The Stourbridge Observer, Cradley Heath, Halesowen & District Chronicle.
Stourbridge, West Midlands, England, 1869-09-18 00:00:00

According we fiud that the work of • velocipede
journey of 60 miles on a level road is equivalent to lift-
ing the rider 7,920 feet or only about 0.b5 of
the day's wi rk of vertical climbing. Further
experiments are necessary before any con,,,i,ion
can he arrived at as to the utuati-t daily work to be ex-
pi cted from velocipede riders when the pox-etc of the
reticle have been fully developed. A day's work
equal to that of vertical climbing would comes: owl to
a journey of shout 110 miles on a smooth Lvel road.
A rough comparison, however, may be dra su between
velocipede riding and walking, in the folio i/.{: way,
Suppose we assume that a man who mil ride sixty
miles per day on a velocipede on a smooth level road
is able to walk thirty miles per clay. The length cf
the day's journey in walking will not be Icasehed to
any material extent by the occurrence of aliy degree of
roughness or steepness that is conn.tedit with usirg the
velocipede at all. Hence that degree of roegoness or
of steepnrsa which doubles the total psistanue of the
velocipede, making it one.twentrhfth instead of one.
fiftieth of the gross weight, or one-twentieth instead
of on,fortieth of the weight of the ri icr, brings dont
velocipede riding to an ertir dity with walking; and any
greater degree of roughness or of st:epuess gives walk.
ing the advantage.
- -

Ter; HAIVF.BT IN Russia.— Mr. G. Bower, in
a letter from Veronege, gives the following in-
formation gathered from landowners in th.. grdu-
growing provinces of Veronege, Tatuindf, Or. I, K. .urs'c,
Kharkotf„ Saratott, and S titian+, in Ruseia, iehtive to
the condition of the crop&

The general opinion is thit wisest Is only one-hill of an
average, crop in these diAricti. For Aix weeks prior to
harvest there was no rain, so that the wheat nestured prema-
turely. and there was besides immense to in harvest:re
thron.h the ears dropping off. Farther south she crop is
repre.ented as being co.al, hut the failure In the•elisti,ts I
have mined roust seriously affect the present yo nes export of
wheat In Eiitsia b, England. I think iS young In in-rs kn w
that there was such good Imel to baolstalued ill Ea via as
there is at a price which, together with the necessary
capital to work it, is only equal to the genital they reprise
on entering upon a soot farm in England, they 'voted
not hesitate to come. Ten pounds per acre will be ainplehoth
' to ptu chase the laud and toe cultivating it • and the tabs ajs
now being made in every direction w 114ive them every
opportunity of getting thtir prottuce 16 Mirka. Hit he
possible to combine bovine's with pleasure, they coo' kl also
have the fliie,t flailing and sheeting, ii. thy woild witliont
licence and without fear of Meng pnia.ceteal for treqs
It may not be Laippropriate if 1 add that ate great fair at
Nijui Novgorod, now about closing, is coneitiere I hi 1,, a
gal thing, to that the payments for last year's orders hans
been well met, and fre:h ones, ese,dinit a•I average, hare
'seen given out The hay is which the bieffies...if the .N;jiii
lair is concluded sin,ne to a tine
country to a area great extent for a whole year hence. It ii
expected that the business in- Russia tinting next year
will be good.

THE EMPEROR'S Ittnsks.—The Emperor's ill-
ness has I:enders-4 a great service to rbince (says the
Opinion Nationale). lip to this time we have been
living from hand to mouth on the strength of a situation
width the country had got accustomed to, ant the end
of which it thinight proper to ignore. Now and then
some bolder spirits were to be Joon& who had the
hardihood to venture on remarking that the Emparor
wag but mortal, and that he was liahle to lieene and
infirmities from which old age is seldom exempt, a-4
who inquired what would happen when that day came.
Whenever that idea was broached chamberlains got
angry, martial orderlies twirled their moustaches with
more than wonted tiereenees, and "devoted" deputies
rushed to the Home Office to clamour for the suppreas
pion of the seditious print which had dared to view the
illness or death of the Emperor among poe•ible cons
tingenciea. The minister, when he was a man of geese,
contrived generally to silence these deveted gentlemen,
but discussion was practic ally tabooed on this black
point, and the country continued tt slumber on, relying
on the convenient hypothesis of the Emperor's itn-
munity from the connuota fate and Palmate of nein.
kind. But now this disrespectful hypo heels has
become a reality. That the Emperor has been ill is
fully admitted, even by the Journal Officiel, and every
speculator and fundhelder in Europe has been reminded
by a fall of 31. in Reute that the Emperor's health
occutiee a very prominent part in the warkieg of our
institutions.
AN M.P. ON THE TOPICS OF THE DAT.—The
Hon. A. Egerton, M.P., was present on Siturday at
the opening of new Church of England schoole at
Hawkshaw.lane, near Bolton. The hon. gentleteaa
adverted to several topics of the day. Upon the Irish
land question, Mr. Egerton said he could not see the
ju.dice of the extraordinary and wild n Alm about the
right of the tenant farm. ra to the land." He hat that
beth the tenant and the landlord had their rights,
which oeght to be carefully guarded and preserved to
each, lie considered, however, that it is a grievanee
that the tenant dies not receive any teen -y for the
improvements he makes in the farm. With rig al to
the ques'ion of free trade, he has always been a free
trader, but he thinks there are "many flagrant in.
justices in the French treaty" which ' ouAht to be
redressed." On the question of education Mr. Eger-
ton expressed an opinion that education without rail.
gion would be worse than no education at all.
R4.VELATION OF IliE &WRING 11,0031.—BrOir7t,
to Jones (who /MS suddeoly re-appeared at the Mb.
Jones, my good fellow, take another elem., and try to
be civilised. Yen are abominably dull, arid offensively
dietatorial.—Jones (calmly). I dare ray. Eastly ac.
counted fix. I have been in the country for a month,
and have spoken bi nobody but my wife and family.
[Genera dayttet.]—PUNCH.
WomeN ScFraeor.—We (Lati, Times) leain
that the recent extension of the nuuicipelefranclaiae to
single women duly qualified will make very coesiders
able additions to the burgess list in thydtatartoughs. In
I one boreugti of 17,000 inhabitant an sedlittiolt of 311
I is anticipated, and in another rei les, t.ttrn 750. We
I trust that the way is noir intred fir time extension to
them of the parliamentary fr‘nchise.. Havitg
I ceded the one to tingle women, dila Le4slatine cannot,
I with any ouusisteuey, continue to refuse to them the
I other.

SURVEYS BY PiIiiTUGRAPAY. Herr Meyden-
bauer, a Brim photographer, has recently measured
distances und drawn out plans and-Aiwa by photo- /
graphy. "With much time de he succeeded (says the
North German Corrtroondent) in ornrincing the Prus-
sian Government of the correctness of his theories,
and was commiseironed to survey a fortification. The
task was best with innumerable diAs:ultiee, winch for
the most part, spron4 from the defectiye.natura of the
ins runients. in six mouths, however, he had site.
ceerled in oirtairrieg 800 plates, and inn doing no had
gained invaluable experience, so gl4 he Met with no
great difficulty in eourplcting a pilot. gent:metric in.
etruinent of such sicuplicity that a workman quite no.
acquainted with the art was able to draw gp a special
plan of a fortress on the scale of 1 to 4500Lalter a few
short instructions. The phoiograptdc camera can
therefore in furore be employed. or a limiter of inn.
portant purposes. •
Tux CoNTAOIOI7S DIsEASES (ANIMALS) ACT.—
At the Guildford County Bench. Mr. .L Gateway,
farmer, of Wonersh, was summoned under the Con-
tagious Diseases (Animals) Act for unlawfully keeping
a heifer on Rusheticonnuon, knowing it to be suffering
from the foot and mouth &Few.
/It was proved that
the animal had been turned out on the common. Mr.
Evershed, a veterinary surgeon, sail that no one
acquainted with cattle could have mistaken what it
was suffering from. Mr. Driloway's defence was that
there were plenty of beasts aud sheep on the common
worse than his.—The chairman, in giving the decision
of the Bench, said the new Ant gave them power to
deal with such au effeneo. The Bench had power to
inflict a penalty of £2O and coats, but as this was the
first case brought before them, it would be mitiaated
to 1:5 and costs. The lion. W. Broderick, Alin (who
was on the Bench) said the Ant on which the case had
been decided had occupied the attention of the Boone
of Commons for a win de mouth, every sin4le clams
having been gone through most carefully. /and rules
drawn up on those clauses by the l'i ivy Council and
circulated. There was, therefore, no excuse for
offenders
A HEAVY F.PAST.—The " Fat Men of New
England" recently had a "clam bake," at which the
"championship of heavy weights" was decided All
men of every degree were invited who weighed 20014.,
or who were willing to eat enough clams on the occa-
sion to bring them up to that weight. The "clam
bake" was at Norwalk Buy, Conner tout, and males
were net up at the entrance to test ali comers. Testa
with tables under them were erected, and clams,
oysters, fish, corn, and potatoes were cooked between
a pavemeut of hot pebbles and piles Of Steaming sea-
weed. One hundred and/ seventeen guests attended,
varying between 2001 b. and 3581 b. The heaviest WAS
chosen chairman, the lightest secretary. and the aggre-
gate weight of the company w. 26,6291 b. Six
weighed over 2001 b., aggregatiug 1,919 b. be von per-
sons came who were under 20010., with the intention
of eating up to the standard. When these "email
fry" be,..an the heaviest weighed 198 A., ankj the lightest
1721 b., and four or five, it is said, /eucceedrgl in their
task. The fat men at their clam bake consumed 47
bushels of clanis, 30 of opits-rs, a large queutity of
potatoes, and 3501b5. of hell. It was intended to have
athletic spurt., but they were postponed on ace not of
the hot weather, and the re/iron/era say the feast of
reason and flow of soul at toe banquet were rather
heavy.
UNITED STATES' Fr NANCE.—The , receipts of
the United States' Sub-Treasury at New"Tork for the
week ending August 21 were 6,333,641 dollars in coin
(including 3,165,394 dollars from cit,to:Oie duties) and
3,555,505 dollars in currency. The 1/1491,,,t8 were
6,870,987 dollars in coin (including 315,1,79 dollars of
coin interest) and 4,420,179 d 'flare in eurtency. Tie
balance in hand at the Mose of the week was 9105948°
dollars (a:eluding 78,647,870 dollars of coin), against
/ 94,312,140 dollars at the close of the preceding week.
The Sub-Treasurer at New York during the weekend-
ing August 21. retired 3,039,394 dollars of coin cern/di
dates through the reampis from CIIKkalllL SpeCUlatiVe
business in gold at New York has been largely it
fluenced by various unconfirmed reports from Washing-
ton with reference to the purchase of Cubs and the
probability of an early completion of !level lotions with
that object in View. ..Vhe customs' demand for old at
New York during the week ending August glaversged
527,586 dollars per day. The total CUI,LUIIIi revenue of
the United States' Government at New York from
January 1 to August 21 this year amounted to
85,567,957 dollars, against 74,862,961 dollen s ia the cor-
responding period of 1868. The customs' receipts at
San Francisco to July 31 this year amounted to
4,716,000 dollars, against 4,810,000 stollens in the cor-
responding period ot 1868. The amount paid for cern
interest on the public debt at the Uuiterl States' Sub.
Treaeury at New York to August 21 thirdiyear was
64,437,314 dollars, ageiret 59,965,581 dollars ill the car'
responding period 011868.
VARILD MEANINGS.—A clergyman while re-
cently composing a sermon, made use of the words.
" ostentatious men." Throwing down his pen, he
wished to satisfy himself before he proceeded, as to
whether a great portion of his congregation might
comprehend the meaning of these words, and be
*doped the following method of proof. Ringing his bell
hie toren.oin a,rpeared, and was addr earn d by hisuraster.
"What do you conceive to be impli-d by /an osten-
tatious man?" "An oritentatious man ?" said Thomas,
" why, sir. I should Fay a perfect gentlemen." " Very
good," observed the ulcer, "send Ellis, the coachmau,
here." "Ellis," s.aid the vicar, "what do you imagine
an ostentatinus man to be ? ' " An ostentatious man,
sir it' said Ellis, "why, I should say an ostentetirma
man mean', saving your presence, a very jolly fellow."
It is hardly nece:dory to add that the vicar substituted
a loss ambiliuuus wurd.