yolk was made of albumen, and thfiyolk ilse.lf of gi'ound carrot and saffron. The eggs were tested and jotind to scramble well, and m an orneletle thpre was.no perceptible difference between the real and artificial esrgs, bat when boiled they are rawly detected, as the yolk and < surrounding white portion do not harden separately as m real eggs.