The Stourbridge Observer, Cradley Heath, Halesowen & District Chronicle.
Stourbridge, West Midlands, England, 1876-03-25 00:00:00

Tn WIATHIS AND ?HZ GARDENS.— The late-
ness of the spring (says the Gardener's Magazine) is
favourable to the productiveness of the Niwiner, bw,
the excessive rainfall of the last few weeks compels
the postponement of many kinds of work that muPt he
prejudiced by delay. On heavy lands seed sowing has
thus far been a tiresome business, and, speaking get -.-
rally, it may be safely said that up to this time pots'
planting has made but poor progresd. The spring
flowers that have thus far shown themselves have had
bat a sorry time, and have obi,ained considerably leas
than their average admiration. Vegetation of every
kind is hlckward. The fruit trees of all kinds look
well considering.

ON HER DIGNITY.—Cook (at the Registrr
Office). " 'Avin' never lived with any but VI ' •
fanfliee, 'should wish to know if the party keeps thei
, :
carriage,—men-suvvants in the ouse,—inoves
"The
llia 78n society—"--Mistress of the Office t
that wi
laortly)i
be preeented at Court,
suit you !"—Co“k (condescendingly). "Thanks, then
I think I U call upon her ! !"—Punch.

SALMON IN TASMANIA.—Mr. James A. Your I
writes to The Times from Waratah- house, Clapham-
park :—" By the mails just delivered I have received
newspapers and letters stating that upwards of 200
young salmon were caught in the River Derwent,
weighing from three-quarters to one pound and a half.
The part of the river where these fish were taken is •
about two miles wide and as salt as the briny ocean—
more like an arm of the
,sea than a river. A. friend
writes that he dined off some of these fish at a party
at Government-house Hobart Town, and that all who at.
partook of them declared they were true salmon, and te•
that the last of the sceptics were now convinced that'
the scam salar ' was a naturalized denizen of the
fit
beautiful River Derwent."
THE MOABITE STONE.—A cast of M. Clermont
Ganneateforestoration of this monument has been pre-
sented by the directors of the Louvre to the Committee a,
of the Palestine Exploration Fund. The long delay lipidt4a
of seven years in putting togetber the fragments which I, %to
remain must be laid partly to the account of M. (Li'
Ganneates official occupations in Constantinople, and
partly to his recent work of research in Palestine., caer
The stone as now reconstructed is 41t. lin. long by
2ft. 2in. broad, having a raised border of two inches
running round. The upper end is circular, the lower, '
broad. About two-thirds of the inscription are pre-
served in the fragments. There are 21 of these, two rell
are of considerable size, the rest are quite small. The 41
remainder of the inscription is made up from M. 'dr
Ganneau's squeeze of the whole, and from six consecu.
tive lines copied for him by the Arab who took the
squeeze. The cast will remain a short time at the
office of the fund, 9, Pall-mall-east, and will then be -q-148
removed to the society's room at the South Kensington
Museum. It is to be photographed.

THE PENIIiSITLAR WAR. —lt is proposed to
erect the tower and spire of the new church at Biarritz ".
as a memorial to the officers who fell in the South-West
of France in the years 1813-14 from the passage of the
Bidassoa to the sortie from the citadel of Bayonne k
(says The Times). The relatives of any such officers
are requested to communicate with Mr. P. A. Hurt, ! mid
churchwarden, of Bayonne, giving all particulars, in 10 etri
order that the names may be placed on the memorial I 1"1
tablet. The officers of the Guards buried in the neigh-
bourhood ot Bayonne have the care of their tombstones • ---
insured for ever, thanks to the generosity of the sister MILT
of one of their number. To the memory of the others, it
officers or men, it is not known that any memorial
exists, with the exception of one or two stones here "
and there. There fell, according to the Wellington
despatches, in in the time named, 127 officers, 103 sub- IA
alterns, and 1,693 men, and probably others died of
their wounds after the different reports were sent in.
Eight, for instance, was the number given in the re-
port from Bayonne, whereas there are 13 tombs there.
,