1828. } Notes for the Month. 285 
July, and ending on the 18th of August, just the very part of the summer 
when we might have hoped for that heat which is so favourable for plants of 
this description. I was afraid to look at the corn: I skulked away for a whole 
month ; but, Sr. Swrrmin appearing, on Monday last, to have brought the 
dispensation of his favours to a termination, I mustered up courage to come 
and take a survey of his ravages upon my Indian corn. I haye now 
examined it well; and I can see no reason for believing that it will not ripen § 
and, if it do ripen, I have not the smallest doubt that it will produce a hun- 
dred Winchester bushels to the acre. If it ripen this summer, there never 
will be a summer in which it will not ripen, if sowed in proper time. In 
about a month from this time we shall cut. off the tassels and the dong leaves, 
which give a prodigious quantity of fodder to the acre, and which fodder, 
weight for weight, sells much dearer than the best hay in America. The ears 
then remain on the stalks until the latter end of October, by which time the 
grain is hard, and then the ears are plucked off, and put away for preservation. 
The great stalks are then cut off or pulled up ; and, if given to hogs, they will 
gnaw them to pieces, and live upon them for a good while: at the least, they 
will serve to bed up yards and styes. In America, where the weather is hot 
enough to dry these stalks through, they serve as fodder for cows throughout 
the winter, and cows will do much better upon them than upon hay of the 
very best quality. The truth is, every part of the plant abounds with -sac- 
charine matter. My field is of the dwarf kind.of corn, such as I have never 
seen in America ; it does not grow to much more than half the height, but is 
more productive, acre for acre. 
An inveterate Thief—A French paper gives an account of the escape 
of a prisoner, who was being conveyed before the Juge d’In- 
struction at the Palais de Justice in Paris, by tripping up his two 
guards, and running along the roof of the palace, in sight of the police 
agents. It seems that he has been recaptured, but he had not lost any 
time : he had cut off his whiskers, and taken a place in the Havre coach, 
at the Messageries Royales, under the name of Henri. He was taken just 
as he was getting into the coach. On being taken, he said, “I shall 
escape again ; and the next time, I will take the jailor with me.’ He is 
charged with several flagrant robberies, but belongs to a wealthy and 
respectable family at Macon. 
The petition from the county of Clare, claiming the effective majority 
in the election for Mr. Vesey Fitzgerald, gives a curious history of the 
impositions and mummeries by which Mr.O’Connell’s return was obtained. 
Among other frauds upon the lamentable ignorance of the multitude, it is 
stated that “an empty coffin was carried in procession, amidst an immense 
concourse of people, through the town of Ennis, on the fourth day of the 
election, by the contrivance and with the connivance of Mr. O’Connell, 
his committee, agents, friends, and supporters—particularly of the 
priests, who gave out that the coffin contained the body of a freeholder, 
who had died suddenly, in consequence of having voted against Mr. 
O’Connell ! !”"—This sort of trash can only serve to convince the people 
of England, that the Irish Catholics have more “ political rights” 
already than they are competent properly to manage. 
Paris correspondent of the Globe, commenting upon the state of 
criminal law in France, declares that, “on one point, all parties are 
agreed ; wiz. the uselessness of executions, even in cases of murder.” 
And this opinion is supported by the testimony of several considerable 
lawyers at the Parisian bar. ‘The writer continues :— 
** Any person who has had an opportunity of witnessing an execution in 
Paris, will bear testimony to the heartless levity and indifference which pre- 
