The Northern Daily Times.
Liverpool, Merseyside, England, 1857-05-22 00:00:00

THE COURT.

0.-IBORNE, ATAY 20:—Th • (II • tled iu the grounds
ear!y yesterday, and drov,3 it h

A Novn MODE OF IRRIGVION. The world is now and
again startled by the improvements and experiments mad e
by amateurs in the ancient science of agriculture, and,
strange to say, that in nearly all case 4 in which high far-
ming has been carried to a successful issue it has been
effected by hose not reared as farmers, blt by g?ntlernen
who have been engaged in the bastle of commercial enter•
price. The late Mr. Smith of Deans on, was a manufac-
turer, and by his restless efforts to reclaim waste land be-

came world fatuous. Mr. Sheriff Mechi, of the celebrated

Tiptree Farm, is a London merchant, and although
engaged much in both public and private
business, has leisure to show annually to

the githering noblemen and gentlemen at Tipt-ce
Hall what cen be done, when vigorou3ly gone

about, by the aid of artificial manures and gaol manage-
ment, to m .king what was formeirly a barren heath

blossom as the rose." It is only a few years since Mr.

Caird astonished the pnl)lic by exhibiting, in his pamphlet

on High Farming, the annual balauce sheet of Mr.

M'Culloch, of Auetiness, who, if we mistake not, was bred

an innkeeper in Ayr. One has only to g) to the foot of
the claseic Doon to see farming coud acted in the bightst
style of art—if we may borrow the term—by a merchant
la ply eng3ged in commerce. While these things have
been going on in various parts of the country, scarcely
any of the farmers around Glasgow have gone out
of the old jog.trot of their forefathers, but with
abundance of cheap manure to be had, and being
near good and ready markets, have been c -intent
to let well alone. This stigma, if it may be called so, has

been removed by a gentleman of this city, who, having a
little leisure in his old days, has resolved to devote his
remaining years, together with all his energy and skill, for
the benefit of his fellow•countrymen. He has, therefore,
commenced ;he cultivation of a model farm in the neigh-
bourhood of Govan, aril after trying the various qualities
of a large number of manures, both solid and liquid, the
idea occurred to him that what was good to stimulate
animal life might have an equal effect on the vegetable
kingdom. While cogitating on this novel scheme, he no
doubt hesitated as to the propriety of plants inhaling alchol
at unseasonable hours, as well as the immoral tendency it
would produce in the locality ; but as our experimentalist is

somewhat interested in the proper selection of the article,
he resolved to administer to each plant a different kind of
whisky. Day after day he may be seen winding his w y
down the Govan Road, with a flask filled with the r. al
,‘ mountain dew," and, on arriving at his " farm" carefully
applies the contents to the roots of alveral garden plants..
But these cabbages and cauliflowers are mere honoured
than any cabbages or cauliflowers were before, as one is
named G-lenlivet, after the name of the manure applied,
another Ben Nevis, Ardbeg, Cambelton entire, Adelphi,
plain malt, and so on, although some of his malicious
neighbours insinuate that he only follows the example of
the Irishman, who got from his master some whisky to
remove certain grease spots from 'a window he was eleani.ng,
swallowed the liquor, and then blew his breath on the
glass, saying, when questioned, "it was all the same "
This, of course, is only spleen, which all men must appa-
rently encounter who have e bkiness to chalk out a new
line of action for themselves. We have reason to know
that the " model farm" thrives apace ; that the new mode
of irrigation continues to prosper in one form or another,
and as his experiment must be interesting to our lig ieul-
tural readers, we shall watch its development, and make
them acquainted with the result. Vegetarians and total
abstainers must look with great anxiety on this experiment,
as they may anticipate that they will yet be made " glori Ale "
on vegetable diet, without in any way violating their sacred
pledges.
TESTIMONIAL TO A NEWSPAPER PROPRIETO R. —The
handsome testimonial latel.y saliccribed fo.. by noblemen,
magistrates, and other gentlemen connected with the
ewinty, but principally by the inhabctanTs .:f the city of
Gloucester, was presented to Mr. D. M. Wa'ker, magis-
trate of the c-ty, and proprietor of the Gloucester Journal,,
at the Kings's Head Eitel, on We lnesday lass, at a public
dinner. %V. P. Price, Esq , M.P., pest led, arid about a
hundred gentlemen were Present. The testimonial consists
of a silver Cellini vase, two silver caret jugs, a silver ink-
s'and, ,An I a dressing case—the whai valued at about
350 guineas.
PeasENT TO THE QUEEN FROM TUE KING OP PORTUO IL.
—His Majesty the King of Portugal has just sent over to
this country a present of cattle of a very p-cnliar breed
to her Mjesty Queen Victoria, consisting of a bull,
two heifers, and a bull calf. The animals are of the,
most perfect symmetry, and very diminutive, standing
scarcely forty inches ; they are of a dun colour, and
in flue condition. The cows are very docile, but the
bull, on being driven from the Station to Prince Albert's
model farm at Frogmore, where they are now installed,
exhibited a disposition rather the reverse of that of
his companions, by tossing an unfortunate donkey about
his own size which happened to come in his way.
These Lilliputian animals much resemble the Alderney'
or Jersey breed, but appear to be scarcely more than half
the size.

A HOLY RELIC.—The Correspandencia Autografas
Spanish paper contains the following curious announce-
ment :—" Yesterday, at five in the afternoon, took
place in the royal apartments the ceremony of placing the
nail possessed by the Chapel Royal—one of those which
suspended Jesus Christ—in the magni&ent and unequalled
reliquary that ht.r Majesty the Queen has had constructed
to replace that which was stolen when, on the 27th of May
of last year, the most holy nail disappeared. The ceremony
commenced by the benediction of the reliqu iry by the
Patriarch of the Indies. The reliquary being afterwards
placed in the oratory of the same royal habitation, the Pa' ri-
arch returned to the chapel, and,with all the clergy and music
of the same, conducted the ho!y nail
.in p:ocession to tho
royal apartment, where their Majesties, with her royal
Highness the Princess of. the. .Asturias and the Infanta
Donna Christina, were waning upon their knees, with the
chief officers of the palace, &c. The music Wu: ed tho
prayers which the church possesses even for such unusual
cases as this, and, the procession having reached the royal
chambir, the holy nail was placed in tho new reliquary,
and the officiating divine offered for adot alien this inesti-
mable instrument of our redemption, their majesties ador-
ing it first. Many persons of those present in the chapel
also adored it, and it was subsequently deposited in the
sacred place, where it is to be preserved, in spite of
sacrilegious hands, for the greater honour and glory of
God."

THE SEA SERPENT IN Tanex Bass—This marine men-
ster, about which there have been so many descriptions; by
" eye-witnesses" during the last few years, made its first
appearance in those waters on Monday afternoon. Whence
it came, or whither it went, we cannot say, but as it was
visible to many parties off Green Point, we must take theie
ocular demonstration to be "confirmation wens; a
Holy Writ." It would appear that between four aed five.
o'clock in the afternoon in question this extraor-
dinary and almost fabulous monster of the deep.
became visible cff Green Point Lighthouse. Ins,
George Murray, the keeper of the lighthouse,,.
who was one of those who first saw. the serpent, ims
mediately informed Dr. Biccard and family, who resided in
the neighbourhood, and the doctor and his son forthwith
"came and saw it," and did not " cot-spier ;" for although
they fired at the monster will a rifle, neither shot took
effect, the first falling :hot t about three) ards, and the second
going a couple of yards over the other side. At this mo-
ment the serpent dived aed remained under water about It)
minutes, after which itre-appeared, when Mr. Bicca. d, jun.,
again fired at it, but without sucress. After this the sea
serpent moved further out, but it remained in sight about
three-quarters of an hour. It is described by eye witnesses
as having an undulating motion, and wises its head was
uplifted from the water the under part of the throat was
evidently white, the remainder of the body being black.
No matte, as described by many traveSers who tell strange
tales, was visible about the back, the entire length of the
monster being, on the contrary, smooth. Such is the
description given of the sea serpent by those who saw . ott
Monday, and they further state that it was utterly impos-
sible fo, them to have been deceived, since not only did the
monster remain !,ff Green Point ter a long time, but it was
so near in shore as to satisfy all sceiricisin as to the exist-
ence of the sea serpent, the more especially to at some of
those who witnessed its movements were provided with
telescopfs. Altogether such evidence goes far to corro-
borate previous reports concerning this much talked-( f
monster, and we think it is pretty clearly esteblishEd that
such an :.nhabitant of the deep waters does exlst, ebbough
it is hard to say whether it is the identical sea serpent that
has for so long a period been the theme of dispute and
speculation.—Cape Monitor.