The Sun.
London, England, 1863-01-08 00:00:00

IRELAND.

DUBLIN, JAN. 7.

At the monthly meeting of the Cork Agricultural
Society, held on Saturday, there was a very able dis-
cussion on the cultivation of flax in the south of
Ireland. There was a strong diffLrance of opinion
as to whether the crop would be remunerative or
j not. Lord Bandon occupied the chair. A letter
from Mr. O'Kearney White, Lord Fermoy's agent,
was read, in which he expressed doubts of the pro-
priety of encouraging the cultivation in poor soils,
remote from market towns. Professor Murphy
read a valuable report, and moved the appointment
of a committee to inquire into the subject, which was
seconded by Col. Beamish. Mr. Charles Beamish
argued strongly against the expediency of the culti-
vation. Flax is a precarious crop, and it exhausts
the soil more than any crop. The people have
not the means or the art of converting it into a
merchantable commodity. About tea years ego
Mr. Dargan got up a factory at Drinagh Mountain,
and abandoned it after spending £lO,OOO upon the
experiment. Lord Fermoy, in his turn, took u 1)
the mill, and adopted every means of stimulating
the growth of flax, as Mr. Dargan had done, but
they had heard
nothing of his lordship's success.
Mr. Maguire, Mayor of Cork, replied very effec-
tively to Mr. Beamish. He was obliged to come to
the conclusion that the potato was a crop that could
no longer be relied on. The oats had been inferior
for some time, and wheat likewise. If there were
three more seasons like the last three he would ad-
vise every man, woman, and child to leave the
country. Something must be done, and that imea,
diately. They had the authority of Sir Robert Kano
that the crop was not exhausting, and that, in fact,
it takes from the soil only what other crops do
not want. This country produces only one-third of
the flax consumed in Ulster, there would therefore
be always a ready market in Belfast. He there-
fore concluded that the cultivation of flax should be
encourged by the landlords, and that the necessary
mills should be provided. At all events, there should
be inquiry to ascertain what was best to be done.
Heconcluded by offering £25 as a premium for the
best crop of flax. Lord Bandon, President of the
Munster Flax Society, took the same view as Mr.
Maguire, and gave some valuable information on the
subject. The resolution proposed by Professor
Murphy, appointing a committee, was passed
unanimously.
A great dog case came before the magistrates at
the Lucan Petty Sessions on Tuesday. On Sunday
the 21st of December about 500 persons on 60 or 70
cars drove out from Coles-lane and other dirty
purlieus in Dublin to a place called Milltown, near
Lucan, in order to witness a dog fight which ex-
cited immense interest. Thirty-eight summonses
had been issued on behalf of the Society for the
Prevention of Cruelty to Animals, and the par-
ties appeared accompanied by great numbers be
the dog-fighting fraternity and their sympathi-
zers, who employed counsel for the defence.
Sub-Inspector Gunn deposed that he saw
the dogs fighting ; that the crowd, many
of them half drunk, were very violent
in preventing his interfering ; that they
forced him out of the field, shouting and brandish..
ing their sticks. Head-constable Nolan deposed
that the dogs were kept fighting, round after round,
till they were dreadfully cut and injured and their
heads covered with blood. There were regular
" handlers," who examined the dogs' mouths, and a
timekeeper held a watch in his hand. At length
one of the dogs, utterly beaten and exhausted, re-
fused to fight any more, The offence charged in
the summonses was cruelty to animals, under the
second section of the Act. The third section re-
lated to parties keeping a place where animals
were made to fight. There was considerable dis-
cussion between the counsel, Mr. Curran and Mr.
Purcell, as to the jurisdiction of the court. The
k magistrates, Mr. Vesey and Mr. Clarke, decided
that they had jurisdiction, and the court ordered
two of the ringleaders, Coggin and Ruth, to be im-
prisoned for three months without the alternative
of a fine, Mr. Curran gave notice of an appeal to
the Court of Common Pleas, and pending the ap-
peal the prisoners may go out on bail. A number
of persons assisting were fined half-a-crown, with
costs.

The Earl of Darnley is the owner of a large tract
of land in the fertile county of Meath. His tenants
are said to be for the most part independent gentle-
lainveidPuroptoenstathnets.estoOtneefoorf tsheevmer,alNlivr.Harso.pkiAnns,
mhaedn
advanced rent was lately put upon Lis extensive
grazing farm, which he declined to pay, and he
consequently got notice to quit, and has been
dispossessed. He has hen succeeded by another
Protestant gentlemen, Mr. Tottenham Alley, and
it is reported that the landlord insisted on his put-
ting out three cottier tenants. Mr. Alley had re-
ceived several threatening notices, which he sent to
the next police station, and the police were ordered
to patrol about his house from 8 o'clock each even-
ing. On Friday evening about 7 o'clock a blunder-
buss loaded with 12 slugs was discharged through
his dining-room when it was supposed he was at
dinner. The table lamp was broken and an oil
painting perforated by the shot. Mr. Alley and
his family had left the room but a moment before.
These facts are stated on the authority of a corre-
spondent of the Dublin Evening Post. The proba-
bility is that the Ribandmen have taken up the
cause of the cottiers.
The total amount subscribed by the officers and
others in the employment of the Great Southern
and Western Railway Company, for the distress in
Lancashire, is £255, of which £159 was contributed
by the engineering department, through Mr. Miller
the Company's engineer.

OUR DOING S.—What is there that the age has
not achieved, or is in the act of achieving ? What
department of human life has not taken a start which makes
the aspect of the world, as we remember it 50, 40, nay even
30 years ago, appear, in comparison with what the world
now is, like an antediluvian petrifaction P We run on
paddle-wheels over the boundless waste of waters, and put
the screw upon the mighty deep. We harness panting
steam to our waggons and our carriages, realizing
an iron ago of ceaseless locomotion. We track
the storm on its pathway, and hunt out meteors
in their erratic courses. We pierce the clouds in
balloons, and explore the bottom of the ocean in waterproof
armour. We make the sun and moon sit for their photo-
graphs, and en revanche turn the sun into a whole-ale land-
scape and portrait painter. 'We use the lightning as a swift
messenger, and employ the vacuum as an errand-boy. And
than either,
we are applying to our intellects and energies the stimulants
lest we should relax in the ardour of over fresh invention
indigenous in France has latelywu of pecuniary gain
not only of Scientific Congresses and International Exhibi-
tions, but more potent by fal.
erefsrt:rrni,,,°llsgpecimens of
and of commercial competition.—Church Review.
e whether
excited
dhisso
mfloewienrtei_s
The question 's
Tuurs.—
florists and botanists. In the neighbourhood
a wild variety, the tulipa syivestris of
Linngeus, are occasionally found. It is of a yellow colour,
and most frequently seen in the vineyards and parks. Some
think it indigenous, others assert that it is a degenerescence
of the cultivated variety (tulipa Gesneria), which was
brought to France from the East about the middle of the
16th century, and universally regarded as a novelty, none
of the botanists who wrote before that date having noticed
such a flower. Dodone.e knew only the Eastern tulip, and
was the first to give a passable drawing of it. The name
tulipa comes from the Turkish tuliband or the Persian
dulbend, a cap, from which also the word turban has been
formed. Conrad Gesner first directed attention to the tulip
which bears his name, not in his " Historia Plantarum,"
printed at Baden in 1541, but in the additions made by him
to the works of Valerius Cordes (in 1561). He says
"In April, 1559, I saw at-Augsburg, in the garden of 31-
flewart, a magistra to of that town, a plant called a " tulip,"
which was raised from seed brought from Constantinople, or
from Capadocia, as some say." About the same time it was
cultivated at Vienna, end towards the close of the century
several bulbs were sent to England. Every one knows th
in the 17th century this beautiful Sower became the object
of extensive trade in Holland, chiefly at Amsterdam,
llaarlem, Utrecht, Leyden, and Rotterdam. This
tulipomania was at its height from 1633 to
1637. Bulbs of the Viceroy species were then
(6,0L0fr.) and the Sernper Au-
gustuseono o
reachedris 5,500 florins (11,0001'r.). All
highest to the lowest then speculated in
oct eis
tulips,
ss
more
variety
fortfyrt
ohe3 even
a iloil
spirit of gambling than from any real
love for flowers. Time bargains were made in the tulip
market as there are now at the Bourse, and they were
settled, as now, by the payment of the difference in price,
and these dealings at last gave rise to so many abuses that
the authorities were obliged to interfere. There were, how-
ever, many eminent men at that timewho cultivated tulips,
and of the number were the celebrated Justus Lipsius, thes
philologist, who counted among his friends, Dodoxiea
Quilts, the greatest botanists of that age.