494 
THE GARDENERS 
CHRONICLE. 
[Juny 15, 
and some he believed to be valuable manures, but it was 
much to be doubted whether any of them would, by ap- 
plication, be the means of causing such an increase of 
produce as would repay their great cost with the hence- 
forth expected low price of grain. The national agricul- 
tural machine was propelled by the practical farmers. 
Science was the lamp, useful in the dark ; but although 
there were still clouds hanging over the Agricultural 
atmosphere, it was not in that complete state of darkness 
which the theoretical farmers imagined. The opinions he 
had formed as to the useful connexion of science with 
practical Agriculture were these : Science, without practice, 
could do but little, but science joined with practice could 
do a vast deal. Science and practice now went hand-in~ 
hand ; sciencenowtookits properanduseful position, Itdid 
not stand forward as instructor to the experienced practical 
farmer, but as his able assistant. With this union of 
science and practice, joined by the best exertions of tenant 
farmers, effectually supported by liberal landlords, and all 
engaged in Agriculture—with all this in prospective, such 
general improvement in British Agriculture might reason- 
ably be expected, as to place the country in that most de- 
sirable situation for every country—that of not being 
dependent on foreign nations for any part of its supply 
of food.’ 
Eton.—On Saturday week, between one and two o’clock 
in the morning the pupils who were sleeping in the Long 
Chamber of the College were alarmed by the cracking of 
the ceiling, extending nearly the whole length of the 
chamber, which is 70 yards long; they rang the alarm 
bell, and the servants of Dr. Hawtrey were instantly in 
attendance, when it was discovered that the rafters had 
given way, in consequence of their ends having decayed 
from excessive age. The ceiling is now shored up, and 
will undergo repair during the Midsummer vacation. 
Halifjax.—The little village of Mount Tabor, about 
three miles from this town, was thrown into a state of 
consternation on Tuesday week, by one of the most un- 
natural murders eyer committed in this county. The 
victim is a poor man, named John Dobson, aged 52, a 
weaver by trade, who had only lived a short time at Mount 
Tabor. His son, Joseph Dobson, his son’s wife, and two 
children, came lately to live with him. They were on bad 
terms, and frequently quarrelled. On Tuesday morning 
the old man and his son’s wife had several quarrels, during 
which the father declared that she and her children should 
no longer live with him. The son on hearing this borrowed 
a gun and shot his father through the heart. It at first 
missed fire, but he replaced the cap, and fired with fatal 
efiect. The old man died instantly, but the son managed 
to escape to the woods. The jury returned a verdict of 
“¢ Wilful Murder.”’ 
Liverpool.—Dr, Duncan has just established the fact, 
that mortality is greater in this town than in any other in 
Great Britain. One in 54 dies in the country, one in 37 
in London, but one in 28 in Liverpool, while in Man- 
chester it is one in 29.7 gDr. Duncan has shown in expla- 
nation of this, that the cellars, 7,000 in number, may be 
regarded as preparatory graves, for in these damp dens 
there reside about 21,000 of the labouring population of 
the town, of whom there die annually of invited diseases 
not less than 1,000. Between 500 and 600 of the popu- 
lation die annually of fever, while the number attacked 
by fever is stated to be 7,000, showing that, although 
originating in courts and cellars, its ravages extend to 
higher places. In the metropolis, the mortality to females 
from consumption is one in 464, but in Liverpool it is 
one in 298. In Manchester the number is less than it is 
in Liverpool, while in Birmingham it is only one in 404. 
Infancy, too, suffers in Liverpool by comparison more 
than in any other place, for whilst the deaths among 
infants in Manchester, from Isi and teething, 
were in two years 1,765; in Liverpool, in three years, 
they were 4,081. The cause of this high rate of mortality 
is attributed to want of cleanliness and atmospheric 
impurity. 
Llanrwrst.—A murder has just come to light in this 
remote and secluded part of the principality. About two 
months ago, a middle-aged widow, named Margaret 
Davies, acting as servant to one Evan Jones, a husbandry 
labourer, holding a petty tenement on the mountain Moel 
Trefrie, within a mileof Capel Garmon, in this parish, 
was suddenly missed, and various conjectures were formed 
as to the cause of her absence. Weeks passed away, but 
still there were no signs of her return. On Friday, how- 
ever, her body was discovered in a ditch near a dingle, 
about 300 yards from the cottage in which she had dwelt 
with her presumed murderer. It was much mangled by 
dogs, and was discovered accidentally by tracing a dog to 
the spot. Nothing as yet has transpired to throw light 
upon the cause which led to the perpetration of the deed. 
‘Dhe supposed murderer was immediately taken into cus- 
tody, and the jury, at the inquest, brought in a verdict of 
“¢ Wilfal Murder ’? against him. 
Manechester—On Monday morning the neighbourhood 
of Granby-row was the scene of considerable alarm, in 
consequence of a fire which broke out in the extensive 
warehouses of Messrs. Nightingale and Co., and which 
spread with such rapidity that in the course of an hour 
and a half the whole building was a heap of ruins. The 
building was five stories high, twenty yards in length, and 
nineteen in breadth. It contained upwards of 1,000 bales 
of cotton and 300 sacks of flour, most of which had been 
recently removed from Liverpool to Manchester, the 
latter town being deemed less liable to risk from fires. 
The entire loss sustained, the building included, is esti- 
mated at about 10,000/., which is covered by insurances 
in several offices. It is not known how the fire originated. 
‘en in connexion with the late fires of cotton at Liver- 
Pool, the matter has excited the utmost alarm here; and 
an idea is becoming prevalent that some of the materials 
used in America for cleaning cotton may be the means of 
causing spontaneous combustion when it comes to be 
closely packed in warehouses. Certain it is that fires were 
not formerly so prevalent in cotton warehouses ; but, what- 
ever may be the cause for their recent frequency, the subject 
>, ere 
and stuck in rows upon pasteboard, for the purpose of 
being imitated in duplicate sham petitions. Amongst 
these si; are those of many respectable inhabitant: 
at Wakefield, Heath, York, Halifax, Leeds, besides those 
of persons in the counties of Lincoln, Norfolk, Notting- 
hamshire, Lancashire, Cumberland, &c. Another set of 
isone of such importance to the g interest, that 
a searching investigation is demanded, and is likely to be 
instituted.—Another fire broke out on Tuesday morning, 
in the extensive print-works of Messrs. Gisburn‘and Wilson, 
Salford. The building was fire-proof, so that the flames 
were confined to one room, otherwise the damage must 
have been very extensive, the works being situate in the 
midst of several dye-works and cotton-mills. As it is, the 
Joss is estimated at from 7,000/. to 8,0007. There were 
about thirty persons in the room when the fire was first 
discovered, and such was the rapidity with which it raged, 
that it was with considerable difficulty they escaped with 
their lives.—The well-known Father Mathew, the 
apostle of temperance, arrived in this town on Saturday 
week, and put up at the Temperance Hotel, and on Sun- 
day celebrated mass at St, {Patrick’s, Livesey-street, at 
which about 2,500 children from the Catholic day and 
Sunday schools of the district attended. He left Man- 
chester on Monday week for York, where he attended the 
annual conference of the British Temperance Society. He 
spent a week in Yorkshire, administering the pledge; and 
then proceeded to Liverpool for a week for the same pur- 
pose ; and will thence return to Manchester for a similar 
period, to preach at the opening of the organ at St, 
Patrick’s, on Wednesday, the 19th July, and subsequently 
to administer the pledge. He will then quit Manchester 
for London, where it is expected he will remain 3 weeks, 
Oaford.—The local papers mention that the religious 
party in the University, of which Dr. Pusey is the head, 
have determined on starting a newspaper, to come out 
early in next term, the management, editorship, &c. to be 
completely under their control. Dr. Pusey’s sermon 
was published last week, and so great has been the 
demand for it, that the printer could not work them off 
fast enough; and Mr. Parker, the publisher, was obliged 
to avail himself of the services of another printer to assist. 
Upwards of 3,000 copies have been sent to Ireland. Two 
editions, of 6,000 each, have been printed; and a third 
edition, it is expected, will be published next week. It is 
said that Mr. Marriott and Mr. Sewell, with -other 
di i are di ined, if possible, to bave the 
degree of Mr. Everett, the American minister, rescinded, 
They have been induced to do this, from the opinion 
expressed by Counsel, that the proceedings at the com- 
memoration, as far as relates to Mr. Everett, were void. 
Sheerness.—On Wednesday afternoon, whilst a salute 
was firing on board the Camperdown flag-ship in honour 
of the King of the Belgians passing down Sea-reach, one of 
the portable magazines blew up, forced up the upper deck 
on the starboard side from the mizenmast as far forward 
as the mainmast, and knocking down nearly all the cabin 
bulkheads, fore and aft, on the upper gun deck 3 scarcely 
a whole pane of glass is left in the ports on that deck, 
So great was the force, that the iron horn-knee on the 
beam-end, at the break of the bulkhead, where the maga- 
zine ‘exploded, was broken asunder. Lieut. Blackmore 
and three seamen were seriously hurt, and two young 
ladies, who were visiting the ship with their friends, 
were wounded and burnt. Nearly all the officers 
received slight injuries by splinters, and were more 
or less burnt in rescuing the ladies from their burning 
clothes and the bulkhead boards which were blown upon 
them. . 
Shefield—During the afternoon and evening of Wed- 
nesday week, the district to the northward and eastward 
of this town was visited by a thunder-storm of unusual 
severity, which appears to have passed from south to north 
—the most common direction of the heaviest thunder- 
storms experienced in this part of the country. The most 
southerly points at which it seems to have appeared are 
Nottingham and Derby, where the storm commencedabout 
four o’clock, though distant thunder had been previously 
heard in the south-west.. The storm appears to have 
passed in a line almost due south and north over Derby, 
Chesterfield, and this town, visiting the latter about half- 
past six in the evening ; and, to have been experienced at 
Doncaster at an earlier hour. It was experienced at 
Bradford in the evening; through the whole range of 
country from the East Riding of York, to North- 
amptonshire, in various parts of the Lake districts, and 
eyen in Scotland. It was also felt at Ashton-under-Lyne, 
and other parts of Staffordshire, where the large masses of 
hail did considerable damage ; but from all accounts its 
centre appears to have been Sheffield. 
Stafford.—A meeting of the Staffordshire ironmasters 
was held last week, at which a deputation was appointed 
to wait upon Sir R. Peel, and bring before him the depressed 
condition of the iron trade in this district. The local 
papers state, that not only is the state of the trade most 
disastrous and ‘unsatisfactory, but its prospects are still 
darker ; and nothing but an increased consumption of iron 
can prevent ruin from falling upon thousands. 
Wakefield.—A few days since, according to the York 
Herald, Mr. Brierly, son of the chief constable, with his 
assistant, in searching a notorious lodging-house in Wren- 
gate, Wakefield, found concealed there an immense quan- 
tity of documents, which tend to show the means by 
which the begging-letters, petitions, and memorials, have 
been manufactured, with which not only Yorkshire, but 
the whole kingdom has been supplied by a gang of 
swindlers. ‘The most remarkable of the manuscripts are 
many hundreds of genuine signatures of the nobility, 
clergy, and gentry, residing in different counties in 
England and Ireland, cut from letters and other papers, 
consists of models of petitions and memorials 
for persons pretending to want funds to emigrate to New 
Zealand; to make up losses by fires and shipwrecks ; to 
raise funds for those pretending to be afflicted with blind- 
ness, lameness, &c. A third set of documents were 
routes in England and Ireland, for persons travelling with 
the petitions, giving the names and residences of persons 
on the roads likely to be called upon, and pointing out 
where the petitioners should not call, for fear of being 
detected. Some of the descriptions of parties are curious 
—such a person is described as ‘a giver to all callers ;” 
another will give if ‘stuck to and talked well to;”’ a 
third is ‘‘ drunken, and the dodge may be well played ;’”’ 
a fourth ‘‘ must be seen at breakfast-time ;’’ a fifth must 
be avoided ‘‘any time just before orafter dinner ;” and so on 
through an amazingly dong list of the nobility and gentry. 
From these details, there seems to be no doubt that the 
police of Wakefield have broken into the main manufacture 
of the begging-petitions, 
ork.—The committee appointed to report on the 
affairs of the Yorkshire District Bank have published a 
lengthy document on the subject, in which they recom- 
mend a dissolution of the old concern, with the formation 
of a new establishment for the conduct of that part of the 
business hitherto found profitable. A free accommodation 
to persons in trade who had not sufficient capital or credit 
to meet the advances they obtained, and the want of sufli- 
cient discretion by the general managers of the concern, 
are mentioned as the causes which have led to the dissolu- 
tion of the bank. It appears from the details of the 
report that the losses were found to have been very heavy 
prior to 1840, and to have considerably exceeded one- 
fourth of the paid-up capital, no losses of any magnitude 
having, however, been incurred subsequently to that year. 
The company had 40,000 shares, the amount paid up on 
which is, at 172, per share, 680,000/. Of this large 
capital the sum of about 544,000J. is said to have been 
lost, leaving only 136,000/. in available assets, with which 
to prosecute the operations of the new company. ‘The 
principal losses of the District Bank are believed to be 
distributed in about these proportions :—Leeds 397,000/., 
Hull 7,5802., Wakefield 10,0672, Barnsley 52,586/., and 
Pontefract 11,0387. ; the localities of the minor branches 
dividing the residue of the estimated total. 
Railways.—The following are the returns for the past 
week :—Greenwich, 861/.; Eastern Counties, 2,725. ; 
Paris and Orleans, 3,987/. ; Paris and Rouen, 2,998/. ; 
Brighton, 3,825/.; Croydon, 379/.; Blackwall, 1,075/. ; 
Sheffield and Manchester, 444/.; Great North of England, 
1,436/,;, Hull and Selby, 1,315/.; Liverpool and Man- 
chester, 4,9107. ; Midland Counties, 2,6577.; Edinburgh 
and Glasgow, 2,182/.; Birmingham, 16,978/.; Northern 
and Eastern, 1,967/. ; South-Hastern and Dover, 2,485/. ; 
Great Western, 15,6897. ; South-Western, 7,474/.; North 
Midland, 4,357/.; Birmingham and Gloucester, 1,989/. 3 
Grand Junction, 8,000/.; Birmingham and Derby, 1,192/. 
—The Liverpool Times states that Government has at 
present under ideration plans for quickening the inter- 
course between England and Ireland, by forming a railway 
from Chester to Holyhead, on the plan proposed by Mr. 
Stephenson. The line, according to this plan, will cross the 
Dee just below Chester race-ground, and will keep the 
sea-coast along nearly the whole of its course, winding 
round the base of Penmaenmawr and others of the Welsh 
mountains, crossing the Menai Straits by the present 
bridge, and terminating at Holyhead, which Mr. Stephen- 
son considers the best point of embarkation for Ireland. 
Should the determination to carry out this great work be 
persevered in, it will have to be executed, either in whole 
or in part, at the public expense, as the traflic along the 
line is not expected to pay the cost of so expensive a 
construction.—A railway between Salisbury and the South 
Western Railway is now in contemplation, and is expected 
to form a connecting link between the latter line and the 
Great Western, and the ports of Bristol and Southampton, 
—The Birmingham/{and Gloucester Committee have issued 
their report, and, on the whole it presents a favourable 
aspect. A reduction in the working staff of about 4,000/. 
per annum is recommended, but it appears to be a question 
whether some of the higher salaries might not be cut 
down, instead of making the weight of this saving fall 
upon the lowest class of servants in the company. The 
opening of the Bristol and Gloucester Railway is expected 
to increase the traffic of the line.—The first excursion for 
the present season on the South Western Railway took 
place on Monday. A special train left town at 8, A-M-» 
arrived at Southampton at } past 10, where the Monareb 
steamer was waiting to take the party round the Isle of 
Wight. The day and the tide were extremely favourable, 
and the trip was performed in seven hours and ahalf. Some 
of the party preferred going to the New Forest, others to 
Netley Abbey, and omnibuses were ready to convey those 
who preferred land travelling. The special train Jeft 
Southampton again at 7 in the evening, and. arrived in 
town at 4 past 9, the whole journey, 230 miles, having 
been performed in 13 hours and ahalf, ‘This is the a 
excursion that has taken place this season on the Sout 7 
ampton Railway, and it is expected that several more WI 
be given by the Directors before the close of the summer. 
IRELAND. 
Dublin.—Mr. Bindon, the oldest magistrate of the 
county of Clare, who had been, as a leading Gasinest 
in that county, in the full confidence of Sir R. Peel, when 
