The Brecon Reporter and South Wales General Advertiser

POLITICAL GOSSIP. 1 JIAJOR MANSFIELD has been appointed her Ma. ry's Consul General at Warsaw, in the room of r^onel Stanton, promoted to be Consul General at .It is stated that the usual Ministerial whitebait lnner at Greenwich, which heralds the close of the seion, will not take place this year; the absence of eral members of the Government from the House of Otimons is assigned as the cause. 4 LOT of young Brussels sprouts, lads from sixteen Wenty-one, have been enlisted on the sly to take in the army of Paraguay. They have left for j a*is en route for roomier -quarters, without asking of their Government, or the Government earing interfere. JJHE Liberals in Preston failing to obtain a candi- wf6) have applied to the Reform Club, who, it is said, send do wn a man, if the necessary funds for the ^Jtest ean be raised in the borough. K °OE Omar Pasha has not been allowed access to v9 Pope, whom he much desired to see. He is a kj^gade, and the door is shut against him. The Ito!? General at Rome, however, opened his, and fo^ived him at the threshold as one Crimean brother, j^Slish, French, Italian, or Turk, is in these days 7 to receive another. Qj-f has been reported that the vacant bishopric of has been offered to Archdeacon Wordsworth, of Westminster. The Cambridge Independent fott We have heard a rumour much more likely to be oJ^ded on fact, namely, that the bishopric has been j) e*0d to the learned Master of St. John's College, toteson, and shall be glad if this proves to be House of Commons, in Committee of Supply, cSv°ted < £ 7,G57,S7*2 for civil services for the finan- wT year 1865-66. This is less by £ 155,895 than was °ted Jntjj. qea8ion. There is a decrease of £ 175,650 °De item alone—the redemption of the Scheldt toll j^&ioh was paid and done with last year. The 1 tiptoes ateove given do not include the vote enabling Treasury to make advances for providing new ^ts of justice, because they are repayable out of ^surplus interest fund of the Court of Chancery, dn E larvaez Ministry in Spain, after nearly pro- jw'lg a revolution, has fallen, and Marshal O'Donnell, the most competent among such statesmen as B v*1" ias, is again in power. The growing feeling in Hi r a change of dynasty seems to have alarmed Jn^ourt. f 0 A-cis of Parliament have just been issued, (v^led, The Courts of Justice Building and The 1 tl of Justice Concentration Site," under which 1 Hew Palace of Justice will be reared. A sum of tpfiy has been voted to commence operations. By £ first Act the monies required from time to time W carrying into effect the purposes of the statutes f6 to be defrayed in the first instance out of monies jk?* provided by Parliament. The whole advances IL 6 made by the Paymaster-General are not to ex- 500,000. The Act provides for the re-payment I tl>is 'Slim' and for the appointment of persons to out the objects intended. The property in Ilia offices is to be transferred. The new palace is fountain accommodation for the courts and offices am accom ed for law and equity, as well as the Probate K* Divorce Courts and the Court of Admiralty, are twenty-three sections in the first statute, Wenty-six in the other. The limit for the com- ij i°fy purchase of land is five years. Compensation m'° ^e given to occupiers and tenants, and to be ^^nined in the usual manner. The New Palace "Ustice," it is anticipated, will be commenced as 11 ItS the preliminary matters are arranged. ]) present House of Commons, having been sub- m to a careful analvsis by Mr. William Stokes, of 1 k Manchester Peace Secietv, he submits the follow- aa the general results -.—Of members officially con- i with the War Department (a" few of whom are 0 "retired" list), there are 252, besides 75 who ,» L indirectly connected with the servioes by marriage k other family relationships. The war voting I "2/ r Present House is, therefore, no less than jPfeAmbers, or above half of the whole House. The 1 ^embers range under the folio wins? heads :— ^aptains 77 liientenant-colonels 65 ^ajora Colonels. 22 ^ieutenants 22 M»rnets .« 8 ^ice and rear-actaira,ls 4 lieutenant-generals 3 Ik "enorala 2 taJ ^maining twenty-three are paymasters, secre- clerks, and officers whose exact place in the is not eiven. The colossal interests of trade, &*rce, and manufactures are represented by 107 rubers. and the legal profession supplies 87 votes. war interests are more than three to jC°f the more vital interests of commerce andmanu- During the nearly seven years or the W of the present House of Commons, it has °* 'the people's money £ 190,198,074 for Pllr" 'ak!8 alone, in addition to ,8171,336,875 for the war JN making a total of £ 361,534 949, or annually on of war, £ 51,647,849. This is considerably Wh "^5,000-per hour, by night and day, through the j 0i^ political! life of the present House of Commons.

TOPICS OF THE WEEK. ♦ OUR CANADIAN ALLY.—Canada has agreed to buy the North Pole, if somebody else will find the pur- chase-money. That really seems to be the only result of the Canadian deputation to Great Britain, and is certainly the only one as yet made public to the world. A more unsatisfactory paper than Mr. Cardwell's despatch summing up the negotiations between the mother country and Canada was never laid before Parliament. It may be the fault of the circumstances and not of the diplomatists on either side, but it will be received both by the colonists and the British public with a strong sense of disappointment. No- thing is settled except that Canada is to have the re- fusal of the vast territory claimed by the Hudson's Bay Company, and that Great Britain is to guarantee to a knot of London merchants that a colony over which she has no control shall pay them for an undefined period and indemnity, the amount of which is not specified, but which the taxpayer being the ultimata paymaster, is pretty sure to be sufficiently large. The objects of the deputation as understood in this country were, first, to settle with her Majesty's Government a plan for carrying out the great project of federating British North America; and, secondly, to lay down the bases of a durable alliance between the mother country and her greatest English-speaking dependency—bases to be hereafter quoted as prece- dents for the transformation of all the Anglo-Saxon colonies into a vast ring of British allies. There is nothing whatever in these papers to show that either object has been attained. The Envoys in the first place were not clothed with any substantial power Of treaty-making. Everything has to be referred back again to the Colonial Legislatures, which are certainly unaccustomed and probably unfit to deal with inter- national relations, and which will in all human proba- bility relegate questions which tax to the utmost the ingenuity and tact of statesmen to the final decision of Canadian farmers. Her Majesty's Government promise indeed to further the confederation, by the use of every proper means of influence," but no deputation was required to elicit that pledge. It was given before in Parliament, in the Queen's Speech, in Mr. Cardwell's despatch praising the delegates, it has been endorsed by the whole nation, and it is demanded by the acknowledged and pressing interests of both countries. The point is how to convince the maritime colonies which refuse to see the facts, that they must see them or take the consequences, and "proper influence" will prove, we fear, but a feeble kind of collyrium. What "proper influence has the British Government left in New Brunswick other than that force of argument to which the arrival of the deputa- tion can add nothing ? This country cannot bribe the New Bru-nswickers except by guaranteeing a railway, of which there is no sign, or coerce them except by a distinct assurance that her aid in time of war is con- ditional on confederation, and that policy demands a more decided administration. All the Ministry can do apparently is to wait and stir up local officials, and they could have done both without a negotiation which has attracted the attention of the whole world, and which will now be pronounced by the whole world a failure. The great project, incomparably the greatest English political project devised in this generation, is just where it was six months ago, dependent upon the votes of the few dozen persons who hold the balance between obscure parties in the smaller colonies.— Spectator. THE CLOSE OF THE SEASON.-The present short London season has approached its climax in the drawing-room and state concert held by H.R.H. the Princess Helena on behalf of her Majesty the Queen. The week has been also remarkable for the numerous charitable institutions which have held their anniver- saries during its progress, eliciting the sympathy and securing the countenance of the most exalted person- ages in the realm. Amongst these stand pre-eminent the yearly festival in behalf of the Royal Cambridge Asylum, for the providing a home for the widows and orphans of those who had lost their life in defence of their country, presided over by H.R.H. the Prince of Wales, who announced a donation of a thousand pounds from his illustrious relative the Duchess of Cambridge; and the Royal Humane Society, the claims of which were advocated at a banquet at Freemasons' Hall by Lord Clarence Paget. Three other important institutions—the National Conservative Registration Association, the Middle-class Schools in connection with St. Nicholas College in Sussex, and the Church Union-have also been brought into public notice by their meetings held in Willis's Rooms during the week 's which has just closed. The first of these useful in- corporations was held under the presidency of the Earl of Shrewsbury, supported by several eminent Conservative peers and members of Parliament. The exertions of the Association have been successful in many counties, but more especially in the county of Middlesex, where, by its instrumentality, the number of the Conservative electors has been materially increased; so that if only fit candidates could be induced to enter the field, victory would be attendant on their exertions. It is to be hoped that these exer- tions may not be in vain, but that the auguries of success opened out by the persevering instrumentality of the able agents of this association may be carried to a triumphant consummation in the return of some Conservative candidates for Middlesex. The second of these institutions has already accomplished a great work in the establishment of flourishing schools at Lancing, Hurstpierpoint, and Shoreham. So numerous are the applications for admission that the promoters of this movement propose to build school-rooms, dormitories, and masters' houses at Ardingley, near Balcombe, on the London and Brighton Railway, which shall provide for the education and residence of 1,000 scholars. The cost of this undertaking is esti. mated at £ 35,000. The school is designed to be entirely self-supporting, though it is necessary to pro- vide by public funds for tHe first cost in the erection of these buildings. The report presented to the meet- ing held for the inaugurating this fund contains this statement:—"Scarcely any class in the country educates its own children without some aid. Witness the enormous endowments at our Universities and Public Schools, where the sons of our well-to-do people resort. Witness our National Schools, sup- ported by State grants, and by parochial and national subscriptions. Witness our Ragged and Union-schools, all" depending on charity; .on the other hand, the lower middle-class, politically a very important one, is dependent to a great extent for its education on private desultory enterprise. It is to meet this want ) in the simplest and least eostly way that St. Nicholas College asks aid of all-not charity; not anything to j degrade these classes, but aid to raise a building in which persons of the middle-class may, at their own cost, educate their sons." The meeting was presided j over by the Archbishop of Canterbury, and has every, promise of a successful accomplishment of the plans proposed. The Church Union," from a small begin- ning, now numbers between two or three thousand members. It has established affiliated branches in several of the larger provincial towns. It is formed in no party nor narrow spirit, but desires to unite all Churchmen, without reference to State politics or to minor differences, in defence of the Prayer-book, and in the maintenance of the Church of England as it, now is. Its anniversary festival was held under the presidency of the Hon. Colin Lyndsey, and was attended by a large number of its associates and members.-The Press.

OUR MISCELLANY. I A certain Irishman making love to a lady of great fortune, told her he could- not sleep for dreaming of her." A Cure for Stupiclity. 11 You are very stupid, Thomas," said a country teacher to a little boy eight years old. You are like a donkey, and what do they do to cure them of stupidity P" They feed them better, and kick them leas," said the arch little urchin. A Quaker's Excuse for Firing.—A good story is told of a Quaker volunteer, who was in a Virginia skirmish. Coming to pretty close quarters with a secessionist, he remarked, Fnend, tIS very unfor- tunate, but thee standest just where I am going to shoot;" and, blazing away, down came his man.-The American Joe Miller. Expensive ]DackEl. gentleman, being asked What was the Pri°e ot ducks," confessed that he could not tell, for he had been out that very day with his wife, and she had purchased no less than three ducks. First, there was "a duck of a dress secondly, a duck of a parasol;" and thirdly, a duck of a bonnet. ■" Short Pettieoats -It is reported, and on good authority, too, that short dresses are decidedly coming into fashion again-not dresses looped up in the shepherdess style, which Watteau delighted to paint, but simple short skirts, which, if not so graceful as the long trains as at present worn, are infinitely more suitable and rational for outdoor drapery. Even at the present moment some few Parisians are wearing, during their sojourn in the country, short skirts: only over them there is a long coat, which slopes well away from the front, and falls very long at the back, simulating a sort of second skirt. The short skirt is trimmed round the edge with a puffing of the same material, separated at intervals of equal distance by straps of ribbon. Other short skirts are scolloped out round the edge, and either bound with ribbon or puffed with silk. This is by no means universally adopted, and for the present is looked upon as an attempt made by the leaders of fashion to reintroduce skirts of a more reasonable length; but let us hope that this attempt will succeed.Paris Letter in the Queen." Epitaphs.—The following are copied from grave- stones in Scalby churchyard, near Scarborough A careful couple we have been, And many trubles we have seen; We when alive did do our best, But now our bones they lie at rest." The following lines are on the tomb of-an-old captain in the navy: loss d to and fro this troublesome Ocean of Time, I have Served my king and my Country For Years Nine I have born the hot climate ofiboth East and West, And now here are laid my Bones at Rest." Here we have an inscription on an unfortunate girl, wno loved not wisely, but too well." Pause here my sex, and think awhile; Let not man's tongue, ear you beguile. 1 By base persuasions I was overcome. My life it Cost. Behold my Tomb. I was my Father's pride, my Mother's care. My once Gay Body now lies mould'ring here. I died in peace with God and all, Waiting my Saviour's joyful call." Josiah Wedgwood's Childhood.—The chil- dren's daily walk to school and back led across pleasant fields and through green pastures, rich in wild flowers, which were not lost upon the clever and observant child who, all unconscious of his future destiny, was educating his eye in the true principles of art and taste-which to be true must be based on Nature and in harmony with her works-by carefully marking the flowers, the leaves, and the berries which decked the hedgerows and the short tractB of moor- land waste along which he trudged daily to and fro. It is almost needless to add that he was a great favourite at home with his brothers and sisters, in conjunction with whom he turned one of his father's work-sheds into a sort of museum of natural history, and decorated it with fossil shells and other curiosities. So early in his case did the child prove the father of the man.- Once a Week. The Wise Tree.—I was talking to-day (April 29) with a Huntingdonshire cottager, and was saying how cold the day had been after our previous hot weather. Yes," said my friend, You mustn't expect the sum- mer to come all at once. The wise tree would have told you better than that. I was up agen the hall this marning, and saw those two wise trees that grow nigh to the fish-stewe, and they hadn't put out a mossel o' show." And what tree may the wise tree be ? I asked. It's what some folks call the mulberry," was the reply; but the wise tree is the name as I've always known it by ever since I was a child." "And why do you call it the wise tree?" "Why, because it isn't silly like some trees as puts out their leaves early, and then gets nipped; but the wise tree, on the contrary, always waits till the frosses has gone right away, and ain't to be deceived by a stroke o fine weather coming early in the season. But when it's sartin sure that it be fine weather and well settled, then it puts out its leaves. 0 yes, Sir, you may rest content on the wise tree telling you when you may be safe against frosses.Notes and Queries. The White Widow.—The Strand Exchange, in the time of William and Mary was the scene of the pretty story of the White Widow." For several days a sempstress appeared ae one of the stalls, clothed in white and wearing a white mask. She excited great curiosity, and all the fashion- able world thronged to her stalls. This mysteriouer milliner was at last discovered to be no less a person than the Duchess of Tyrconnel, widow of Tal- bot, the detested Lord Deputy of Ireland under James II. Unable to obtain a secret access to her feadly, and almost starving, she had been compelled to turn shopwoman. Her relatives provided for her directly the story became known. This duchess was the Frances Jennings mentioned by Grammont, and sister to the Duchess of -Marlborongb.-Thornburu's Haunted London. A Convenient Fish.-I have never seen any fish half as fat and as good for Arctic winter food as these little lamp fish. It is next to impossible to broil or fry them, for they melt completely into oil. Some idea of their marvellous fatness may be gleaned from the fact that the natives use them as lamps for the lighting of their lodges. The fish, when dried, has a piece of rush pith, or a atrip from the inner hark of the cypress-tree (Thugia gigantea), drawn through it, a long round needle made of hard wood being used for the purpose; it is then lighted, and burns steadily until consumed. I have often read comfort- ably by its light. The candlestick (literally a stick for the candle) consists of a bit of wood split at one end, with the lamp fish inserted in the cleft. These ready- made sea-candles-little dips wanting only a wick that can be added in a minute—are easily trans- formed by heat and pressure into liquid. If the Indian drinks instead of bnrning them, he gets a fuel in the shape of oil that keeps up the combustion within. himself, burnt and consumed in the lungs, just as if it was by the wick, but giving only heat. It is by no mere chance that myriads small fith, in obedience to a wondrous instinct, annually visit the northern seas, containing within themselves all the elements necessary for supplying light and heat, and life to the poor savages, who but for this supply must perish in the bitter oold of the long dreary winter.-All the Yea/r Round. Dried Flowers.-Dried flowers, in their natural colours, have for some time past appeared for sale in the shops. The mode in which the operation is effected is this:—A vessel with a movable cover is provided, and having removed the cover from it, a piece of metallic gauze of moderate fineness is fixed over it and the cover replaced. A quantity of sand is then taken, sufficient to fill the vessel, and passed through a sieve into aa iron pet, where it is heated with the addition cf a small quantity of stearine carefully stirred, so to thoroughly mix the ingredients. The quantity of stearine to be added is at the rate of half a pound to 1001b of sand. Care must be taken not to add too much, as it would sink to the bottom and injure the flowers. The vessel with its cover on, and the gatisa beneath it, is then turned upside down, and the bottom being removed, the flowers to be operated upon are carefully placed on the gauze and the sand gently poured in, so as to cover the flowers entirely the leaves being thus prevented from touching each other The vessel is then put into a hot place-rmcb for instance, as the top of a bakers' oven, where it is left for forty-eight hours. The flowers thus become dried, and they retain their natural colours. The vessel still remaining bottom upwards, the lid is taken off, and the sand runs away through the gauze, leaving the flowers uninj ured. Journal of the Society of Arts.

Extensive Robbery by a Servant.-George Mole, a warehouseman, in the employ of Mr. Eames, a rope and twine manufacturer, 190, High-street, Horough, was charged at the Southwark Police-court with stealing a large quantity of valuable property belonging to his master and Edmund Grove, a dealer in valuables, Charles Grove, and Ana Surtees, were charged with receiving most of the property, well knowing it to be stolen.—It appeared from the evi- dence of the prosecutor that the prisoner Mole had been some time in his ser /ice as warehouseman; and at times had sole charge of the stock in the Borough. For a long time past he had missed things from the warehouse, and found a mysterious diminution of his stock. On Thursday morning, when he went to busi- ness, he missed a bolt of canvas, and feeling satisfied that Mole must bo the thief, he called in a detective officer and gave him into custody. He was brought before his worship the same day, and remanded for a week to enable the police to trace hia accomplices Through the exertions of Sergeant Ham,45 P another detective officer, some of the property was traced to a beer-house at Nine Elms, and it being shown that Edmund Grove and the female prisoner had taken it there they were apprehended by Sergeant Ham on Friday. Acting upon farther information, the officer apprehended the other prisoner the same evening, and it was known that he had frequently been in posses- sion ofgooda similar to that belonging to the prose- otor. A short time ago he was charged at this court with having m his possession a piece of valuable can- vas. He was remanded to find the owner, and at the end of a week Edmund Grove came forward and swore that it was his property, and it was ordered to be given up to him. From the descriptions given of It the prosecutor had no doubt it was stolen from his stock.—After some further evidence the prisoners were remanded until Thursday next.

¡- THE COURT. -+- THE Court is at present held at Windsor. The tyueen, we are happy to say, is enjoying excellent Her Majesty and members of the Royal family visit Frogmore twice a day—in the morning at "toe o'clock to breakfast under a tent on the lawn, ,Q.¡¡d ia the evening at six o'clock to take tea. v, HER MAJESTY and the junior members of the Royal family will leave Windsor for Osborne in the middle °f July, and in the first week in August leave Osborne Germany.. GENERAL TOM THUMB, with his party, had the jjQUour of appearing at Windsor Castle on Saturday Wore Princess Louise, Princess Beatrice, and Prince J«oj3old, and the ladies and gentlemen of the house- .THE Queen, Princess Helena, Princess Louise, "tittoess Beatrice, and Prince Leopold, and the ladies d'gentlemen in waiting, attended Divine service on ^aday morning in the private chapel. THE Prince and Princess of Wales still remain at I't,rlboroughohouse. Her Royal Highness is steadily Covering her strength, and on Saturday the Princess, aecolXlpanied by the Prince, and attended by the Duke i^d Duchess of Brabant, took a carriage drive. The ^ttie evening the Prince of Wales honoured the Duke Duchess of Manchester with his company at dinner, 411d Duchess of Manchester with his company at dinner, t their residence in Stanhope-street. .THE Prince of Wales, with Lieutenant-Colonel Keppei in Waiting, attended Divine service at the %apel Royal, St. James's, on Sunday morning. The p°nimunion service was read by the Rev. J. C. Bladen, the Rev. Thomas Helmore, and the Hon. and Rev. A. the Rev. Thomas Helmore, and the Hon. and Rev. A. Phipps. Anthem, This is the record of John," gibbons. Solo, Mr. Benson. Mr. Cooper presided at 'he organ. The sermon was preached by the Hon. and Rev. A. F. Phipps, from Romans, chap. xv., 13. WORKPEOPLE are engaged at Frogmore-lodge in liking preparations for the reception of their Royal highnesses the Prince and Princess of Wales. The OZOLet time of their arrival is not yet fixed. I.

HINTS UPON GARDENING. -+- ACHIMENES need, help from liquid manure, to pro. long their beauty and develop the foliage and flowers fully. The best contrivances now in use for display. ing them are the open wire baskets, humorously desig. nated crinoline pots;" in these they grow to perfection, probably because of the access of air to the roots. AZALEAS AND CAMELLIAS, if still under glass, must have air night and day, and the floors kept damp. Use the syringe regularly till the flower-buds show at the points of the shoots, and then discontinue the use of the syringe. FRUIT GARDEN.—Apple trees are now recovering from the devastation of caterpillar, and need a careful inspection, pruning-knife in hand, to remove spurs and branches that have perished through loss of sap when they were covered with vermin during the drought. Tie in espaliers at once, before the shoots get set in a bent position; use the engine smartly to wall trees and bushes nail in the wood to be kept on wall trees, and remove, but not too much at a time, all superfluous wood. Wall trees trimmed up now will have time to ripen their wood; if negleeted much longer, it will be too late to do justice to them. FUCHSIAS should be propagated now in quantity. Specimen plants will require abundance of water, and once a week liquid manure. Fuchsias in the open ground are generally disfigured by a superabundance of sticks, whereas in a good turfy soil, with a moderate amount of rotten dung, they ought to need but little artificial support, and a certain easy drooping habit is proper to their character. Most of the light fuchsias require to be well shaded, or the points of the calyx acquires a green tinge. ORCHARD HOUSE TREES require very little attention now beyond, abundant watering, and the use of strong liquid manure. No more pinching to be done. Shoots badly placed may be removed now without fear of causing the buds at the base to break. RHODODENDRONS, KALMIAS, and ANDROMEDAS may now be layered for increase; it is the simplest and surest method of propagation, though slow.; nevertheless they are always better on their own roots than grafted, and though many kinds sow themselves in plenty, and produce thickets of seedlings if allowed, there is no dependence to be placed on them for character when at last they come into bloom. Old beds of American plants may be benefited now by top-dressings of cow-dung quite rotten. Recently formed beds should not have it, nevertheless a mulch- ing of some kind, especially amongst kalmias, will be beneficial. Where moss is plentiful, there is nothing better to strew three or four inches thick over the whole of the soil; it aoon sinks to a close peaty layer, and preserves a moist condition of the roots. ROOT CROPS, such as parsnip and beet, require now a final thinning; there is no gain from crowded beds. Potatoes to be frequently hoed between; we have no great faith in the practice of moulding up the rows, but it is evidently not seriously detrimental to the crop. If children can be employed to pick off the blossoms, the weight ot the crop will be increased, but the difference will scarcely pay any other kind of ROSES.—Make ready to work the strongest briers at once, and as plump beds can be obtained of the choicest varieties. Bads that remain dormant till the next, spring CAo not generally make such good plants as buds that start away soon after being entered, and make ripe hard shoots before winter. We have found that when the shoots from the buds of the season were very sappy, a gentle lift of the stoek by means of a four-tined fork, early in October, gave a check that hastened the ripening, and prevented ioss m winter. The wild wood should not be cut away severely before entering the buds, as a loss of it checks the flow of sap, and defers the complete junction of the two barke. Sorr-wccno) PLANTS, such as cinerarias, her- J baceous calceolarias, Chinese primulas, pansiey, pyrethrums, &c., should be raised from seed now in quantity. If primulas were sown in April for earls bloom, it will be as well to sow again for a successional atch. Remember that to grow bad seed is just as much trouble as the best, so that the question of cost of seed should not be considered too closely. Procure the best that can be had from houses known to be above the shabby practice of mixing or misdescribing, and grow them in a good compost from the first. Soft-wooded plants rarely do any good if grown slowly they need abundant nourishment, and if kept stout and strong rarely suffer from vermin. It is the bad practice of starving seedlings in the seed pans that creates the principal trouble of getting them clean afterwards. Sow, for succession, Mazagan beans, York and collard cabbage, cucumbers, (Highland Mars is one of the best to start now), endive, French beans, onions, parsley, peas, turnip radish. STRAWBERRIES are pushing their runners freely, and whatever stock is required should be taken only from the strongest runners, which remove as soon as they have a few roots, and prick out an old hotbed, or in any rich light soil where they can be easily shaded. VINES that have ripened their fruit must be care- fully brought into a resting condition by gradually withholding water, and exposing the wood to the weather night and day except during rain. Crops ripening to have the help of fire-heat in case of a long term of cloudy or cold weather, as any delay in ripen- ing will bring on mildew. Where the grapes are just stoning, attention should be paid for the last time to thinning and tying in, but do not cut away every apparently superfluous shoot; very often a few random growths help to sustain the vigour of a vine, and are in fact the signs of yigour but of course these should not overlap the old wood, or shade the leaves that have bunches to take care of. Where ripe grapes are to hang, keep the house dry; and to prevent red spider, paint some tiles with sulphur vivum, and lay about in the full sun.-Gardeners' Magazine.

SPORTS AND PASTIMES. -+-- Fishingr. THE following information is taken from the weekly reports of the assistant river keepers of the Thames Angling Preservation Society, for the week ending June 21stFrom Staines, Fletcher says "A good number cf roach and dace have been taken, alse some capital perch in gudgeon fishing. Several'good jack have been caught, and two trout, one of 21b., the other 3lb." Harris writes from Laleham I have been out five days last week, and have done very well with the gudgeon and perch. I have caught three bream weighing 91b; the roach and dace are shy." Rosewell describes the water about Halliford as being very low and clear, and gives no return of sport. Cowdery reports from Hampton that fishing is very good with roach and dace, and two trout have been taken at Sunbury, one 9tlb, the other 31b." From Kingston, Johnson says: "I have been getting better fishing this week. Clarke, the fisherman, has been getting some good roach. I have got some bream, but they do not feed till evening." Erricker states, from Ted- dington, that there has been some good sport with roach, dace, and br,eam; a few small barbel and jack have been taken under the weir. At Twickenham some of the boats have done well with roach and dace." A correspondent of the Field writes the following letter on a novel method of fishing, or rather poaching which is growing up at some of the weirs upon the Thames. The run or gut of the rush of water (he says), which is the place scooped out by the current in a straight line with banks of sand or gravel on either side, and in which the barbel are fond of routing, is first ascertained by the wary sportsman," and then to work. The latter requires but little or no skill, as the "angler" has merely to provide himself with a spoon-bait, a stiff rod, and running-tackle. Then he casts as far down the run as he can reach, and spins the spoon back over the full length of the swim. In this way many barbel are taken. What! cries the practical angler, "barbel take a spoon-bait !-that is like the rod, a stiff un No; the barbel do not. take the spoon; but the hooks attached thereto, in their revolutions, catch the barbel—now by the pectoral or dorsal fin-now by the head or the tail: and when you feel a foul"—I beg pardon, a bite or run, haul up at once, and get the fish out of sight and into your basket in a jiffey. Don't play your fish-that takes time, and some fellow-angler, who may have his donbts about the honesty of your style of angling, may cry "shame," and that might lead to a breach of the. peace, and a piece of the breech might be lost in the struggle to throw one another into deep water. The plan, therefore, is to lug the fish out by the skin of his eyelids, and bag him as quickly as possible. But should you be observed by a bailiff, or even by the secretary himself of the Thames Angling Preservation Society, take no heed of any one—go on have you not got a spoon connected with the triangular hooks, and is not that fair fishing ? How can you help the stupid barbel being caught? and when caught are you to throw them in ugain ? How ridiculous just as if an angler ever threw a fish baek again, whether big or little, caught fair or foul! Was anything ever so absurd! The envious may, moreover, twit you with pricking and maiming a good many fish that you do not take. This observation you will likewise treat with the quietude of a fisherman, as its illogical nature is obvious; for do not these per- sons first convey a oonsure upon your capturing the fish you hook, and then denounce you for letting them get away P It is really monstrous how some people will indulge in abuse when they see others filling their bags with fish, because they cannot bring themselves to employ such highly scientific means to bring them to land. Another correspondent of our contemporary, in speaking of the fishing in Australia, in reply to a question asked by Curlew," says :—Last year I spent about three months in Styria, and had excellent \fishing, which would have been much better had the weather been more favourable. Upper Styria abounds with trout and grayling. There is no open fishing that I heard of, but the right of fishing the so-called preserved streams may be had at a ridiculously low figure. For about twelve or fourteen miles of river I paid about .£2 or R3 for the season; but I sometimes found other people fishing there, and never dreamed of ordering them off-indeed, I never was quite sure whether or no I had the exclusive right of the fishing, nor did I care, since there were fish enough and to spare, and I never went over half the ground I was entitled to. Curlew cannot go wrong if he stops near any likely-locking stream and consults the land- lord of the hotel how he may obtain angling permis- sion. He will, I believe, find no difficulty in obtaining a fishing ticket, and still less in beating Australian anglers, whose tackle is antediluvian. I may mention that "Curlew" may gain valuable friends amongst these latter by little presentsof English flies and stained gut. The clear, fast-running streams nourish splendid trout and grayling. I was astonished at the size of the latter, which were seldom under a pound, and often two and above. I cannot describe in a letter the kinds of flies I found most successful, as I really do not know the names of them; but if Curfew will write to me, I will send him specimens of some de. cided killers; in fine, the fishing in Styria beats hollow any I ever had in England in any preserved waters. I discovered that huchen are only to be caught in the winter. In the warm weather it is in vain to fish for them indeed, I fancy they are in the Black Sea during the summer, or, at all events, in the deep and unfiahable parts of the Danube. Many pisciculturists in Austria believe that this valuable fish is migratory, and comes up from the sea in the autumn, but the question is not yet determined. I saw an announce. ment in the Field, about two years ago, that the huchen could be taken by the fly like the salmon. So he can, but I should rather say like the pike, and not like the salmon. When hungry, he will, of course, seize a salmon-fly — most hungry fish will, I fancy. But I would never waste my time in fly-fishing for huchen, as long as I had my spinning-baits with me.