NATIONAL RIFLE ASSOCIATION'SMEETING AT NELSON. [BY ELECTRIC TELEGRAPH, OWN CORRISPONDENT.] Nelson, Last Night.

Waikato Times, Volume XVI, Issue 1352, 1 March 1881, Page 3

NATIONAL RIFLE ASSOCIATION'SMEETING AT NELSON. [BY ELECTRIC TELEGRAPH, OWN CORRISPONDENT.] Nelson, Last Night.

A,T 3 o'clock, Mrs'DocUon opened ' the meeting by firing, the • first shot, which^ proved to be a miss. Three hundred and thirty.-three competitors appeared for the first match, ,and the t scores at, the .first range were as follows :— 3jlrsi"match,' 200 yards ; iov '• all members ; seven shots : Dowuie, 27 ; Huggar, Ross, Crossman, Owen, Griffiths, each 26 ; Pavae, Tait^ . Cloaton, Purness, * Parslow, Land,- Mad* " kenzie;' Best, Kllis, Nutsford, Dingle, Picket, Soinerville, Trays, Coleman, Osborne, Thomas, each 1 ' 25 j Randall, Dilnow, A. Jessop, Howell, Button, Soper, ' Wilkinson, 1 McDonald, Weir, Mclntosh, Lieva, > Ballinger, Hoskin, Sharland, Lover, Sutton, each 24. The remainder made 2% or under.

G-aneral Grant informed Horace K. White, his host at Syracuse, N. If., that he had abstained from the use of wine > and stimulants for two years. An ' American contemporary states that a London firm of sermon-mongprs have lately been addressing themselves to the American market. The manager offers sermons " lithographed in a bold hand," so that those who happen to' see them would suppose that they were manuscript, H5 cpnts eaoh, : or 20 dols. per hundred. They have a line of cheaper sermons in print, 10 cents a-picee, warranted orthodox ; and others— a little more expensive — which have "a pleasantness, yet an awful solemnity about them." The Impobpation op Wheat into Germany. — From official statistics ju,st published it appears that for the first ten months of tha current year the chief ceareals imported into Germany amounted to 12,594,897 double centner.*, the exports being only 3,570,519. By far the greater proportion of the former figures were contributed in October. The customs accruing from these imports of grain are rated at about 10£ million marks. A farmer down South, who has put in an experimental crop of chicory this year, expects to realise L 45 per acre from his venture, though the hares have played sad havoc with it. The crop has been bespoken at L 5 per ton. Shere is a large colonial market for this product. The death of Bishop Gabot, Bishop of Jerusalem, is announced. The patronage of the bishopric rests, alternately, with the Queen of Great Britain, and the . Em-" peror of Germany. As Bishop Gpbot was nominated by the late King of Prussia, the present vacancy must be filled by Her Majesty. The episcopal salary amounts to Ll2OO a year, of which one moiety consists of an investment of L6OO a year arising out of [contributions obtained by the Earl of Shaftesbury and the Jews' Society, of which be is President. The Patea Mail says that Captaiij Skeefc aud a party of surveyors are now surveying the native reserves, preparatory to Sir William Fox disposing of them to the various tribes and claimants in accordance with the West Coast Settlement Act. Mr McKorrow, the Chiwf Surveyor, passed through Patea a few days ago on his way to the Waimate Plains. In practice we find that animal manures are best applied to the surface of the soil, leaving it to the action of the rain to gradually cany down the rich fertilising material in, soluble form to the roots. When placed in direct contact, heat and disease are not frequently engendered and the tree fatally injured. Unsightly as it may appear, this is the only proper place to apply it, and roots are not injured by being near the surface. — Croppie. ■' A correspondent of the English Live Stock Journal give 3 an account of 'some precocious chickens of & common black breed, hatched May sth, which, began to lay August 16th, only 3 mouths and 11 days old. This is the earliest chicken laying I ever heard of. The eggs at first weie not larger than those of a pigeon, but increased iv size "as the pullets grew. i ' Mr H. Haine'e straightforward conduct in etusing to sell Planet before the Geelong Steeplechase was so much appreciated by his fellow metallioians that they started a subscription to present him with a testimonial. About £100 was raised in a few minutes, but Mr Haines refused the gift. The New England Farmer prints the following suggestive item^of experience : — "I kaid §1.45 per day for digging and pitting potatoes which cost six cents p3r bushel. I told two of the men I would' give them five cents per bushel if they would do the work. They took the job and went to work, and they dug and pitted 100 bushels per day, and went home sometimes by four o'clock in the afternoon. The farmer saved one cent per bushel, or $1 por day ; the ,men doubled their wages. *' „_,.