The Stourbridge Observer, Cradley Heath, Halesowen & District Chronicle.
Stourbridge, West Midlands, England, 1879-12-27 00:00:00

LANDLORD AND TENANT.

In a letter to his tenants, Earl Spencer, KG., of Althorp,
Northampton, after expressing his regret that, owing to
being ordered abroad on account of his health, he Is now
prevented fulfilling his intention of consulting them per-
sonally on the present position of agricultural affairs,
says !
- - -

I wish, without delay, to assure my tenants of my
readiness to do all that I can to assist them, and
to ascertain how I can do this in the best way.
I see great objections, even if such general
aid were needed on my estate, to give to the
tenants a uniform percentage on their rentals, for
It seems to me that hardly any cases are identical.
The soil of a farm, its character—whether arable,
grazing, or mixed—its size, the rents, the rates upon
it, the state of the drainage, buildings, and fences,
the labour available, its position as regards roads and
markets these and other considerations vary not
only in every county but in every parish, and affect
the position of every farmer. The same percentage
return of rent, which would be merely additional
profit to one tenant, would be of no real use to
another. Many of the same and other graver objec
tions apply to a different method of assistance—viz.,
making a genet al present of cake or artificial manure
to the tenants. I am aware that many landlords of
much experience have adopted these methods of help.
ing farmers on their estates, but their estates may be
differently circumstanced to mine, and I am not dis-
posed to follow their example. I should prefer to
consider, separately, the case of every tenant who
applies to me for assistance, and I will point out some
of the ways in which I think this may be usefully
given :
(1) Rent deserves the first consideration. The rents
on my estate have not for many years been altered,
except on change of tenancy. There are, therefore,
a certain number of farms held under rentals fixed
many years ago; these rentals, I imagine, are
low. There are others which have been altered
within the last few years; but the new val.
nations are, I believe, moderate, and allow a con-
siderable margin, for the variations of seasons, prices
of produce, and increase of rates. If, however, there
are cases where the present rent is too high, I shall
be ready to make a reduction for this year and as long
as the present depression continues. In the case of
leases I am willing to release my tenant from his
lease, or to submit to a valuation for a temporary re-
adjustment of the rent.
2. Rates have, in certain parishes, materially in-
creased since the last adjustment of rent; and, in
such cases, should be considered in conjunction with
the rent.
(3) Losses of crops from floods, or of stock from cir-
cumstances which the foresight and care of the owners
could not counteract, may be proper objects for me
to meet with help.
(4) There are instances where the tenant has been
put to considerable outlay within the last few years
in drawing materiel for work done by one on his farm,
such as buildings, roads, drainage, Scc. In ordinary
seasons the tenant very legitimately shares in such
expenditure, but in bad seasons the outlay may
unduly press upon him, and certain repayment of
outlay of this kind may with season be asked of me.
(5). I now come to other means of assistance, such
as additions required to farmhouses, farm buildings,
cottages, drainage, fences, roads. I hope that my
estate is fairly provided with most of these. At the
same time the need of new works quickly springs up,
drainage requires renewal, especially after the wet
seasons we have lately had, and improved accommo•
dation, such as covered yards for cattle, may be
wanted. I shall be glad to carry out any works of this
class at once, without, for a time, charging the mual
percentage on their cost, if I see a fair prospect that
a tenant will be able, after such help from me, to
develoo more successfully the resources of his farm.
(6.) Lastly, I shall be ready in cas.B of yearly
agreements (as I now do in leases) to relax the coven-
ants as to acts of husbandry and sale of produce' pro-
vided the tenant understands his business and is doing
justice to his farm. In this case lam sure that his
interest and mine are identical, and that any relax. -
tion of the covenants, which may be to his
advantage will be also to thlt of his hold-
ing. There may be other ways by which my aid
may be useful; if there are, I shall be happy to
consider them. I invite my tenants, after they have
considered this letter, freely to communicate their
views to me. From my knowledge of their indepen-
dence and good sense, I know that I may have confi-
dence in their meeting me in a practical manner, and
not asking for unnecessary or unreasonable help
which I should be unwilling and, very likely, unable
to give them.

REGULARLY SOLD OUT.—A new arrival at a San
Francisco hotel was lamenting his condition, and his folly
in leaving an abundance at home, and especially two beau-
tiful daughters who were just budding into womanhood—
when he asked the New Yorker it he had a family.—" Yes,
air; I nave a wife and six children in New York—and I
never saw one of them."—Alter this reply the couple sat a
few moments in silence; then the interrogator again corn-
MenCea " Were you ever blind, sir ? "N, sir:'—
"Did you marry a widow, sir ? " " No, sir."—Another lapse
of silence.—" Did I understand you to say, sir, that )ou had
seen one of them ? ''—" Yes, sir ; I so stated it."—Another
a wife and six children living in New York, and had never
and a longer Dance of silence. Tnen the interrogator again
inquired—" /low can it be, sir, that you never saw one of
them ?"—" Why," was the response, one of them was born
after I left."—" Oh I an!" and a general laugh followed ; and
after that the New Yorker was especially distinguished as
the men who "had had six children and never saw one of
them."

joiI'INGS FOR THE CURIOUS.

CHRISTMAS DAY ON THIIRSDAY.—Aa Christmas
occurs this year on Thursday, we copy an old poem, pre-
served among the Harlidan lilS3. in the British Museum.
The superstitions will have an opportunity to test the pre-
dictions here set forth:—
If Christmas day on Thursday be,
A windy winter you shall see;
Windy weather in each week,
And hard tempests, strong and thick.
The summer shall be good and dry,
Corn and beasts shall multiply;
That year is good lands for to till;
Kings and Princes shall die by skill.
It a child that day born should be,
It shall happen right well for thee—
Of deeds he shall be good and-stable,
Wise of speech, and reasonable.
Whoso that day goes thieving about,
He shall be punished without doubt;
And if sickness that day betide,
It shall quickly from thee glide.
[The early Christians kept their Christmas on the 6th of
January. It was then called Epiphany, or the revelation of
light, the name of the feast still celebrated by the Church on
that day. In the third century, the 25th ol December was
generally adopted as Christmas Day.
A PRrrrr CUSTOM.—One of the prettiest of Christ-
mas customs is the Norwegian prac ice of giving, on Christ-
mas day, a dinner to the birds. On Christmas morning,
every gable, gateway, and barn•door is decorated with a
sheaf of corn fixed on the top of a long pole, wherefrom it is
intended that the birds shall make their Christmas dinner.
Even the peasants will contrive to have a handful set by for
this purpose, and what the birds do not eat on Christmas
day remains for them to finish at their leisure through the
winter.

ANTIQUITY or Sun.—The invention of steel is of
great antiquity, as the Eastern sword-blades, especially
those ot Damascus, attest. A curious custom prevailed
among the Ceitiberlans of Spain, of burying the iron in the
earth, Oat the baser part of it might, as they supposed, be
converted to rust; and then forging what remained into
swords and other sharp instruments. A manufactory for
cast steel was set up at Handsworth, near Sheffield, by
Benjamin Huntsman, in 1742. The manufacture of shear
steel began at Sheffield about 1800.

USE OF BUTTONS.—Buttons were used in England
by way of ornament, so far back as the tenth century; but
.is was not till the commencement of the fourteenth that
they were adopted as a necessary part of attire, ribbons or
lace Laving been previously used in their stead. The manu-
facture of buttons is not mentioned as a separate trade till
about the middle of the seventeenth century, when the im-
portation of foreign buttons made with the needle was pro-
hibited. Soon alter this the invention of metal buttons took
pla3e ; to encourage which, a penalty of forty shillings was
imposed, in 1690, on every dozen of buttons consisting
merely of a mould, covered with the same kind of cloth
the garment; and the importation of metal buttons was
prohibited.

Omani or THE NAME " MIISLIN."—The city of
Mosul, formerly the capital of Mesopotamia, stands upon the
right or western bank of the Tigris, opposite to the site of
ancient Nineveh. "All those cloths of gold and silk which
we, the Venetians," says Marco Polo, 'call muslins, are of
the manufacture of MosuL" It is not improbable that the
city of Mosul, being at that time one of the greatest entre-
pots of Eastern commeroe, may have given the appellation to
various productions of the loom conveyed from thence to the
Mediterranean. Mnslins were first worn in England in
1670

--TEE MANCHINEAL TRU. —The manchineal tree
grows on the shores of the West Indian Islands, and of the
American continent in the same latitude. It is a high,
branoby tree, with a greyish bark, and not unlike that of the
Japan varnish-tree. its leaves are oval and pointed- its
,wers small and yellow, or, as some botanists say, dark
purple. It grows on sandy soil, and bears a fruit resembling
smsll apples. Every part of the tree yields a milky Juice,
very caustic, and consequently poisonous. A single drop of
It on the hand will raise a blister instantaneously. The
Indians used to employ this Juice to poison their arrows.
The shade of ibis tree is also said to be dangerous, and even
the rain which Liao been in contact with its leaves.

THE TULIP. The name of this beautiful and
popular plaut is derived from the Persian toleboan, signify-
ing "a turban," which was applied to the tuiip on account
of the resemblance between toe form of the 11 iwer and that
article of dress Tulips were introduced into England from
Vienna about 1178; but special varieties have been imported
from various countries; thus Holland has given us the Early
DP/821, with its flowers of scarlet edged with yellow, and
emitting a sweet odour. Italy has given ns the red and
white tulip; Poland the twodowered yellow with its double
or treble flowers on one stem. What is called the common
Garden Tulip came to us from the Levant, where it grows
wild in rich luxuriance. The Tulip-tree was brought into
England from America about 1613.

THE ANTIQUITY OE COT.TON SPINNLNG.—More than
one thousnd years before the Christian era we certainly
read in the Bible of linen being manufactured in Egypt, but
we bedeve that before that date the manufacture of cottons
was known In India, for in one of the hymns of the Rigveda,
reference la made to "cotton in the looms" in India. Mus-
lin!, we know, take their name from Mosul, in Mesopo-
tamia. Those manufactured by the natives of Decca are of
that fineness of texture that a single pound of cotton was
spun into a length of 250 miles. Indian cotton cloth was
known in Amnia in the time of Mahomet, 627 c., and
cotton was the principal material of clothing used by toe
natives of America when that continent was discovered by
Columbus.

GROWTH Or ANIJIALES.—Man grows for 20 years,
and lives nearly 90 or 100 years. The camel grows for 8
years, and lives 40 years. The horse grows for 5 years, and
lives 25 years. The cm grows for 4 years, and lives 16 or 20
years. The lion grows for 4 years, and lives 20 or 25 years.
The dog grows for 2 years, and lives 12 or 15 years. The oat
grows for 1 1.2 years, and lives 9 or 10 years. Tne hare
grows for 1 year, and lives 5 or 10 years. The gulnea-pig
grows for 7 months and lives 6 or 7 years. .

THE COOOY BEETLE.—The Cocoy queen beetle is
about one inch and a quarter in length, and, what fa won-
derful to relate, she carries by her side, just above her waist,
two brilliant lamps, which she lights up at pleasure with
the solar phosphorus furnished her by nature. These little
lamps do not flash and glimmer like that of the finfly, but
give as steady a light as the gaslight, exhibiting two per-
fect spheres, as large as a minute pearl, which afford light
enough in the darkest night to enable one to read print by
tham. On carrying her into a dark closet in the daytime,
she immediately illuminates her lamp', and immediately
extinguishes them on coming again into light.

A TALE or A BUuKET.—In the year 1005, some
soleiers of the Commonwealth of Modena ran wry with a
bucket from a public well belooging to the State di Bologna:
This implement might be worth a stalling, but it produced a
quarrel, which was worked up into a long and sanguinary
war. Henry, the King of Sardinia, assisted the Modenese
to keep possession of the bucket, and in one of the battles
be was a prisoner. His father, the Emperor, offered a chain
of gold that would encircle Bologna, which is seven miles
in compass, for his son's ransom, but in vain. After twenty-
two years' imprisonment he pined away! HU monument is
now extant in the church of the Dominicans. This fatal
bucket is said to be still exhibited in the tower of the cathe-
dral of Modena, enclosed In an iron cage.
DIAMONDS.—The diamond mines of Brazil were dis•
covered in the year 1728. In reference to this disc rvery the
following story Is related :—All the diamonds found in Brazil
were thrown away, until a Portuguese merchant, who was
visiting the gold washing, unexpectedly toiled a diamond of
immense value among the heaps of gravel and sand thrown
aside Keeping his counsel, he continued to search for a
week, and found enough ta bring him a million sterling
when he got home. Fearing to return, he sent his brother
back, who was equally successful; but being suspected of
something wrong by the crown officers, he was arrested and
put in prison, upon which he confessed his mission, gave up
his booty, and was taken to Portugal, where he was liberated
by the king, who ordered the whole district to be searched.
—A diamond sent from the Brazilian mines to the Court of
Portugal weighed 14 ounces, and was worth £400,000.
ANIMAL LOCOMOTION.—In respect to the compara-
tive speed of animals, it may be remarked that size and con-
struction seem to have little Influence nor has comparative
strength. The sloth is by no means a small animal, and yet
it can travel only 50 paces in a day; a worm crawls only 5
inches in 50 seconds, but a lady-bird can fly 20 million times
Its own length in less than an hour. An elk can run a mile
and a half in seven minutes; an antelope a mile in a minute,
the wild mule of Tartary has a speed even greater than
that. An eagle can fly 18 leagues in an hour; and a Canary
falcon can even reach 250 leagues In the short space of 16
hours. A violent wind travels 60 miles in an hour; sound,
1,142 English feet in a second.
PROVERBS ABOUT WOMEN.—While the tall maid Is
stooping the little one hath swept the house.—Beauty in
women is like the flowers in spring; but virtue is like the
stars of heaven.—Women grown bad are worse than men ;
because the corruption of the best turns to the worst
Beauties without fortunes have sweethearts plenty, but
husbands none at all.—Beauty is no inheritance.—Tbere Is
many a good wife that can't sing and dance welL—The
society of ladies Is a school of politeness.—Next to no wife a
good wife is best.—She that is born a beauty is half
married.—Saith Solomon the wise, "A good wife is a good
prize.— Who has a bad wife has purgatory for a neighbour.
CHARITY IN THE OLDEN TIME —Before the Refor-
mation, there were no poor rates; the charitable doles given
at me religious houses and the church ale in every parish
did the business. In every parish there was a churchhouse,
to which belonged spits, pots, &c., for dressing provisions.
Here housekeepers met and were merry, and gave their
charity. Toe young people came there, too, and had
dancing, bowling, shooting at the butts, etc. There were
few or no almshouses before the time of Henry VIII. ;
that at Oxford, opposite Christ Church, was one of the most
ancient in England In every church was a poor-box, and
also at great inns.

THE EXTENT OF THE OCEAN.—The Great Pacific
Ocean has a larger area than all the dry land on the globe.
It covers 50,000,000 of square miles, and 70,000,00 including
the Indian Ocean. From Peru to Africa 11 15 16,000 miles
wide. It is generally unfathomable between the tropics,
where its depth is so great that a line five miles long has, in
rgany places, not reached the bottom. The Atlantic Ocean,
apparently stretching from pole to pole, is 5,000 miles wide,
and covers 25,000,000 squkre miles.
NOTES ON LlONS.—Lions app,ear to be moncga-
MOW. The lioness carries her youug five mouths, and has
two or three at a birth. According to Jules Gerard, the
cabs begin to attack animals, as sheep and goats, that stray
into their neighbourhood, as early as from eight to twelve
months old. About two years old they are able to strangle
a horse or camel, and from this time until maturity (about
eight years), he adds, they are truly ruinous neighbours.
They kill not only to obtain food, but apparently to Learn to
kill. The age to which lions attain appears doubtful.
Pompey, the lion In the old Tower of Loudon menagerie,
reached his seventieth year; and fifty years has been some-
times given as the ordinary limit reached by them; but
this, most likely, is over the mark. Dr. Livingstone has
observed that they appear to suffer from loss of teeth as
they advance in years. A great number of these animals
would appear to have existed in the earlier ages of man's
history, and must have presented an important obstacle to
the spread of the human race.

CHINESE MARRIAGE.—The part which is played in
all these ceremonies by the family of the bride must always
wear a certain stamp of deference and modesty. Thus, when
the name of his daughter is asked, the father is required to
answer in the following manner:—" I have received with re-
spect the marks of your goodness. The choice tha; you
deign to make of my daughter to become the wife of your son
shows me that you esteem my poor and cold family more
than it deserves. My daughter is coarse and stupid, and I
have not had the talent to bring her up well; yet I shall,
nevertheless, glory in obeying you on this occasion. You
will find written on another page the name of my daughter
and that of her mother, with the day of her birth." When
he receives the presents and the information that a day is
fixed for the wedding, the father replies in these terms :
"I have received your last resolution. You wish this mar-
riage to take place, and I am only sorry that my daughter Pas
so little merit, and that she has not had all the education
desirable. I fear she is good for nothing: yet nevertheless,
since the augury is favourable, I dare not disobey you. I
accept your present, I salute you, and I consent to tre day
appointed for the wedding. I will take care to make due
preparation."
LORD BROUGHAM THE ORIGINATOR OF PHOTO-
GRAPHY.—" I soon returned to pure mathematics, and several
of the propositions afterwards mentioned in my paper on
Purism' were investigated at this time. I was also diligently
employed in experiments upon light and colours, and oon-
ceived that I bad made some additions to the Newtonian
doctrine, which I sent to the Royal Society in the summer of
1795. The paper was very courteously received' but Sir
Charles:Blagden (the secretary) desired parts to be left out in
the notes or queries as belonging rather to the arts than the
sciences. This was very unfortunate; because I having ob-
served the effect of a small hole in the window-shutter of a
darkened room, when a view is formed on white paper of the
external objects, I had suggested that if that view is formed,
not on paper, but on ivory rubbed with nitrate of silver, the
picture would become permanent: and I had suggested im-
provements in drawing founded upon this fact. Now this
is the origin of photography; and had the note containing
the suggestion in 1795 appeared, in all probability it Would
have set others on the examination of the subject, and given
Us photocaphy halt a century earlier than we have hadit."—
Memars ofLord Brougham, Written bij Himsetf.