444 Chronicles of Science. [July, 
“The difference between the field and the garden-value of land is, in 
fact, the cottage-building landlord’s great resource and help. Ten acres of 
land divided into large gardens for a hamlet of 20 or two-dozen new cot- 
tages may be worth but 15/. per annum to the farmers ; they are, however, 
worth from 60/. to 80/. per annum to the tenants of the cottages. And 
the difference between those two sums represents a capital sum of 900/. to 
1,300/., which is a contribution of 30/. to 40/. per cottage towards the cost 
of their erection. Add to this the interest of the tenant-farmer in having 
labourers near their work, which should make him willing to bear his share 
of the annual cost of cottages upon the farm ; and it appears to us that in 
country districts there is little real difficulty in the way of those owners 
of land who may lament the insufficiency of cottage accommodation on 
their land. 
‘“The man-engine in the Cornish mine, by which half-an-hour suffices 
to take the miner to and from his work, in place of the hour or two at 
either end of the day wasted in climbing up and down the ladders, has 
added a full third to the efficiency of his labour. A cottage on the farm 
compared with one in the village three miles off, is hke a man-engine in 
contrast with the ladders. <A labourer fresh to his task can accomplish it 
more satisfactorily than one who does an hour’s work before beginning it. 
And the tenant-farmer on this ground may well be expected to bear his 
share in the burden of supplying the cottages by which the value of his 
labourers is so much increased to him, and the profitableness of his farm 
is increased.” 
The plan adopted at Dumbleton by Mr. Holland, M.P., takes 
account of both of these considerations. A rent of 6/. pays a suffi- 
cient interest for the capital invested in the cottage. Of this, the 
cottager pays 3/. for the house and 1/. for the large garden; the 
farmer pays 1/. in consideration of the increased value of the man’s 
labour ; and the landlord pays 1J., or rather cancels 1/., because of the 
increased value which the estate possesses, or will possess, in the 
existence of a well-conditioned labouring population. 
II. ASTRONOMY. 
(Including the Proceedings of the Royal Astronomical Society.) 
Tue progress of Astronomy during the past few months has not been 
characterized by such marked advances as those which will make the 
previous session long memorable in the annals of this science. 
In Sidereal astronomy, while Kriiger had found measurable paral- 
laxes for two or three additional stars, the unwearied Goldschmidt 
was successfully engaged on the system of Sirius, and had been 
rewarded with the discovery of some other minute companions. In 
the solar system the advances in our knowledge were still more im- 
portant. The necessity for a considerable augmentation of the sun’s 
parallax had been established by so many different investigations, that 
it scarcely admits of further controversy, and there is little doubt that 
the correct value is now known within a very few hundredths of a 
second. The distance of Mars had been measured and delineated at 
