The Cardiff Times

WORKMEN'S TOPICS. BY MABON, M.P. CONDITIONS OF INDUSTRIAL EMPLOY- MENT. How far do remedial causes influence the continuity of employment and the rates of -ea'l It is to be feared, whatever we may say hope to the contrary, that the days of Stable employment are upon us once *<*e. There is certainly to an extent a i^ant of employment already. Bad em- i Ploy era and taskmasters find it easier to enforce unjust terms. Generally king, it is true that statistics seem to w that things are not quite so i as they look. This is to be ^pected. For, where labour is specialised f:d employed in large groups, every interruption is conspicuous and likely be over-rated. In backward countries regular employment is, so to speak, the as it was in England in the earlier days its industrial development. It is so even w in trades in this country where artisans on their own account. But undoubt- edly We in Great Britain, thanks to the ,oreadth of our markets and the freedom of trade, are suffering less than most other tions. Still, there is, as we have already little chronic depression appearing. 1 u Fe are some causes of discontinuity of labour which lie outside our scope, such as i'Wars, some which we cannot remedy, such as bad harvests and some which by ready ,perience teach us not to wish them to j £ remedied, such as new inventions. I^Qiost every new invention does-some parties and as the rate of invention increases this harm increases. But, as there is a ¡ e surplus of good also done by them, {* £ that we can wish is that those who reap great good should bestow some of it to ahield those upon whom the harm falls. ""M is already done to some extent volun- y, it is true, but it might be profitable 10 inquire whether it could not be made in many cases. The causes which lie within our scope and are remediable are chiefly con- nected in some way or other with the want of knowledge. Undoubtedly in of the diffusion of knowledge to-day, in spite of the increasing complexity () business, commercial panics are much ftiore infrequent than they were, and those happen are of a milder character. :Economic science itself is, as we may say, ?nly in its infancy; but if the very little it J188 to teach were more generally known to traders, and if they were educated to think In a scientific way about the action of eco- nomic causes, they would, a great many of "em, bring to bear an amount of knowledge and mental power which would be bound to important and far-reaching results. ne of the chief hindrances to this neces- knowledge is the excessive secrecy of j^ers themselves. When everyone else «eeps his business as secret as possible, no one likes to make his own public. But undoubtedly if no one had secrets each and would be better off than now. Joint **°ck companies in general, and co-opera- ?Ves in particular, are doing something towards lifting the veil. But much more is Ranted, and we are not certain but that Jf°vernment might again do some good in direction. Another great cause of the repeated dis- uity of industry is the want of cer- taIn knowledge as to the coming purchasing Power of money or, in other words, as to a pound is going to be worth a short j;lme hence. With every expansion and con- t^Action of credit prices rise and fall. This of prices presses heavily even on Hose who kept themselves as far as pos- lMe from the uncertainties of trade, nd increases in many ways the jnterunty of commercial fluctuations. For 8t when private traders and public 0lllpanies are more inclined to reckless Peculations, the interest that they have to Pay on borrowed capital represents an f Optionally small purchasing power, h ecausg prices are high. And, on the other tblld, when their resources are crippled by stagnation of business, the lowness of compels them to sacrifice a much heater amount of real wealth in order to Pay their interest. Hence, when traders are rejoicing in high prices, debenture and d lOttgage holders and other creditors are ^Pressed and when the pendulum swings dhe other way, traders, who are already pressed, are kept under water by having 7° Pay an exceptionally heavy toll to their Editors. This evil could be diminished Sreatly by the Government making it com- P^lsory that tables should be published **°wing as closely as possible what are the nges in the purchasing power of gold, n the time the change is made. -Next comes a point that has been attract- attention during the whole of the gfesent generation and, in fact, as time -Jf8 on, this demands increasing attention. 6 refer to the power of combinations of ^ployers, combinations of workmen, or .^bi nations of employers and workmen j Sether, the object in view being to legis- e and steady production in a trade. action no doubt sometimes does good g° concerned. But it is very seldom, we ] afraid. For more often regu- j1 the trade means curtailing pro- jection. There may be, and doubtless are, exceptional cases in which s is almost necessary for self-preserva- l°n. But even this cannot be done without some harm to the general public, and ^entimes, indeed the majority of times, Z*18 harm outweighs in the long run the net ?°°d that the trade itself gets from its self- ^Posed idleness. When all trades are fully "Work there must be a large total amount production. Should prices be low money a8es might not be very high, but at the ^^e time the condition of the working ^ses may be really prosperous. While to i568 are business men as a rule i^Ke small profits or none, as the case may > but that only leaves the more of the large produce to be divided rj? in one way or another among classes. On the other hand 1&any trades are working short time there little produce to be consumed by any- ba Y; and whether the working classes £ Ve their wages paid in many counters or they are quite certain to be the chief ^fferers" in the long run, for during all that they will have very little real com- Jover the necessaries, to say nothing of 1\ COmforts and luxuries, of life. At such line as that all warehouses may be full to OOation yet that Would not mean that /?6fe would be too many commodities, but lat jn the meantime the machinery for *etting them into the right hands was out of Sear. in *W, admittedly, there are many trades ^hich if those already in them could ^*|bine effectively to keep out external ^'petition, they would for a time benefit •selves by producing less. By diminish- supply they would raise prices to such extent, or more in proportion, and would j. ^Pel other industries to pay them for a a larger sum for a smaller amount of They are, therefore, under a great g^ptation to do it if they can. it is often a short-sighted policy, d it is nearly always morally wrong, tbCause, by curtailing their production, ey diminish their effective demand for the °ther trades, thus throw other fo 68 ouk work or force them to work lower pay. Their action injures others tito"6 than it benefits themselves, even for a ha Save in exceptional cases, no trade « s a greater right to adopt such a course 11an all other trades, and if all adopted it, Would be poor together.

^PJ'PICTAI. CONSIDRBATION.—Mrs Capstrings &<Jget, isn't that officer—asleep there ? Bridget: de 1.an' if he is, mum, it s not meself to be Uoyin> poor man a bit of shlape whoile doin' Ar ty" sew- Wickwirth Oh, by the way, I noticed you the clock ahead again this morning.— Wickwirth: Ye-es. "Is that for me to come th» to-night or for yourself to get up by in ^oruinw.'?"

THE NEW HOUSE OF COMMONS. Mr Lewis Appleton gives the following analy- sis of the constitution of the new House of Commons Of the 669 members returned, 452 were mem- bers of the late Parliament, and 217 may be con- sidered members who are new to Parliamentary life. One constituency only, the remote county of Orkney and Shetland, has yet to elect its representative, and, when done, this will com- plete the 670 members of the new Parliament of 1892. It is worthy of note, as almost unprece. dented, that m no constituency is a fresh election necessary arising out of the contests, whether through a double return or other causes and up to the present time Finsbury (Holborn) will be the first vacancy, arising from the elevation to the judicial bench of Mr Gainsford Bruce, its member. The following is an analysis of the various pro- fessions and mercantile positions of the 669 members elected Bankers and financiers, 21; barristers in or out of praetice, 143; brewers and distillers, 18; builders and architects, 2; colliery proprietors, 15 diplomatists, 8; engineers (civil and marine), 9; estate agents, accountants, &c., 6; farmers and agriculturists, 10; gentry and landowners, 83; ironmasters and metal merchants, 10; labour representatives, 15; manufacturers, 57 medical profession, 10; merchants, 55; ex-minister of religion, 1; newspaper proprietors and journalists, 35; peers' sons and brothers, 34 retired or out of business, 18; steamship and ship owners and builders, 19; solicitors in or out of practice, 21; stockbrokers, 4; University professors, 9; various trades and professions, 13-616. Army and navy list Captains, 20 colonels, 4 lieutenant generals, 3; lieutenant colonels, 8; lieutenants, 10; major general, 1; majors, 4; naval com- manders, 2; rear admiral, 1-53. Total, 669. In addition to the number of 53 officers elected to Parliament serving in the army and navy, there are also 52 officers in the Auxiliary forces, distributed among the Yeomanry, Militia, and Volunteers, and the total therefore is 105 of mili- tary men in Parliament. One or two features in the late elections deserve notice. The brewers and distillers have reduced the number of their representatives, as in the last Parliament their number was 24, and now, m consequence of deaths and resignations, it stands at 18. They are as follow:-J. T. Agg-Gardner, Cheltenham; Hon. Alfred N. Allsopp, Taunton Hon. G. H. Allsopp, Worcester; T. W. Boord, Greenwich Mark Beaufoy, Lambeth; H. C. 0. Bonsor, Wimbledon; Hamar A. Bass, West Staffordshire; Spencer Charrington, Mile End; C. H. Combe, Chertsey; Sidney Evershed, Burton; H. E. Hoare, Chesterton; F. Seager Hunt, Marylebone; Oliver M'Ewan, Edinburgh; Francis Taylor, South Norfolk; Thomas Usborne, Chelmsford Samuel Whitbread, Bedford Right Hon. J. Stansfeld, Halifax; Samuel Young, East Cavan. The representatives of labour have, notwith- standing the defeat and deaths of several, in- creased their number, and they are as follows Wm. Austin, Limerick, W.; Wm. Abraham, Rhondda Valley Joseph Arch, Norfolk, N.W.; Thomas Burt, Morpeth John Burns, Battersea W. R. Cremer, Haggerston Charlas Fenwick, Wansbeck George Howell, Bethnal Green J. Keir Hardie, West Ham Benjamin Pickard, Normanton James Rowlands, East Finsbury John Wilson, Houghton-le-Spring J. H. Wil- son, Middlesbrough S. Woods, Ince. The representatives in Parliament of the metro- politan and provincial Press have also increased their number, and the following are the principal journalists and newspaper proprietors in Parlia- ment :-Sir Algernon Borthwick, W. P. Byles, T. G. Bowles, Dr Cameron, J. H. Dalziel, W. A. Hunter, Louis J. Jennings, J. Henniker Heaton, W. J. Ingram, Henry Ls-lborabore, John Leng, Arnold Morley, Right Hen. John Morley, H. W. Paul, George Newnes, Sir Henry Meysey- Thompson, J. A. Picton, William Saunders, Samuel Storey, James Stuart, J. A. Willox, J. Carvell Williams. For Ireland J. J. Clancy, D. Cnlly, Michael Davitt, T. Harrington, L. P. Hayden, Justin M'Carthy, T. P. O'Connor, James O'Connor, W. O'Brien, Thomas Sexton, Donald Sullivan, T. D. Sullivan, James Tully. The tenant farmers have lost several by death and defeat, but they have filled up their ranks, and their number is nearly the same as in the last Parliament, and they are as follows :—Bernard Colliery, Robert Lacy Everett, J. Finucane, Patrick Fullam, D. Kilbride, P. J. Kennedy, P. Macdermott, George Lambert, J. Pinkerton, J. Roche. The medical profession has lessened the number of its representatives by six, the number in the last Parliament being 16, and now it is repre- sented by 10, viz. :-Dr Cameron, .or Clark, John Dillon, Dr Fox, Dr Foster, Dr Farquharson, Dr Kenny, Dr W. A. M'Donnell, Dr Donald MacGregor, Dr Tanner. The London Stock Exchange is represented by the following four members :-F. G. Banbury, B. L. Cohen, W. C. Quilter, H. S. Leon. Amongst the various religious denominations, the Society of Friends have the largest represen- tation in proportion to its numbers (13,000 members). Sixteen of its members were candi- dates for Parliament, of whom eight were elected, as follow :-John Albert Bright, John Emmott Barlow, John Edward Ellis, Theodore Fry, Sir Joseph Whitwell Pease, Henry Fell Pease, John Albert Pease, George W. Palmer. The eight candidates who were unsuccessful are as follow:- E. W. Brook, Lewis Fry, Jesse Herbert, Arthur Pease, H. J. Reckitt, Joshua Rowntree, J. Fyfe Stewart, J. T. Soutball. The Society of Friends appear to have adopted the maxim of one of its distinguished founders- William Penn—that the highest form of the Christian religion is to secure the good judgment of our country..

NAMES IN THE NEW HOUSE. A Tory of the Old School sends a classifica- tion of the new members of the House of Com- mons. It would indeed appear to be a representa- tive assembly There is a King, with his Chamberlain, a Temple, a Chaplin with three Crosses, a Clark, and Sexton. There is a Husband, but no wife. Although there are no daughters, there are a great number of sons—viz., Addison, Allison, Benson, Billson, Carson, Ferguson, Godson, Far- quharson, Hanson, Hudson, Hutchinson, Isaac- son Jackson, Kitson, Lawaon, Pearson, Richard- son! Robertson, Robinson, Wason, Samuelson, Saunderson, Stevenson, Tomlinson, Thompson, Williamson, Wilson, and Wnghtson. Of animals you have a Hare, a Roe, a Fox, and a Wolff. of birds, a Finoh and a Martin. You have a Dyke a Lough, a Gully, a Grove, a Hill, a Beach, a Heath, a Field, Woods, and a is a Hunter, a Fisher, and a Fowler. There is Broad, Round, and Little. There is Cream, Currie and Peel. r, Of colours you have Dunn, Browp, Gray, and ^Th^re is Young, but none admit being old. Of trades you have the following :—A Gardner, a Hosier, a Baker, a Potter, a Butcher, a Tanner, a Taylor, a Fletcher, a Fuller, and eight Smiths. You have the following Christian (and other) names .—Abraham, Allan, Ambrose, Benn, Bill, Caine, George Herbert, Owen, James, Paul, and You may also visit the following places Barrow, Banbnry, Buxton, Bolton, Bury, Carmar- then, Ross, Folkestone, Newark, Huntingdon, Sutherland, and Holland. --h_-

IT MIGHT HAVE BEEN. MRS PEOKHAM: This paper says that Harry Sharpe is worth two million dollars. Just to think! I refused to marry him once. HKNRY PBCKHAM (with a dark brown sigh): A."ers Some peoole have all the goO. tuck. ii

BILL NYE AND UNCLE. Bill Nye and Papa met the other day. says a Chicago exchange, and the heart of Chicago's pride was so full of thankfulness that he led a triumphal march into a new dispensary. Do you know, Mr Nye." said the old man, clashing his lemonade glass against that of the humourist's unassisted cocktail, that I always admired your writings, and were I other than I am I'd be signing myself Yours fraternally ?' Indeed and Nye glowed up at Anse be- nignly. Were I so situated as to warrant a I change of vocation I would make a frantic effort to get your job." "But," interjected Anse, switching his russet brown bead meditatively, the transition from humourist to first baseman is rather an awkward jump." There's where you are shy on mental pabulum, as we say in the higher classics," returned Nye. Ours are allied callings, and I consider you as much of a joke on first base as any I was ever accused of perpetrating." I wonder what that fellow meant by that re- mark," Uncle has been asking all day.

CAREFULLY EDUCATED.—A popular official in Washington once went fishing with a clergyman. Bites were plentiful, but the official seemed to get them all. The clergyman waited patiently, and at last was favoured with a nibble. Then the line parted and his hopes and part of his fishing tackle vanished simultaneously. He said nothing for almost a minute, although he looked unutter- able things then, turning to his friend, he re- marked,—" John, if my early education had been neglected, what do you suppose I should have said when that line broke ?" An Englishman and a German were travelling together in a diligence, and both were smoking. The German d'd all in his power to, draw his companion into conversation, but to no purpose at one moment he would, with a superabundance of politeness, apologise for drawing his attention to the fact that the ash of his eigar had fallen on his waistcoat, or a spark was endangering his neckerchief. At length the Englishman ex. claimed, Why the deuce can't you leave me alone ? Your coat-tail has been burning for the last ten minutes, but I didn't bother you about it."

ECHOES FROM THE CALENDAR. JULY. 31. SUNDAY.—/th Sutidav after Trinity. AUGUST. 1. MONDAY.—RINK Holiday. 2. TUESDAY.—Battle of Blenheim, 1704. Captain Marrvat died 1848. 3. WEDNESDAY.—Mr .Speaker Peel born 1829. George Canning died 1827. 4. THURSDAY.—Battle of Weissemhurg. 1870. 5. FRIDAY.—Admiral Lord Howe died 1799. 6. SATURDAY.—Duke of Edinburgh born, 1844. August. In the old Roman calendar August bore the name of Scxtilis, as the sixth month of the series, and consisted of but 29 days. Julius Caesar, in reforming the calendar of his nation, extended it to 30 days. When, not long after, Augustus conferred on it his own name, he took a day from February and added it to August, which has consequently ever since consisted of 31 days. This great ruler was born in September, and it might have been expected that he would take that month under his patronage but a number of lucky thing-s had happened to him in August, which, more- over, stood next to the month of his illustrious predecessor, Julius; so he preferred Sextilis as the month which should be honoured by bearing his name, and August it has ever since been among all nations deriving their civilisation from the Romans. Cosmo De Medici.. Cosmo De Medici died on August 1st at Florence in 14-64. Th" Florentine family of the Medici, which made itself in various ways so notable in the fifteenth, sixteenth, and seventeenth centuries, may be said to have been founded by Cosmo, who died in 1464. This gentleman, for he was of no higher rank, by commerce acquired wealth comparable to that of king?, which enabled him to be the friend of the poor, to enrich his friends, to ornament his native city with superb edifices, and to call to Florence the Greek savans chased out of Constantinople. His counsels were, during thirty years, the laws of the Republic, and his benefactions its sole intrigues. Florence, by common consent, inscribed his tomb with the nobie legend, "The Father of His Country." Captain Marry at. Frederick Marrvat, English novelist snd naval officer, was born in 1792. In 1806 he entered the Navy as midshipman on board the Imperieuse. commanded by the celebrated Cochrane, after- wards Lord Dundonald and having served with distinction and attained the rank of Captain, he retired in 1830. His first attempt in literature was made in 1829, by the publication of "Frank Mildmay." Its success led to an exten- sive series of works of the like kind, including "The King's Own," "Peter Simple," "Jacob Faithful," Japhet in Search of a Father," Mid- shipman Easy," "The Pacha of Many Tales," &c. He was also the author of a Code of Signals for the Merchant Service (1837). Cap- tain Marryat's novels are remarkable for broad humour and fidelity as regards sea life, but he cannot be said to be a great master of plot. He died at his residence, Laugham, Norfolk, in 1848. One of his daughters, Florence Marry a. t, has gained distinction as a novelist. George Canning. George Canning, the distinguished orator and statesman, was born in London in 1770, and educated at Eton and Oxford. He was first brought into Parliament by Pitt, in 1793, and in 1796 became Under-Secretary of State, In 1797 he projected with some friends the Anti- Jacobin," of which Gifford was appointed editor, and to which Canning contributed the Knife- grindgr "and other poems and articles. In l^fr unsupported Wilberforce's motion for the abolition of the slave trade. He was appointed Secretary of State for Fore-Igu Affairs in the Portland administration in 1807, and was slightly wounded in a duel with Lord Castlereagh, arising out of a dispute which occasioned the dissolution, of the Ministry. In 1810 he opposed the reference of the Catholic claims to the committee of the whole House, on the ground that no security or engagement bad been offered by the Catholics, but supported in 1812 and 1813 the motion which he had opposed in 1810. In 1814 he was appointed Minister to Portugal, and remained abroad about two years. He refused to take any part in the proceedings against the Queen, and in 1822, having been nominated Governor- General of India, he was on the point of embark- ing when the death of Castlereagh called him to the Cabinet as Foreign Secretary. One of his earliest acts in this situation was to check the French influence in Spain. He continued to sup- port the proposition in favour of Catholic Emancipation, arranged the Triple Alliance for the preservation of Greece, but opposed Parlia- mentary reform and the Test and Corporation Acts. On April 12, 1827, his appointment to be Prime Minister was announced, but his Adminis- tration was terminated by his death on the 8th August following. On all the leading political questions he was a Tory with the two exceptions of the Catholic Emancipation and the recogni- tion of the South American Republics.

THE WEATHER AND THE CROPS. Many Kent and Sussex farmers have arranged to begin wheat cutting on August 1st, and a fort- night later the wheat harvest will probably be in progress in the great granary counties of Lincoln and Norfolk. Owinar to the short, strong straw and the upright state of the fields, the harvest this year will be less expensive than usual, and it should be rapid. Early oats have already been cut in parts of Sussex and Hampshire. With regard to trade, the stand which farmers made when the value of English wheat had fallen below 30s proved fully justified, and millers are now more ready buyers at a 30s level than are farmers sellers. Foreign wheat has advanced Is per qr. at a number of important markets. including Liverpool, Soton, Plymouth, Wake- field, Hull. Ipswich, Leeds, and Bristol, but not more than 6d advance has been quotable at Mark- lane, Birmingham, Glasgow, Edinburgh, Man- chester, Rochester, or Newcastle. At the Baltic barley cargoes have attracted a fair amount of attention at improved value, and oats have been a fairly good trade but linseed, owing to heavy shipments from India, have lost 6d on the week. -Mark-lane Expres?.

D filS I ART. TOMMY: Su.y, Tubby, wanter join our theatri- cals? TUBBY (delighted): You bet I do. TOMMT All right; come round to the barn to- night. We're going to play "A Moonlight Crime," an' we want you t' stick your head up over a fence. TUBBY: What for ? TOMMY: Th' moon.

Father So May referred you to me. eh ? Well, sir, so you drink ?—Suitor Er—some- times.—Father This is some time. Come out with me. It's no harm breaking a New Year's pledge to toast your daughter's happiness. ON Top ONCE MOKK.—" You niver told me yer husband wor a sailor, Mrs Donahue"—" Yis he's just been around the worruld."—" Cleara round to China an' the opposite side, was he ?"- To be sure. Worra, but it must be aisy he feels to get up here on top wanst more. A REGULAR SAMSON.—Sumway Staggers is a very strong man, isn't he?—Snooper: He is. You know what kind of whisky he drinks?- Yes. Well, I've seen him hold his breath. Slimdiet How much board did Higgins pay you last night 'Mrs Slimdiet How did you know he paid anyth-ng?-Sliindiet He kicked at every disi) set before him at breakfast. A CONFUSION OP TERMS.—Aunt Jemima: What's them air stuns in yer winder ?—Jeweller Quartz.—Aun t Jemima: Come, naow; yer tryin' ter fool me. They ain't half ftpint on 'em.

GOSSIPS' CORNER. I The Duke of Devonshire was b9 years of age oa Saturday. Wiltshire has again that unwelcome visitor, the diamond-back moth. South America sends annually to Europe mil- lions of pounds of unsheHed coffee. Liverpool will have its overhead railway in working order at the end of October. The death is announced of Mr Charles Jones, R.C.A., the well-known animal painter. Mr Andrew D. White has been appointed United States Minip.ter at St. Petersburg. There are a number of young people from Porthcawl working a.t Messrs Carnegie's works at Homestead. According to a private letter received in Ham- burg, Emin Pasba is still living, and is in the region of the lakes. Never be cast down by trifles. If a spider breaks his thread 20 times, 20 times will he mend it again. Make up your mind to do a thing, and you will do it. The prompter of a Paris theatre died tie other night while sitting in his box. It was not known that he was dead till, one of the artistes for- getting a line, attention was directed to him. Telegraph messengers in Tokio are now mounted on bicycles to ensure the rapid delivery of their missives. Tlte hint is woroh taking in the West. I V erài's new opera, Fais will be produced at the Milan Scala early in the autum season. The composer has just been to Milan to sign the con- tract. Cyclists may care to know that G. P. Mills, the famous road rider, thinks that under favourable conditions 400 miles should be covered in 24 hours on the road. All who have been in contact with Mr Glad- stone since he left Midlothian bear testimony (says the Speaker) to the buoyancy of his spirits and to the courage and confidence with which he is facing the future." The automatic machine by which you can pro- cure a postage stamp and an envelope for a penny at any hour of the day or of the night is expected to prove a great public boon. So far it has been wonderfully successful. Hugh O'Donne'.], leader of the Homestead workmen, is represented as being a stalwart, handsome, tastefully attired young fellow. He is very popular among the men, and if he is con- victed it is feared trouble will ensue. Whf-n in January, 1770, Lord North had Y, obtained a majority of 40 after a debate in the House of Commons. George III. wrote to him A very handsome majority-a, very favourable auspice on your taking thelead in administration." The, national memorial to the late Czar is now being erected at the Kremlin. It consists of a square building in semi-Byzantine. semi-Italian style to match its surroundings, and will contain a colos-sal bronze statue of Alexander II. in his coronation robes. Copyright has expired on eight of Charles Dickens's books the Pickwick Papers," "DomJDey and Son," Martin Chuzzlewit," "Barn.-a.by Rudge," "Nicholas Nicideby," Sketches by Boz," The Old Curiosity Shop," and Oliver Twist." Coaching is becoming more and more popular in France. A regular English mail-coach between Paris arid Trouville has just made its trial trip with gret success, completing the distance of 136 miles in 10 hours and 40 minutee. The horses were changed 13 times. The u,.evi, president of the Methodist Free Church Connexion, the Rev John Truscott, is the brotb er of the Rev Thomas Truscott, who sacrificed his life labouring among the freed slaves in Sierra. Leone-ttlat white man's grave." The Marquis of Bute has purchased Mr W. G. Miller's large water-colour in the Academy of An Anxious Moment." The subject is that of a girl who is holding aloft her little brother, tO ensure his safety from the questionable attentions V of some wandering geese. Miss Mclntyre, the prima donna, who was invited to sing before the Queen at Windsor the other day, and who was presented by her Majesty I with a diamond and sapphire brooch, is a quiet Scotch girl in.-everyday life. She is the daughter of General John Mclntyre, and the niece of Gen. ¡ Donald Mclntyre, V.C. In a Midland constituency, during the progress I of the recent election, a man drove about daily in a donkey cart, his hat being decorated with blue favours and the donkey with yellow. On being asked what bis political opinions were, he promptly remarked, "I am a Liberal, but," pointing significantly to the donkey," be is a Tory he doesn't know better." In Mind inac, the farthest south-eastern island in the Phillippme group, upon one of its mouft tains, the volcanic Apo, a party of botanical and ethnograpbical explorers have found, at a height of 2,500ft. above the sea level, a colossal flower. It is a five-petaled flower nearly a yard in dia. meter—as large as a carriage wheel, in fact. This enorrrtous blossom was borne on a aort of vine ereepictg on the ground. The natives call it a "bolo." By the death of the wife of Captain W. Parker Snow at the age of 75, at Bexley Heath, there is removed frcm our midst one who was undoubtedly the first white woman who landed and lived in the once dreaded Tierra del Fuego and about Cape Horn at the extreme Gf South America. Mrs Parker Snow, by her brave, courageous, and dauntless spirit, in combination with her kindly tact, won the hearts of the savage natives, and was enabled to give her husband great assistance in opening out that region, and in paving the way to a now prosperous and wealthy South American Missionary Society. Archbishop Stonoc, who has been deputed by the Pope to convey the pallium to England for the new Catholic Archbishop of Westminster, arrived in London on Monday. The authorities at the Pro-Cathedral have been informed that the Pope had personally entrusted Archbishop Stonor with a document of particular interest to the Anglo-Catholic world. In this his Holi- ness dwells on the great significance of the pallium—a gift from the Apostle's tomb to the English Metropolis-and refers in an interesting manner to what are described as the more encouraging aspects of Catjholic life in England. Mr F. J. Smith, of Trinity College, Oxford, has devised an ingenious method of ascertaining at a distance the height to which a. river rises. An organ pipe was inverted in the river at the point where the depth of water was to be gauged, so that the rising or sinking of the water regu- ated the length of the sounding portion of the pipe, and hence the pitch of the note. The pipe was sounded by means of a water wheel, and. the note was conveyed to the observer by a tele- phone. To find the depth of water corresponding to the note a similar organ pipe was inverted in water at the observing station, and lowered until it gave the same note.

A SATURDAY SERMON. Even the most intimate friendship repose eg the tacit compact that the pride of the one has made with the pride of the other. It is under- stood that each must sacrifice to the pride of his friend a part of his sincerity, his liberty of judg- ment, and his amour propre, and that the sacri- fices are to be equal. The attention of both is continually directed to keeping the balance even. It is a work that is constantly going on in every conversation between two friends, and that reveale, itself during very brief pauses in which each rapidly calculates if he is the debtor or creditor with a furtive glance, by which he seeks to reaa in the face of the other if he is satisfied with the recompense he has had, or if he expects some- thing more. It is an uninterrupted succession oi slight, involuntary offences, ready reparations of skilful parrying, of momentary resentments and I instantaneous reconciliations—a game of fencing carried on by pride, so rapid, and made with. strokes so subtle, as to be invisible to a third person, however acute an observer he may be. Gmqms tiuoz.

I WELSH GLEANINGS. By Liofrwr. I A Welsh Sculptor. The Saturday Review, in an article upon Tho Sculpture of 1892," on exhibition at the Royal Academy, makes a reference of much local interest. Our contemporary, after dwelling upon Mr Gilbert's work,continues Next comes, we have no hesitation in saying, the Old Woman." of Mr Goscombe John, with the modelling of which it would be exceedingly (tifficult to find any reasonable fault. This is work not quite so brilliant as Mr Gilbert's, but not a whit less accomplished." Very high praise for the local sculptor. A Welshman at the Cape. The whole of the northern system of the Cape railways has been placed under the management of Mr T. R. Price, one of the ablest, and at the same time one of the most courteous, railway officials in South Africa. Not long ago the Cape was in very bad odour in the Transvaal. Since Mr Price has taken up his residence in the Re- public, and has moved about in his quiet way at Pretoria, Johannesburg, and the Free State capital, Bloemfontein, it is as though a magician's wand or a hypnotiser's hand had been waved over the scene. All the business people have become Capophile. Some idea of the importance of Mr Price's position and the magnitude of the Cape railway system may be gathered from the fact that it is over a thousand miles by rail, in a direct line, from Cape Town to Johannesburg. Yet the emigrant from England to Cape Town is often asked to "Remember me to So-and-So at Johannesburg Et Caetera. Wales," laments the Tory Standard, seems given over to a sour and jealous political Noncon- formity." Archdeacon Howell, of Wrexham, spent half an hour at the bedside of the Rev Edward Matthews before he left Pencoed for his North Wales home. Capt. Van Sfcraubanzee, South Wales Borderers, has been selected to succeed Capt. Barter, Lin- colnshire Regiment, as instructor of military topography at the Royal Military College. The post is worth £ 570 per annum. Dr Jones, Bishop of Newfoundland, lost every- thing he possessed by the recent great fire at St. John's, Newfoundland. He just escaped being burnt to death in his own house, and had to borrow clothes from a less unfortunate neighbour, so he writes to friends in England. Mr Ben Davies made his demi-debut on Satur- day evening at Drury Lane in Faust, scoring one of the greatest successes of the season, the truth and dignity of his voice being remarkable, and as a lady tersely put it, Far ahead of most of those wobbling Italians." Out of five medals awarded by the Royal College of Surgeons, Edinburgh, for distinction in anatomy, four were carried off by Welshmen, the first year's medal going to Mr Samuel Jones, the second year's to Mr L. Tyrer Jones, and the seniors' medals to Mr R. Owen Morris, M.A., and Mr T. Forcer Williams. The following six members of the new Parlia- ment were educated at Shrewsbury School :-Mr Cyril Dodd,* Q. C. (Essex, Maldon), Mr Frank Edwards (liaduorahire), Mr J. T. Hibberll (Old- ham), Mr R. J. More (Shropshire, Ludlow), Mr Orborne Morgan, Q.C. (E. Denbighshire), and Colonel T. M. Sandys (Lancashire, Bootle). Mr Clement Higgins, the new Liberal member for Mid-Norfolk, was among those whose names were submitted to the Carnarvon Boroughs Liberal Association, when Mr Lloyd George was selected as candidate about three years ago. Mr Higgins was born in 1844, and is the youngest son of the late Mr William M. Higgins; of Wrexham, Denbighshire. Mr Higgins was called to the Bar at the Inner Temple in 1871, and selected North Wales, Chester, and Glamorgan- shire Circuit. He was appointed Recorder of Birkenhead in 1882, and became Queen's Counsel in 1886.

The Household. Old Age. Beautiful, is old age—beautiful as the slow. dropping mellow autumn of a rich, glorious summer. In the old man Nature has fulfilled her work; she loads him with blessings she fills him with the fruit of a well-spent life; and, surrounded by his children and his children's children, she rocks him softly away to a grave to which he is followed with blessings. God forbid we should not call it beautiful. It is beautiful, but not the most beautiful. There is another life, hard, rough, and thorny, trodden with bleeding feet and aching brow, the life of which the Cross is the symbol; á battle which no peace follows this side the grave; which the grave gapes to finish before the victory is won and-strange that it should be so -this is the highest life of man. Look back along the great names of history there is none whose life has been other than this. They to whom it has been given to do the really highest work in this earth —whoever they are, Jew or Gentile, Pagan or Christian, warriors, legislators, philosophers, priests, poets, kings, slaves-one and all, their fate has been the same—the same bitter cup has been given to them to drink. J. A. FROUDE. Hints. HASHED POTATOES.—Cut the potatoes as for a pie; put them in a pan with a little chopped onion, pepper, and salt; add a little butter, allowing about oz. to each pound of potatoes, and half-pint of water; cover the pan and let them stew moderately about 30 or 35 minuies. STUFFED CABBAGE.—Take a fine white-heart cabbage, remove the outside leaves, and plunge into boiling water for 10 minutes. This will make the leaves easily parted. Make a min-e of beef with ham,seasoned with any herbs obtainable, stuff between the leaves that can be loosened, tie in a cloth, and plunge into a pot of fresh boiling water. Half an hour will cook it, and the result will be a most appetising dish. RICE CROQUETTES.—Moisten cold rice in warm milk. To a pint of rice add one beaten egg, a small lump of butter, and a little salt. The mix- ture should be thoroughly heated and then cooled, after which it may be pressed into any desired shape, rolled first in egg-batter and in bread- crumbs Immerse in hot lard or drippings for one minute and a half. Drain on brown paper before serving.. OATMEAL DRINK.—The following drmk, per- haus will suit your men. It has been much appreciated in the harvest-field, and is in all probability the same as, or similar to, that used bv the navvies in the work referred to by you:- lib of coarse meal mixed with two quarts of boiling water into a thin batter, stirring it briskly to prevent its getting lumpy; fill up with two gallons of water. Let this settle, or strain it off into another vessel. This will keep two days. RHUBARB JELLy.l'ake rhubarb stalks, wipe clean peel and cut into inch pieces. To each pound of fruit add %lb of white sugar, put it on and boil until the juice is well drawn. Strain into preserving kettle, boil quickly until it clings to the spoon; skim well and put in mould or jelly-glasses. Use no water. POTATO SOUP.-{1) Of butter !/4 lb., 3 large onions peeled and sliced small; stew in a stewpan until brown stir frequently. When ready, have peeled 3 or 4 dozen of medium sized white pota- toes, slice them into the stewpan with the onions and butter. Pour sufficient boiling water over for the amount of soup desired. them boil for two hours, and then strain through asieve into a soup tureen. Season with salt and pepper. (2) For potato soup, or puree rather, boil five medium-sized potatoes and one onion together until the potatoes are ready to tall to pieces. Drain well, sprinkle with salt. Have the hot stock skimmed., Then rub the potatoes through a colander into the hot stock, and, to make it smoother, stir in one or two tablespoonfuls of flour blended smoothly in a little cold water. Add a teaspoonful of chopped parsley and other seasoning if desired. PRESSED CHICKEN.-Boil a chicken until very tender so that the meat will slip off the bones easily salt while cooking. Remove from the stove and pick up the chicken very fine, mixing the light and dark meat in the dish m which you mould it. Put the bones back in the water and boil until there is only a cupful of the liquid pour this over your meat, mixing well. and add a little salt if necessary. Place an inverted plate over it and a weight to keep it in place. Keep this in a cool place until leady to use, then slice with a sharp kirife-

British Dairy Farming. BY PROFESSOR J. P. SHELDON. THE BEST B.REEDS OF DAIRY CATTLE. Charles Dickens once said that if mankind were to return to the worship of animals, the cow would become the chief divinity. In this beautiful way he gave expression to the high estimation in which the cow is nowadays held by most civilised nations—certainly by all the most pro- gressive of civilised nations—and who shall say that the great humourist's idea is altogether improbable ? It may be said, in any case, of all the species in the animal world, that which is represented by the cow is one we could least afford to do without; it follows, to say the least, that we are bound to entertain a good deal of respect for the animal which is incalculably valu- able to the human race; and wo may venture to admit a bit of willing sympathy with the man, whoever he may have been, who is traditionally said to haye "kissed his cow." Milk-yielding Capacity. One of the most remarkable facts in connection with pedigree cattle breeding, during the last fifteen or twenty years, is the superior value which is now accorded to the milk-yielding capacity of cows, as compared with the beginning of the period. Up to the" seventies" milk was regarded as of quite secondary, and now it is of primary, importance. In nearly all of the leading pedigree herds of Short- horns, for example, milk was deliberately sacri- ficed to other qualities—to beauty of form, early maturity, aptitute to fatten, and so on—in order to develop and strengthen these, as it was thought. No doubt the expanding railway milk trade, which has grown to such enormous dimensions during the last 15 years, and the advent of cheese factories, which occurred in 1871, had a good deal of infiuenco in bringing about the change I have alluded to in favour of milk as the chief aim and purpose of a cow's existence. But earlier still it began to be sus- pected that we had been breeding our aristocratic shorthorns too much away from milk, and the milk trade a.nd the cheese factories brought out and emphasised a very practical expression of that suspicion. For, after all, it is the dairy farmers on whom shorthorn breeders depend to buy a good many of their young bulls. It is not egotism on our part to say that no other country can pretend to possess breeds of dairy cattle equal to those which are natives of the British Isles. If there were other breeds elsewhere as good, or nearly as good, as the half- dozen of our own that we are properly and reasonably proud of, it is tolerably certain that we should have given them a trial long ago, and should have kept them if they were worth keeping. Not that we are dissatified with our own, or that we should like to change them for others; it is simply because if there is anything good in the animal world, in any country, we like to have it for sake of comparison no less than for love of variety. Speaking personally, I may say that I have not, in any country near to us,—in France, or Holland, or Germany, or Switzerland, or Belgium,—seen dairy cows that took my fancy very much and that only in the magnificent valley of Pezcuco, wherein stands the interesting city of Mexico, have I seen a breed of cattle that I would like to possess. These were polled cattle, quite as variously coloured as any of our own breeds, and more so than most of them, well-formed animals, and apparently good milkers;' but, as they are natives of a tropical country, in a valley whose climate is no less charming than the scenery is delightful, it may be expected that they would not easily suit themselves to the damp and cold of the British islands. The Shorthorns. Though I am free to admit that quantity and quality of milk form the chief duties of a dairy cow, there are other qualities which must also be taken into consideration. We want a cow to give good milk and plenty of it; but when her career at the milking pail is oyer, we want her to convert herself as quickly as she conveniently can into a big and good carcase of beef for the butcher and so shall her days be speedily and pleasantly ended, for she knows not anything of the future. What we want of her is to yield plenary profit, alike in her life and in her death, —to give us liquid milk as long as she can, and solid flesh when she oannot. And henoe it is that the Shorthorns are regarded as, on the whole, the best dairy cows the world has so far produced, although our American friends aver that they are not dairy cattle at all, but beef cattle; which is mere fun, on the face of it. Take into consideration milk only, if you like, and objure everything else; there are the Shorthorns open to be whipped" by several breeds that are not much more than half as big as they. And, indeed, taking all qualities into con- sideration, the question of size of animal and of the food she eats should be regarded along with the milk she gives. Where milk can be sold at fourpence a. quart, and a cow is kept five or six years in the dairy, it may be said that the smaller breeds would not be behind the bigger ones in profit to the farmer, even though as butcher's beasts they are not worth more than half as much. But then, it commonly happens that a. cow runs barren after one or two seasons of milking, and here it is that the bigger breeds are seen to the greatest advantage. In the old days, when the collings, and May- nards, and Kilbanks, and Hutcbinsons, and a hundred others perhaps, were breeding improved "Durhams," copious milking was held to be im- portant, and the old Teeswaters of two or three centuries ago were celebrated for yielding larger quantities of milk than any other breed yet known in these islands. An ancient record is said to be still preserved in Durham, and to state that cattle of great excellence existed in the county as long ago as the middle of the fifteenth century. The cattle alluded to were progenitors of the Shorthorns which have become famous the world over in our own time. High up in the north east tower of Durham Cathedral, outside, there is the statute of an unmistakeable Shorthorn cow, with the milk- maids standing by. The original statue dated from about the year 1300, and the tradition attaching to it relates to the monks of old, who, when lost, were directed on their way to Dun- holme—near Durham—by the dairymaids, when they were taking the body of St. Cuthbert for re-interment where the cathedral now stands. The statue was put in from gratitude to the dairymaids, whose cows had strayed to Dun- holme. It can hardly have been from an unde- signed development of the lacteal organs that these ancient cattle should have given a copious wealth of milk for it is generally accepted that such a departure from what is known to be general with wild herds of cattle, and with not a few tame ones, is a natural function artificially developed. Nor can it have been, when the Shorthorns of old roamed wild in the forests and vales of the northern counties of England, a question of climatic requirements on the part of the offspring, for this would tell with greater force in Scotland, none of whose original breeds have been much celebrated for milk. In- deed, in view of the modern fact that fashionable Shorthorns have been so far bred away from milk that wet-nurses were required for their calves, we may reasonably infer that as the milk-yielding capacity of a breed of cows can be diminished by the control of man, so can it be developed when an opposite line of conduct is pursued. But it must be remembered that neither can it be diminished nor developed in one generation, or two, or even in three or four, to such an extent as to entitle it to be regarded as hereditary. Milk versus Beef. The ancient reputation for milk which the Shorthorns possessed belongs to a period when beef was at present Australian prices, when milk was the chief merit of a cow, when professional graziers did not exist, when barren cows were worth next to nothing in the spring time of the year, and when beef was not by any means so general an article of food as it has become in our own days. It is, indeed, owing to the steady and rapid increase of wealth among the mining and manufacturing populations of these islands, that the flesh of cattle became so general and popular an article of food, and tbat,consequently, cows were endowed with great potential profit other than that of milk. And so it came to pass that milk relatively went down in the estimation of breeders, and beef went up. But a turn of the tide set in when the great trade in American beef was developed with startling suddenness in this country, and it was seen to have been a mistake to have let the shorthorns fall so far away from milk. The mistake was brought home somewhat unpleasantly to the breeders, when dairy farmers wanted pedigree bulls from herds whose cows were known to be good milkers, j and looked askance at those that were not. And so it is that now-a-days milking properties are being carefully cultivated in all breeds of cows that have any serious claim to be considered dairy cattle at all. This is, of course, as it should always have been—as it indeed was, in the old days of the shorthorns. And as this most famous and most valuable of all breed is well known to be suscep- tible of a high lacteal development, there can be ll10 doubt that the property will be developed y w<vfe. aforefci»nei be-.

The Welsh Members. Mr Stuart Rendel. A day with Mr Gladstone," Paid Mr Stuart Rendel to his constituents the other day, "is a Liberal education." If so, Mr Rendel should be one of the most liberally educated men among us; for he has of late years devoted most of his time, and some of his fortune, to making a home for Mr Glad. stone under the same roof with himself. Herein was a patri- otic plot. The great ".rory hope of late lyears has been to Jlive down Mr Glad- stone. Mr Rendel set himself — eays the Pall Mall Gazette— to frustrate their knavish tricks bv taking Mr Gladstone's comfort and health under his charge-not only at Carlton-gardens On the house which Mr Rendel bought from Lord ipon), but in Lady Strangford's old villa, near Naples, and at Valescure, on the Riviera; aud Mr Rendel has now the credit of having turned out his grand -old charge a younger man than ever. It was Air Rendel's victory in 1880 in Montgomeryshire—a county which had been in the pocket of the Wynns of Wynnstay for half a century-which first brought him into political notice. He was selected to move the Address, and he gradually assumed a prominent position among the Welsh Liberals. He is president of the North Wales Liberal Federation. Before taking to politics, Mr Rendel was an engineer. He joined Sir William Armstrong's engineering firm in 1870; was for some time its managing partner, and is still a director. He was born in 1834, and educated at Eton and Oriel College, Oxford. One of his daughters recently married Mr Gladstone's son Henry. Mr J. H. Roberts. Mr John Herbert Roberts, M.A. (Trinity College, Cambridge), J.P. for Denbighshire, is the eldest son of Mr John Roberts. late M.P. for Flint Borough, and the author of the Welsh Sunday-closing Act. Wealthy, cultured, much- travelled, and, for his years, experienced in affairs, he is a capital specimen of the earnest young men to whom Wales IS wisely turning for repre- sentatives. His family have resided in the county which he now represents for nearly fifty years; Liberals and Nonconformists to the core; and from the moment he was induced to stand against Colonel Cornwallis West, those who knew the country best bad no misgivings as to the result. Mr Roberts has travelled in America, the East, and Australia, and is a partner in the Liverpool firm established by his grandfather. He is a magistrate for Denbighshire, a member of the County Council, and treasurer of the Bangor Normal College. He is 28 and unmarried. Mr T. E. Ellis. When Mr T. E. Ellis went to Parliament six years ago there were some who prophesied that he would be the "Parmll of Wales." That particular title to fame is perhaps less envied at the present moment than when the prediction was made, but Mr T. E. Ellis has certainly gone some way to create a, young Wales parby, and he flight have gone farther but tor some unavoidable checks, and especial- ly severe illness. His programme on land and Church is Wales for the Welsh. Mr T. E. Ellis is 32 years old, the son of a tenant farmer in Merionethshire, edu- cated at Bala College and University College,- Aberystwyth. He was originally intended for the Methodist ministry, but went up to New College, Oxford (where he distinguished himself considerably) then took to politics as private secretary of Mr Brunner, and finally won his Merionethshire seat from the Tories. His constitu- ents and friends recently presented him with a purse of £ 1,000 on his recovery from a severe illness. lie is a good Radical and a frequent contributor to the Welsh press. Mr Lloyd George. Mr Lloyd George, is the member for the Carnar- von Boroughs. He is 29 years of age. The Lon- don Echo, recently writing on. Mr Lloyd George, said "Mr. Lloyd George seems to have done very well, and he has brought to Westminater a pleasant, well-dressed personality. He is a Baptist, a temperance lecturer, and, like Mr Samuel Evans, is also animated by a keen desire to 'further the interest of the Church,' and, I suppose, defend the wayward thing against her- self. Mr Lloyd George was entrusted with the responsibility of moving the rejection of Lord Salisbury's Bill, and he did it so well that Mr Gladstone did him the honour of smashing and pulverising him." But just as thePhcenix pos- sesses the legendary power of burning itself alive again, Mr Gladstone by his flagellation really emboldened Mr Lloyd George to "go for "the Bill, and the manner in which the hon. gentleman has wisked new amendments out of the ashes of old and rejected ones is quite worthy of some Parliamentary Mr. Maskelyne. Mr S. T. Evans. Mr S. T. livans, the member for Mid- Glamorgan. is a prominent member of the Young Wales group, who played a very active part in the opposition to the Clergy Discipline Bill. By profession he is a solicitor in the Vale of Neath, and is supposed to be an adept at mining lav/ He is tall, broad-chested, and athletic, and has a bright and breezy presence which conciliates even when he is least conciliatory. He is a good speaker, and in his brief Parliamentary career has acquired quite a polished House of Commons manner. He has been very useful and persistent in his criticism of Lord Halsbury's County-court appointments. He is a Congregationalist and a strong Disestablisher, but he explained to the House that his attitude on the Clergy Discipline Bill was purely in the interests of the Church. Mr C. M. Warmington. The career of Mr Cornelius Marshall Warming- ton, Q.C., the popular member for West Mon- mouthshire, who was educated at a private school in Colchester and at Univesity College, London, is just that of a successful barrister. He had the good sense to be a solicitor beforo he went to *the bar, and his Q.C.-ship was a stepping stone to the House of Commons. He joined the Oxford Circuit, took ailk three years ago, has just been made a Bencher of his inn (Middle Temple), and is now 50. Mr Samuel Smith. Mr Samuel Smith, member for Flintshire, com- menced business as a cotton broker in Liverpool in 1860, founding the firm of Smith, Edwards and Co., and in 1864 formed that of James Finlay and CO.ç merchants. Retired in 1883. He was some years a member of the Corporation, was President of the Chambers of Commerce in 1876, and is well known for his active interest in many works of philanthropy. In particular, he is an authority on the boarding-out of pauper children, and he took a prominent part in the crusade for the protection of women. He has also attempted to wake the conscience of the House to the national dangers of the sale of immoral and criminal literature among the young. On all these sub- jects Mr Smith is heard with great respect in a small House. Mr Smith was educated at the University of Edinburgh; is a magistrate of the stewartry of Kirkcudbright, where he was bDr3j4 and married a Scotch wife. He is 59. Mr W. R. Morgan Davies., Mr William Rees Morgan Davies, member for Pembrokeshire, is the eldest son of the ex-member, who had represented this county for many years. He was educated at Eton and Trinity Hall, Cambridge, where he was a frequent speaker at the Union. His father being a solicitor, he very sensibly took to the Bar, and he is on the South Wales Circuit. He is a Congregationalist. Mr Rees Davies is 28, and A-member of the Eighty Club. (To be ton$lvtie&.)

FARM AND GARDEN. Improving Land. It is no new fact m agriculture that by judicious pasturing with sheep the fertility may be restored to impoverished land, whether arable or pasture. It has been known for centuries that sheep clean foul pastures of pestiferous weeds, and put the land in heart again for the production of crops, but to bring this about their food must not consist only of the herbage which they find. They must have, in addition to grass, a daily ration of more nutritious feeding-stuff, which, by enriching their droppings, in turn enriches the land on which they graze. One of the feeding-stuffs which has for years been much used for this purpose is oil cake, the refuse linseed from which the oil has been extracted by hydraulic pressure. The cale is ground fine, and fed in troughs to the sheep in the field. As regards this subject, several queries naturally suggest themselves to thoughtful farmers. Among them, if it be profit- 0 able to enrich the land on which sheep feed by supplementing grass with a rich ration, is not the practice equally good with cattle at pasture ? What constituents of the extra ration are those most needed in the manure in order that the fertility of the soil shall be most increased by the droppings ? What proportion of these consti- tuents go to build up the animal, to improve it in flesh, to increase its yield of milk, &c., and what escapes in the manure, whether solid or liquid ? Obviously the replies to these queries must vary with the several classes of Jive stock, and with every variety of feeding stuff. The digestion of linseed-cake by sheep differs from that by cattle, and the proportion of the nutritive constituents of that food taken up by either class of animals is not the same as that which it gets from cotton or other cakes. Here we obtain a glimpse of the great amount of care, time, and labour necessary in the prosecution of digestion experiments, before all the practical questions in the economy of stock-feeding can be definitely settled. And the further we look, the more deeply shall we be impressed with the sense of our obligations to the body of scientists who are devoting themselves to this line of research. Their general methods of conducting their investigations is to feed a care- fully-weighed quantity of food of known composition to determine how much of each nutrient is eaten, and to con- tinue this feeding until all residues of previous foods have been eliminated from the system then to collect all the manure carefully for several days, weigh and analyse it, and to compute from the data thus obtained how much of each nutrient passes through the animal undigested. The difference between this amount and that eaten gives the amount digested. We omit details, and confine ourselves to this state- ment, believing that the reader will more easily comprehend the general principles upon which such investigations are conducted. Among the most interesting recent results reported are those which relate to the digestibility of cotton-seed husks and cotton-seed meal. The former, about as valuable as wheat straw, was used as coarse fodder, with which the meal was mixed in the proportion of one to seven. Previous trials had shown that the husks alone were not a maintaining ration cattle fed on them lost flesh. More nitrogen and phosphoric acid were found to be excreted than had existed in the food eaten in that time. When the mixture, consist- ing of 121b. of cotton-seed meal and 841b. of ground husks for each animal was substituted for four days after feeding as above, the reverse was the case, and the animals gained weight. Over [1 per cent. of the nitrogen alid phosphoric acid, and nearly 66 per cent. of the potash in the food eaten were excreted and recovered in the manure. How much this will affect fertility when persisted in may easily be estimated when we know that of the 961b. of the mixture of cotton-seed meal and husks fed to an animal in four days, 1-351b. was nitrogen, '471b. phosphoric acid, and 158ib. potash.—Farm and Home. Chrysanthemums. All plants should havereceived their final shift by this time. But good plants may yet be made if any amateur cares to take the trouble to pot up any remnants he may have at once. Plants of this description will make very useful ones for beautifying the conservatory during November. Growers of exhibition flowers will find plenty of work to do now. Whore their favotirities are making growth see that the shoots are carefully tied out, as this will allow the air to circulate freely between the growth, and at the same time the wood will ripen much better. This is most essential to the development of high-class flowers. Where the first break has not yet been made, and this follows the appearance of the first bud, take the point of the shoot out, and this will induce growths to proceed from the axils of the leaves. Unless this is done at once tbe chance of ever getting a bud to appear in time to properly develop itself is very remote indeed. Do not let more than three or four of the strongest shoots remain on the plants if they are expected to pro- duce exhibition blooms. It a large quantity of bloom is desired the tips of the shoots should be pinched out, but this operation should not be delayed beyond the present week. Remove all growths from the base of the plants, as they weaken the vigour considerably. Keep a sharp look-out for insect pests. Dust the points of the shoots with tobacco power occasionally, or use soapsuds, and this will prevent the depredations of a little insect which, as a rule, at this time bores immediately under the point of the shoots and renders the plant almost useless. Keep the plants just moist. Never water unless it is abso- lutely needed, otherwise the plant will in appear- ance be very sickly, and no good blooms can possibly result from them. Vegetable Garden. Sow cabbages for spring use.. Ellam's Early, Enfield Market, and Wheeler's Imperial are good varieties. Every large seed grower has his own pet sort, but all have been selected from the same variety in the past. There is a good deal in selection, even in cabbages; but one does not want cabbages to turn in all at once, hence it is as well to grow at 'least two varieties. As a rule, cabbages sown at the same time from the same packet of seed will give a succession ex- tending over months. This is well for the private grower, but is not so well for the grower for market, as the earlier and more together thev come the better it is. It is possible by selection to have cabbages come in nearly together when it is desirable to do so, and those who wish for this usually save their own seed from selected plants, and if this is followed up for a few years cabbages may be grown as near alike as peas. Sow plenty of brown cos lettuce and green-curled endives • the autumn and early winter salads will be taken from the plants sown now. Tomatoes are ripen- ing well now in the open air.Gardening lihvi- trated. Window Boxes. Well-filled window boxes contribute so much to the adornment of the dwellIng-house, that every effort should be made to maintain the plants with which they are occupied in the best possible con- dition. Regular watering is a matter of prime importance, for a few days' neglect now will not make any decided mark on them, as an immediate result, but it will be sure nevertheless. When they are again watered and appear to have recovered from the distress, they will suddenly cast off their leaves and flowers, and if the good management is continued they will recover by making new growth and throwing up new flowers. But there will be a loss of about three weeks in continuity of bloom. It follows that, to keep things right, regular attention must be given them.

An American paper publishes the following :— We knew an old man who believed that what was to be would be." He lived in a region in- fested by very savage Indians. He always took his gun with him when going into the woods but this time he found that some of his family had taken it. As be would not go without it, his friends tantalised him by saying that there was no danger of the Indians, as he would not die till his time came anyhow. Yes, yes," said the old fellow but suppose I was to meet an Indian, and his time had come, it wouldn't do not to have my gun." Mrs Ward You accuse young Blank of being sentimental, yet I imagine he's fully abreast of the times.—Miss Ward: That he is. mamma. He was talking to me last evening about love in a t.

Songs for the People. Andrew Fletcher, of Saltoun, in a letter to the u Marquis of Montrose, wrote :—"I know a very wise man that believed that if a man were permitted to make all the ballads he need not care wh« should make the laws of the nation."

A Quarrel. There's a knowing little proverb, From the sunny land of Spain But in Northland, as in Southland, Is its meaning dear and plain. Lock it up within your heart, Neither lose nor lend it— Two it takes to make a quarrel; One can always end it. Try it well in every way, Still you'll find it true. In a fight without a foe, Pray what could you do ? If the wrath is yours alone, Soon you will expend it- Two it takes to make a quarrel ? One can always end it. Let's Suppose that both are wroth, And the strife begun, If one voice should call for Peace,* Soon it shall be done. If but one shall span the breach, He will quickly mend it- Two it takes to make a quarrel; One can always end it.

I Know. I know a voice of sweetest tone, an eye instinct with feeling. A forehead broad and full of thought, brown tresses o'er it stealing I know a cheek, 'tis rougher now than when I first caressed it; A mouth, just every whit as sweet as when "in love I pressed it. You ask me who this charmer is, the solace of my life I answer, with a touch of pride. "'Tis imt my little wife." I know a boy-in fact a child-his fourth birth- day's just over, His speech is Glasgow undefiled-he shouts like any drover; The morning sees him neat and clean, the noon for dirt would miss him- Boys will be boys," and aye have been-I drop the stick and kiss him. A cosy corner in my heart his love and kindness won, And when I Raid,. God bless you, boy," I meant my eldest son. I know a little fair-haired lass, whose laugh- provoking prattle I never lose amid the din of city's roar and rattle. Two years and more her light blue eyes, and little ways so winning, Have spun affection's strongest ties, and still the cords are spinning. My heart is merry when she sings the little songs I taught her; God bless the bonny, sonny queen "—I mean my only daughter. I know a child who came to us when winter's winds were blowing, Whose infant "greet," thought far from sweet, is balanced by his crowing. I love him, not for what he does (five months have just passed o'er him). But just because he is my son, and love was here before him. My muse has flown, I've sung the praise of daughter, son, and wife, Tbe joys of a contented home, the sunniest spot in life. ROBERT STARK, in the People's Friend.

To be introduced, to a Good Hook is io Ttutlct a Friendship." Magazines for August. We have received from the' Religious Tract Society a parcel of their valuable publications for August. Included in their numbers is "The Sunday at Home." "Our Little Boys," "Light in the Heme," "The Cottager and Artizan," and "The Child's Companion," all of which we can heartily recommend to our readers as containing literature that is at once healthy in tone and in- I teresting in character. Probably no publications so thoroughly meet the requirement of those classes of the community to whom they more particularly appeal than the Girl's Own Paper and the Boy's Own Paper. We have before us the monthly number of both these publications containing the issues for July. They are full of charm and interest, and we do not wonder that they enjoy a great popularity. One of the best known and most highly- appreciated monthlies is the Leisure Hour." The number for August is in keeping with its high reputation. In view of the recent elections in this country, it is interesting to learn from the "Leisure Hour" that there are important differences between the conduct of elections with us and our Transatlantic cousins. One of the marked differences between the American and English electioneering consists in the fact that the polling is held throughout that country simultaneously. Except in those States which have adopted the ballot, the manner of recording votes differs greatly from that in this country. The judges of election are officers appointed by the municipal authorities, or by a board to which this duty is delegated. At the polls there is not quite so much order and system as attend an English Parliamentary election. Each political party prints its own ballot papers, giving none but the names of its own candi- dates The party agents take up their stand near the polling-booths and furnish the voters with the tickets they desire. When the State elections are being held on the same day as the Presidential election, a voter has to record his vote for 12 or 15 candidates in addition to the Presidential electors. The article on Edinburgh, Scott's Own Romantic Town," is by a Southerner long natura- lised in the North, and who describes what is to be seen with a delightful freshness of enthusiasm. Pond-Hunting for the Microscope contains much interesting and useful information for I students of natural history. Scribner's Magazine for August is a marvel- lous shilling's worth. It contains four complete stories, the number being practically devoted to fiction in the interests doubtless of the holiday folk. The illustrations are as usual lavish, and the general get-up of the magazine is excellent.