MAIL ITEMS.

Waikato Times, Volume XXV, Issue 2088, 24 November 1885, Page 4

MAIL ITEMS.

An experienced gitdemr siys tli.it *i mire oigii to tni'l if I'linti in pots require wetting in to rap on the side <•{ the pot. near tho middle, with th 1 hugei knuckle; if it givp> forth a hollow ring the pi uit needs water, but if thei<> is a dull south tli<-rt» is "till moisture enough to '■mt.i'.ii tinplant. Admiral Couibft, whose services to l.i country during lm lifetuno all class.-s of fren.'h'iicri h uo recently been .k-ailow! dg ing, tins by his will perfoimed :i'i ..<_l ni miimfujnt generosity which will do nru ii t» endt'ir his liiemoiy to tli.it das-, to uh'i.. 1 ho himself belonged— the sea fining el iss He leaves to the " Societe Centi i\>i dSauvet.ige dcs Naufiages " — -i socn l.\ which corresponds to our Lifeboat li-^tUu tion-- ill lih livings iv money or peison.l 1-st.ltO. At present the vast cotton manufacturing interest is at a low ebb throughout tin. Kind ; <md, "f course, wherever th-jre is th<> groato-<t iiuinbur of fact ine>. theio the fact is most keenly and painfully roali/url. None of tho Augusta mills .11* just now eithei paying w earning dividend-. They are, how I'vcr, continuing on full tune, and the manager* are undaunted, and predict renewed success w ith *a return of better times. — Aineucan l'.ip< i. According to oHicial xt-itiiti^, recently published, tho city of Constantinople contains 1'53,80ti habitations, which aiu thus divided :o"7,411 houses, 1»4,1% shop-,, counthomos and depots of commerce, 351 khin, 175 biths, 4!) palaces and kiosks, 27-S nnnistriu-t, administrations, etc., 108 barracks and guard houses, (>7l mosques, 519 Mussulman schools, 11(5 mcdresuci (Kennnaries), v."> libraries, 231 inonastenes (tokes), 1(5 hospitals, 1(5!) chinches and (■ynagogues, of which 60 are Greek, 40 Armenian, 10 Latin and 0 contents. Mr John Thorpe, a prominent florist, say* that there are now in the United .States 8,000 florists, using over 3/200, 000 f^ <>r 030 acres of glass, an avenge of 400 feet of glass to each floret. Allowing \~t plants per xqu.ire foot would give nearlj 50,000,000 plants as an annual product, of these gie«n-hou«os. In foni month* of Lint Winter more than 4,000,000 roses were sent to New York alone. He estimates that there wero at least 24,000,000 m«es pioduced m tlio winter of ISB4-."). Twelve thousand acres were used l.Kt year foi growing bulbs in tln» countiy, and we imported the product of at leant f>,ooo acre* from Kiirope. The taxidermist who has charge of the work upon Jumbo's body states that tho elephant's stomich contained in my English coins — gold as well as silver and bronze. His tusks had by the col It* ion with the train bjen driven nearly through the «<kiill. The elephant's skin w.is found to be an inch and a half thick, and it weighed 1,.~>37 lbs. The skeleton weighed 2,100 Ik, and the total weight of the body was over six tons. The coit of stuf'ing the elephant will be 2,000 dol., besides the wages for three months of Ihose engaged in the work. The latest idea is to turn Paris into a Hea-port. The me ins suggested foi acorn plishing this feat is to cut from Boulogne to the capital . i canal nay ijj ible for voxels of considerable tonnaKf, and thii canal is to tui inmate on the Plain of Pantin in a chain of docks and wluives to which, says an enthusiastic advocito of tho scheme, " even thoiw of Antwerp itself would be comparable." It wemi, however, that merchandise would occupy almost ns many days in canal transit fiom Boulogne to Paris .us an e\piens train would occii[>y hours. — Court Joimv.l. D.uno Natino does not always di 'advantagwuisly bestow her less appreciable gifts. A wealthy banker of Philadclplii i who during Ins life was sorely annoyed by the extraordinary length of his nose, which "exposed him to unkind jokes, and piovented his success with the fair sex." 15y way of avenging his unhappy fate he has bequeathed 100,000 dollars to the man who, within three mouths of his death, shall have satisfied his executors that he In- " tho longest and most disfigured noie. There aro already a Lirgu number of com petitors for the legacy, the individual whose prospects of obtaining the bi quest are so far the rosiest being an Irishman in n humble station of lifo. Many a fan maid will b^ inclined to ask " Wh.it'a m a nos^ ''" when she kuow.s that t>uch a handsome sum hnngs at the, end thereof. Mrs Drake, who was present on the field of Waterloo as a nurse, and is living at 2 Clowes Court, Jackson street, London Koad, M mcluwtpr, his attained her hundredth birthday. Hho wiui bom at J'llsiah Hall, Khinpshire, »n Sept. 27, 1785, and is in the enjoyment ofpeifect health At the a%<> of twenty two .shs was married, her huxbvnd being a member of the 12th Light Dragoons, with whom »he passed through the whole of the Peninsula campaign. He was di.-,chaiged at the Man Chester Barrack* about fifty yearn ago, and Mrs Drake has been a widow foity-six yearn. She can see to read without the aid of glus«e*, and has outlived all her kindred, with the exception of one daughter. Events in Copenhagen appear to be ropidly ciystfiluing. There has been Keruiiis rioting, and an attempt has been made upon the life of the Prime Minister. Tlk;so are signific uit incidents. It is to be borne in mind tint tho Danes aie.adull, phlegmatic race. They are in the habit of taking things quietly, and of accepting conditions i.tthcr than protesting against them. These riots and pistol shots, therefore, show that public feeling is excited to a significant extent ; that i evolution is in the air. A naturally phlegmatic people when aroused aie infinitely more dangciou* than a volatile population, and King Christian is therefore in a pictfy bad fix. He cannot retreat without loss .if prestige and dignity, while to maintain his present position looks like inviting dethronement. There is said to be a possibility of Ins abdicating in favour of the Crown Prince. Affairs in the East of Europe are certainly in the most critical condition. From this distance, with, at the best, impeifect nnd unreliable sources of information, it is impossible to fay more. At the present stage of the matter the question »ecms to be, Will the Povveis be able to restrain the cupidity of the smaller states? The ex change of a -ingle \olley will, it is more than likely, bring about momentous results, and, with all these m«ini civilised rufhans armed and excited with the prospects of plunder the occuirence of some overt act of war is unpleasantly easy. Sri via and Greece, who seem to be tugging at the leash with such desperate earnestness, do not really want to fight, nor have they any wrongs to rectify. Their moving impuKe lies in the fact that they think the tune has come for another division of the unspeakable Turk's real estate in Kurope, and be liind Survia, at any rate, stands that spectre of European unrest, Russian secret influence. The city of London i'h the moat wonderful place in the whole world, and its frequenters are the most wonderful people. It is the Hinalh>t of the cities, but the most valuable. It has iii\ nroa of one square mile, but that one square mile produce, a rental of twenty millions per annum, and iU inhabitant* pay one-seventh of the general rates of tho whole mehopolis, which has an aica of 120 square miles Land is now sometime* Hold in tho country at nlw>nt t'lo per acre, which is equal to a penny per square yard. It has been mild in tho city at I'lifiO per squaie yard, which is equal to over £3,000,000 per acie In other woids, the price of a squaie yard of land in Lombard street has lealised a smn that would purchase a nice little free hold estate in Heikshire (if not less than (SI acres. It is calculated that 10,000 people enter the city daily, Sunday* exempted, m hopes of making money without "toiling or spinning," A Ficnchman, with the very English name of Augustus Travels died at Toulon Homo time ago. leaving behind him instruction - w ith regard to the disposal of his body, which have formed the vubject of a very ciuioiis lavwut. AT. Travers left a bnef will, in his own haudwiiting, by which In; bequeathed MO.OOO to the London hospitals and *~>,ooo to his executor, upon condition that tho latter, as soon as ho heard of his death, ran it pin through hi* Leait to prevent his beitiK buried alive, place his body in an oak coffin with two inui handle*, and Intd this cnfnn conveyed to Calais and dropped into the «ea about a mile off the Kiiklisli coast, so that his bones may not be laid in Flench sod. He added tho expression of his "regietatnot being ten times a millionaire, ho that he might leave the money to the English, who are the enemies of tho French." The secret of his ill-will toward his fellow countrymen appears to have bflon that, when about thnty years of age, his relathos obtained an order foi wh it is teimed ft "conseil jndieiairo ;"' that is to Hay, tint, hay ing squandered a largo part of his foi tune, the rest of it wah adnnnis terrd for him by tni«tt>«i, h« himself being given a small allowance. His will was, almost as a matter of com ho, contested by his family. Tho tribunal, however, hat decided that it is perfectly valid, and that the coffin is to bo dealt with accading to his with,