The Stourbridge Observer, Cradley Heath, Halesowen & District Chronicle.
Stourbridge, West Midlands, England, 1879-07-19 00:00:00

To GET Rm or &COS.—Amongst the greatest
pests of our gardens are slugs. I see in a French con-
temporary that they may be got rid of in the folbwing
manner, as has been most successfully proved by
numelous kitchen gardeners :—Take a stone pot with
a conical cover, in which are a series of holes about the
size of a crown-piece. Bury the pot in the dampest
part of the garden, so that the holes are level with the
soil. Fill the pot with beer or cider. When it is damp
the sludi always come out of the earth; they go to
drink the beer, of which they are very food, and are
inevitably drowned. In dry weather they are not to
I be caught, but then they cannot commit so much
I havoc.—H. L. 8., in Land and Water.
MR. DONALD MACKENZIE'S AFRICAN EXPEDITION.—
Advices received in Liverpool from Mr. Donald Mac-
kenzle announce his safe arrival at Lanzarote, Canary
Islands. on the 25th tilt., in the Corsair, the steamer
in which he sailed from Bristol recently. He hoped to
reach Cape Juby on the following day, and to begin
at once to establish a permanent trading station there.
The Canary fishermen stated that many Moors and
other natives had come down from the interior and
were waiting to receive Mr. Mackenzie and trade with
him and he was in strong hopes that negotiations
would be satisfactorily carried on. He intended to
take a large brig, the Amazonia, which had been towed
out for the purpose, inside the harbour at Cape Juby to
be anchored there and to serve as a house for those
connected with the expedition.

WEEKLY REVIEW OF THE CORN TRADE.—Ben
Weekly Messenger says :—" Less rain has fallen during
the past week, but the weather has been far from
settled, and the crops have made no perceptible pro-
gress towards maturity. The agricultural prospect is
very unsatisfactory, and even the more' sanguine have
abandoned the hope of even average crops. The im-
provement established in the value of English wheat
during the week has been from 2s. to 4s. per qr. The
deliveries have been made upon a smaller scale, but
they are still larger than at this period last year.
Foreign wheat is a good supply, notwithstanding that
the imports are upon a less extensive scale. The arrivals:
into London during the week somewhat exceed, how-
ever, 100,000 quarters, and the advance in this depart-
ment is confined to is. to 2s. per qr. The largeness of
the arrival has made buyers cautious; but at the same
time holders are very firm, and seem likely to demand
higher terms."
LIKE CARRYING COALS TO NEWCASTLE.—Carrying
Corn to Chicago.—Punch.
GREEN PEAS IN PARIS.—In an article entitled
"Market Life in Paris," the Globe says :—Green
vegetables are seen on the table of the Parisian all the
year round, and so many improvements in the art of
preserving have been made that we are able to defy
the sun and the seasons as far as our gastronomical
propensities are concerned. In the Rue de Rivoli,
where the high rents keep many a shop empty, the
vegetable preservers have taken all the vacant places
they could find near the markets. As soon as suitable
premises are secured a piece of paper with a written
announcement to the effect that pea-shellers are
wanted brings hundreds of applicants who have more
or less aptitude for the employment they seek. There
is always a great demand for shelled peas; the large
restaurants on the boulevards take their hundreds of
quarts daily, shops and drapery establishments,
where the employes are fed, are also large buyers, and
with the limited kitchen space at the disposal of a
modern Paris apartment, and in the absence of that
necessary evil the dustman, the marrow-fats and long
pods, the Prussian blues, and best Ciamart are bought
free from the shuck. There is an art in pea-shelling,
for the employt r rejects many of the applicants, and
it is said that a certain amount of patronage is neces-
sary to secure regular employment during the season.
A piece of iron with an edge cutting like a knife is
worn over the thumbs of the women as the tailor wears
his shield. This metal thimble, sold at all the iron-
mongers' round the market, enables the shuck to be
split open at a blow. The peas are sorted into three
sizes, small, middling and large, and placed in separate
baskets for sale, each quality fetching a different price,
as great value is set on the young, small peas by the
menagere, who is thinking of the dish of "petit pois an
lard" she intends shall figure on the dinner table in
the evening,
FARAIER'S LOGlC.—Farmer Giles :—" Respect his
theological opinions! Why, look 'ere, mum! He
was a-lookin at that there field of oats o' mine the
other day, and he sez, sez he, 'that there's a nice lot
o: young wheat you've got, Mister Giles,' sez he!
There's a theological opinion for ye ! "—Fun.

RHEUMATISM OR TOBACCO.—The British Anti-To-
bacco Association will be glad to hear that a decided
case of tobacco-poisoning is attracting some attention
in the United States at the present moment; and the
more so as the victim is a well-known public man. A
correspondent writing from Milwaukee to one of the
New York papers mentiono the fact that Senator Matt
Carpenter has been ordered by his physician to go at
once to Florida for his health. It is given out to the
public that the trouble is rheumatism; but every one
who knows the senator's habits perfectly understands
that it is tobacc3. He smokes from twenty to thirty
choice cigars a day, and fills up the intervals
between the cigars by "pulls at his pipes,"
of which he has a large collection. The
senator in fact smokes morning, noon, and night, and
is a walking chimney. He may, it is stated, go to
Florida; but unless he gives up tobacco he will not
improve. He is a slave to it, and it is killing him. His
friends are most anxious about him; and not with-
out cause, if it is true, BB represented, that "his arms
and legs are as little as pipe stems and the flesh is gone
from his body." On the other hand, it is gratifying to
learn that he "is as cheerful and lively as of old, and
does not indicate by his manner that an thing is the
matter with him." It is just possible that the senator
is really suffering from the effects, as he asserts, of
rheumatism, and that his cheerfulness under adverse
circumstances is due to his tobacoo.—Pall Mall Gauttc.
THE RICHMOND MURDER.—The High Sheriff of
the County of Surrey has fixed Monday, the 28th
as the date for the execution of Catherine
Webster, now lying under sentence of death in Wands-
worth County Gaol for the murder of Mrs. Thomas,
at Richmond.
FLIGHT OF AN EAGLE.—Dr. Landerer, a Hungarian
naturalist, writes from Athens that a dead African
eagle Gypactts barbatus, was lately found at Maine,
on the southern Greek coast. On examining the bird,
an iron-heaci,d arrow over a foot long was found trans-
fixed under one of the wings. Evidently the eagle
had been fired at and struck in Africa by some native,
and had borne the arrow in its body in its ilight over
the Mediterranean, until it fell dead from exhaustion
on touching land at Mains.
COMING ACROSS STICKS.—The Hudersfield Tories
have presented Lord Beaconsfield with a Malacca
cane with a gold handle. Their intention, doubtless,
is that he never " Ma-lacca " stick to walk with in his
old age. And in those days, when its aid will be
really necessary, his lordship may jokingly declare
that he has been reduced to "Straits of Malacca." As
long as he is "Abel "-bodied, however, he will not
really require his "Cain," will he ?—.Fun.
MODERATE DRINKHRS.—FuIIy 500 merchants, bro-
kers, and clerks, attended the second meeting of the
Business Mtn's Society for the Encouragement of
Moderation, which was held in the dining-hall of
Earle's Hotel, New York, on the 23rd ult. The
members "pledge their sacred honour not to drink as
a beverage any intoxicating liquors stronger than wine
or beer, and those only in moderation." The secre-
tary stated that since the organization of this society
in April last the pledge had been signed in good
faith by 11,00 business men.
THE SOONER THE BETTER.—According to reports
from the seat of war in South Africa, " Cetywayo
continues to make advances with the apparent object
of securing a peaceful solution of his difficulties."
So, for the matter of that, does Sir Garnet Wolseley,
and though the advances which the British commander
makes slightly differ from those of his Zulu majesty,
they are likely to lead to the same result at least--
Judy.

DRAWING THE LONG Bow.—The Americans are
famous for their exaggerations in speech, and especially
as story-tellers. It may be an unfair charge, but the
following story, never before published, would seem
to show that one American at least knows how to
"draw the long bow" (says the Court Journal). In a
company of travellers each one was relating accounts of
various adventures of a startling nature that had oc-
curred to them. Presently a Yankee was called upon
for his experience. "Wall naow ! I don't know that
anythin' remarkable ever happened to me. Yas, wall,
I dew now recollect that once a rather curious little
affair did occur; but it was nothq worth mention-
ing—really a mere trifle. I was 011 CO a-lookin' on at
some countrymen puttin' a new shingle roof outer a
barn. They had the job nearly finished. There was
jes' one other bundle left to carry up to the roof, I
saw it a-layin' thar at the foot of the ladder. I asked
those fellows why they didn't carry it up. They said
they'd jes' like ter see any one fellow that 'ml carry tip
that air bundle 'thought openin' on't. Wall, I told
'em thet I kinder thought as how I could dew it.
Wall, they jest laffed at thet idear o' mine, for the
bundle was pooty dooced big and heavy, I can tell ye.
So I jes' picked up that air bundle of shingles—'bout a
thousan' morn' less—an' started right up thet air
ladder. The shingles was so heavy thet—would ye
believe it ?—the rungs of that air ladder jest broke one
after 'nother under my feet as I clumb up it. But
I was so tarnal spry an' active thet I jumped from
one rung to another, the rungs fallin' all the time one
ligiqlhSerirdihaeli
after 'tother to the ground. I reached the top o' the
ladder jes' as the last rung fell, an' the ladder havin'
nothin' to hold it together of course fell apart and left
me there. I didn't like to drop the shingles after takin'
so much trouble to bring them to the top, so I jes'
hung onter 'em by both hands and caught hold of the
gutter of the barn by my teeth, when an ingenious
fellow got 1r.3 out of the tarnation fix by, working the
hose of a strong fire engine under me that happened
to be there and en that jet Iris and landed the shingles
safe. But that's nothin'—a mere trifle—l told ye
'twan't worth rnentionin?
"STARTLING EFFECTS ! "—Peep Snowman. "Oa
the right you observe the 'apress train recomin' along,
an' the signal lights, the green and the red. . The
green lights means ` caution,' and the red lights
si'nifies 'Danger.' "—Small Boy (with his ey,e to the
ain't no
aperture):
Showman
(slow ' But what'sand
i mtphree i
v yellere).
yeller light—but the green and the red.
_
wha s the other light
Small boy (persistently). "But . )
"'T ll '
e yer
n (losing patience
lights means 'Caution,' and the red lights ei'nifg 9
Sir?" Peep Showman
" there ain't no '—(takes a look—in consternation.)—.,
Blowed it the darned old show amt a•fire ! !"

Punch.
The honey bee is an inflammable critter,
Honey Bee :
un.s and hasty in his
THE HONEY BEE.—Josh Billings thus writes on the
sudden in his impressh conclusions,
fusil oil, and his
m er and
or end. His nutral disposishun iz a warm cross be-
twoereal bnred
Ppp in the p d
ze" get out or mi way," They have a long
boddy, divided in the middle of a waist spot, but their
physikal importance lies at the terminus, in the shape
of a javelin ; it iz always l aded, and enters a man as
still as a thought, as spry as litenin', and as full oph
melaukolly az the toothake. Bees never argy a case;
they settle awl ov their differences of opinyun bi letting
their javelin fly, and are az certain to hit as a mule iz.
Bees are not long lived—l can't state ji.t how long
their lives are, but I know from instinckt and observa•
shun, that enny kritter, be he bug or be he devil, who
iz mad all the time and stings every good chance he
kaUit generally dies early.