veyors, agents and servants, pay them reasonable salaries, allowances, wages, remuneration, order plans, surveys, admeasurements, estimates, &c. &c. and, finally, fix the net sum to be annually paid for each messuage, farm, land or tenement, to the incumbent; and this rate of assessment shall continue for 21 years, or such lesser period as shall be set forth in the pcti tion. The sum of money payable for each messuage, farm, land, or tenement, being fixed by award, the commissioners shall declare the average value of good marketable English wheat at the London market, for the seven years preceding the 1st day of January in the then current year. Then, at the end of each seven years, the rector, vicar, or other incumbent, may apply to the Justices of Peace at the Quarter Sessions, to ascertain the average price of good English wheat at the London market, and the various assessments laid on by the commissioners, altered according to the change in the price of this wheat! Such are the principal conditions of this project; and we need not say that the Legislature that would pass such a measure into a law, would dishonour itself. Why, we ask, is all to depend upon the will of any Archbishop or Bishop? Why is this cumbrous and costly machinery to be renewed at intervals? Why those partial provisions in favour of the receiver of tithe, and none in favour of the payer? Why are men to be compelled to put their property to the hazard of such an arrangement as this? How is the farmer to calculate the contingencies of such a complicated and uncertain settlement? Let it be supposed that he enters upon a farm during the continuance of one of these periods of composition, How is he to calculate the possible terms upon which it is to be renewed, or the contingency of its being renewed at all? How is he to expend capital on land, under circumstances of so much uncertainty and hazard? To him, it is obvious, this measure affords no safety; it is "confusion worse confounded," and leaves him in many respects in a less favourable condition than if he could see and calculate the utmost rigour of the exaction. Such a measure, however, cannot pass. Parliament could not sanction it without a breach of trust, and an insult to public feeling. The country demands a commutation of the tithe, and not a subterfuge and half-measure, which leaves the real evil unredressed in al its essential points. We do not design to speak with harshness or disrespect of the eminent Individual who is the medium of introducing this measure. The Archbishop of Canterbury is the organ of the church, the representative of the feelings of its members, and, by the duties of his high office, the supporter of their privileges. It were too much to suppose, that he were to be exempted from that esprit de corps, which, within reasonable limits, is an amiable infirmity. But the Archbishop of Canterbury has a course before him so plain and direct, that the marvel would be if he should miss it. It is not to defeat the public wishes, but to comply with them to the utmost limit of reasonable concession. In this manner he will consult the interests, the safety, and the honour of that great Establishment over which he presides,-will satisfy the just demands of the country,-and couple the redress of a great public grievance with his own name. The country, we feel assured, will not the less thankfully receive this act of long retarded justice, that it is rendered at length to the people of England by the good-will of an English Prelate. MISCELLANEOUS NOTICES. 1. Commerce of Great Britain.-It is beneficial to know the relation in which the various countries of the world stand to us with respect to the value and importance of the commerce which we carry on with them. The following table, for the year from January 1828 to January 1829, and derived from an official return laid before Parliament, will show the state and value of our commerce with all countries. The first column exhibits the value of Imports for one year; the second, the value of Exports. If we are to judge of the relative value or importance of the commerce of countries by the quantity of commodities with which they supply us, we shall find this shown in the first column of the table. But if we are to judge of the value of their commerce by the quantity of our native or colonial produce which they consume, this we shall find indicated in the second column. 2. On a Farinaceous Aliment obtained from Straw. The attention of agricul turists in France has been recently directed to the discovery of a method of converting straw into a kind of bran, or farine, for the feeding of domestic animals. This discovery has been claimed by two individuals: the first is a miller near Dijon, of whose name we are not informed, who, it is said, on trying the millstone of a new mill, discovered the possibility of converting straw into nourishing food; the second is M. Joseph Maître, founder of the fine agricultural establishment of Vilotte, near Chatillon. This distinguished agriculturist, known for the purity and perfection of his breeds of sheep, con ceived the idea of converting into farine, not only the straw of wheat and other grains, but of hay, trefoil, lucern, saintfoin, &c. His efforts are said to have been perfectly successful, and his discovery arrived at, not by chance, but by long experiment and research. The aliment which he has produced, is said to be a complete substitute for bran. It is given to sheep and lambs, who consume it with avidity, and may be given to all other graminivorous animals as a grateful and substantial food. M. Maître, with the view of bring. ing the process to perfection, has ordered a mill for its manufacture to be erected in the midst of his large farms; and he is preparing to communicate a report to the Royal Society of Agriculture, on the advantages in rural and domestic economy to be derived from this preparation. We are not, at the present moment, informed of the nature of this process. If it be a simple grinding of the straw, or fodder, and a separation of some of its fibrous matter, we can easily imagine the advantages that may result from it. We know in this country, that the mere chopping of straw adds greatly to its nutritive powers, by facilitating mastication and digestion. We may believe that a more perfect comminution of its parts, will produce a corresponding effect, and extend very widely the uses of straw and other fodder, as a means of feeding our domestic animals. 3. The Shell-fish termed Clams.—The common clam, Pecten opercularis, which is abundant on many of our coasts, is occasionally used as an article of food, but is greatly inferior to the oyster. The great clam, Pecten maximus, which attains a diameter of from 6 to 8 inches, is, on the contrary, in every respect, the finest shell-fish which we possess. It occurs abundantly in many places along the western coasts of Scotland, and especially among the Hebrides, where it is occasionally eaten. The introduction of this species in places along the east coast, where it might succeed, could easily be accomplished. It is reported to have been formerly tried on the oyster banks in the Firth of Forth, where, however, it has become extinct, the only remains of it being a few dead shells which the dredges occasionally bring up. 4. Preservation of Fruit-Trees from Hares.-According to M. Bus, young fruit trees may be preserved from the bites of hares, by rubbing them with fat, and especially hog's lard. Apple and pear trees thus protected, gave no signs of the attacks of these animals, though their footmarks were abundant on the snow around them.-Bullet. Univers. 5. Preservation of Potatoes from Frost.-In time of frost, the only precaution necessary is to keep the potatoes in a perfectly dark place for some days after the thaw has commenced. In America, where they are sometimes frozen as hard as stones, they rot if thawed in open day; but if thawed in darkness they lose very little of their natural odour and properties.-Recueil Industriel. 6. Preparation of Sugar from Starch.-M. Heinrich says, that from one to two parts of sulphuric acid for each 100 parts of potato starch is sufficient, if the heat applied be a few degrees above 212° Fahrenheit; and also, that then two or three hours are sufficient to give crystallizable sugar. He applies the heat in wooden vessels by means of steam.-Quart. Journ. of Science. 7. Indigenous Scotch Fir.-In the forests of Braemar, on the river Dee, there still remain numerous magnificent trees of this species. In Mar forest, individuals are seen, which at the base have a circumference of upwards of 12 feet, and have attained a height of from 60 to 80 feet. The difficulty of conveyance greatly diminishes the value of these trees to the proprietor. They are floated down the river, during floods, to Aberdeen, a distance of 60 miles. This region seems peculiarly favourable to the development of these trees; but the long glens of the Grampians, which were formerly covered by them, are now, for the most part, destitute of wood, the period having apparently arrived, when nature has resigned to man the care of disseminating them according to his wants. 8. Aversion of some Graminivorous Animals to particular Plants.—Mr Blaikie of Paris mentions that he observed, this season, at Chaillot, a large field which had been long left uncultivated, but was thickly covered with natural grasses. Many large patches of fine white clover, Trifolium repens, were left flourishing, while the rest of the pasture-plants had been closely cropped. He found that the field had, for some years, been depastured by a great number of milch asses and goats, kept for the supply of their milk to Paris; and although these animals are not generally over-nice in feeding, yet, from some peculiar antipathy, they had left the white clover wholly untouched, while all the other pasture-plants were eaten bare. We do not recollect to have met, in any georgical work, with this remark of the aversion of the ass and goat to white clover. 9. Protraction of Vegetable Life in a Dry State.-At the Medico-Botanical Society, Mr Houlton produced a bulbous root, which was discovered in the hand of an Egyptian mummy, in which it probably had remained for 2000 years. It germinated on exposure to the atmosphere, and when placed in earth, grew with great rapidity.—Medical Journal. 10. Nature of Earths with reference to the Growth of Plants.-The Report of MM. Thenard and Sylvester, on a memoir upon this subject by M. J. St Hilaire, is to the following purport. The author remarks that most persons who have analyzed arable earths, have taken exclusively such as had been cultivated, and in which the original constitution had been more or less altered. He believes that the various kinds of earths in their first state have peculiar powers of nourishing particular plants; and thinks that the exact knowledge of these peculiarities would enable cultivators to put those seeds in the ground which are most suited to it. From various analyses, he draws the following inferences:-1st, That all earths are composed of silica, alumina, lime, magnesia, &c., in different proportions, together with a vegeto-animal matter, which is more abundant as the earth is more fitted for the nourishment of plants; 2dly, That plants placed in earths, of which the constituent parts have an analogy with the particular nature of the plants, do not exhaust the soil; 3dly, That a series of observations on the different species, genera, and families, which grow naturally and in great numbers, perpetuating themselves on certain soils, with the analysis of these soils, would be of great utility in agriculture. The reporters think that agriculture would draw from such labours general inductions, rather than positive directions, but still that hese would possess great interest.—Revue Encyclopedique. 3 |