The Dorset County Express and Agricultural Gazette.
Dorchester, Dorset, England, 1865-10-10 00:00:00

Qtountrg Aflisceilang.

THE HUMMING-BIRD MOTH.—Mr. J. Y. Akerman, in
the Times, says :—" The long-continued fine weather
has been very favourable to the development of insect
life. To this cause may be attributed the appearance of
that curious insect commonly known as the 'Humming-
bird Moth.'"

Ma. R. H. ALLNArr, the Sussex meteorologist, has
been making observattons on the deposition of dew in
the recent foggy nights, the result of which is a oonoltt•
'ion that, in his neighbourhood, at all events, the
amount of dew deposited in four nights was equal to a
ton and a half per acre.

A NovaLTY IN ram MarturT.—The unprecedentedly
high price of meat, we aupplse, brought into our
market last Saturday the novel importation of a large
flock of geese. About five hundred, we believe, were
brought by boat and rail from Ireland, and three
hundred of them were driven up Bridge-street by •
gooseherd with as little difficulty as • flock of sheep
may be driven, and infinitely less than • drove of pigs.
The gooseherd had • formidable pole, some ten feet
long, with a crook at the end, with which he dexterously
caught say wanderer' by the nook, and reduced him
forthwith to subjection. At least two hundred of the
number were sold at 4s. and 4s. 6d. each.—Northampton
Mercury.

Tin GAII6 LAWS. —Mr. Bright having been invited
to attend a meeting of the Midland Farmers Club, at
which the question of the Game Laws was aprointed to
be discussed, has addre sad a letter to the gentleman
from whom he received the invitation, in which he
points out to the tenant farmers the course which in his
judgment they should pursue. He urges them to com-
bine to secure the election of men who will really
represent their opinions. He remarks upon the
facilities they possess for united political action, and
assures them that in their efforts to secure their inde-
pendence they would receive the cordial support of the
Liberals in the towns. The Game Laws, he thinks,
cannot with advantage be modified—they must be
wholly repealed; and the accomplishment of this
object is within the power of the tenant farmers
themselves.

Miti.—The Daily Nom suggests that—halides im-
porting beef kept fresh by some new process from South
America, mutton from Australia, pork from Servia,
rabbits from Belgium, and wild fowl from France—we
ought to import milk from all pastoral countries. If
the water it contains is boiled awey, the residue will
keep for months and make good rich milk again. It
would be easier to import it from our own agricultural
districts. There are hundreds of places in which milk
Is given away to the pigs, and while fivepence a quart in
London it is a penny a quart in Cork. Why not bring
the demand and the supply together? As to boiling off
the water, the writer can scarcely have calculated the
cost in fuel of boiling down a few thousand gallons of
milk, a process which, besides requiring fire, demands
the watchfulness of many men. Preserved milk is used
in the navy, but it is not cheap, and to affect prices in
London we should need to create • new and very great
trade. Our own eouutry district could supply us with
the fre.h article, and milk trains are, we suspect, our
only chance.
THE BEE INVASION.—The proprietor of the fruiterer's
shop at Oban, recently invaded by bees, writing a few
days later, says :--"Sinee the notice of the invasion of
my shop by biies the annoyance has continued, though
I have smoked the premises every day. Yesterday, the
young woman who keeps the shop had to shut up and
take herself off, as the bees were enusually moss, and
prone to use their stings. Indeed, I was myself afraid,
during the afternoon, to enter the passage leading to
the back shop, and the publio outside had difficulty in
moving along, owing to the swarms of bees, which,
round the door and windows, were literally in clouds.
In spite of the free use of brimstone, they tried to force
themselves through the keyhole and shutter-bolt holes.
After I had done with the smoking process the shop
was opened, but in two hours the enemy had full
possession of the premises. I closed and smoked again,
which finished the work for that day. This morning at
half-past seven I opened as usual, but before nine o'clock
I had to ran with all the skeps, mugs, and plates of
honey out of the shop into a back store, and to plug up
every hole through which air could penetrate. While
so engaged I was attacked by the bees, who stung me
through my cap and veiL To-day I again smoked the
shop, which, since the removal of the honey, has not
been so much run upon."

A NenoyAL Portrait Exhibition is to be opened al
Kensington in April, 1866.
THE SPZAHUSHIP 01 THZ House OF COMIGNB.
A rather startling rumour has been currant for mayoral
days here that the Lord Advocate is to be Speaker of
the House of Coramons.—EdinbargA Courant.
IN LUCK'S WAY.—In the course of the recent civil
war, and in less than three years, the town of Win-
chester, Virginia, was occupied 48 times by Union
troops and 27 times by Confederate troops, making 75
time. One part of it was occupied by both sides in
battle, making 76 times in all.

AFFAIRS MATRIMONIAL IN AM:BIOL.—An American
piper states that reoently, there being • delay of two
hours on the Troy and Boston Railword, two young
men in the oars proposed to two young ladies and a
clergyman being al band they were married on the spot.
On the 16th ult., a judge of the Supreme Court of New
York heard • case in which a writ had been issued at
the suit of a young lady against the father of her
husband, a lad of 15 ,rho had left her • week after '
marriage. It was alfelied that the father had sent Lim
out of the way, and had it in his power to recall him,
and the application was that the father should restore
him to his wife. But the judge refused to make any
such order, es the husband was a boy old enough to go
about nuat6aodad, and of his own free will.