The Sun.
London, England, 1863-08-05 00:00:00

Odd Fellows' Fete at the Crystal Palace.

The annnal fete of the the venous lodges of the Manches-
ter Unity, forming what are termed the London districts,
took place yesterday in the People's Palac,?, at Sydenham.
A large number of visitors were expected to be present, con-
sequently the directors bad the doors opened as early as 8
o'clock in the morning, and they were kept open for admis-
sion until the same hour at night. This was a very wise
course, as it prevented a repetition of such crowding and
squeezing as frequently occurred on previous occasions.
The roads lending to the Palace—especially at Dulwich
—where most of the parties halted to pay a flying visit to
the Greyhound, were literally crowded with vehicles, most
of the male occupants boing dressed in rich regalia. Upon
taking the first return at 3 o'clock it was found that 23,393
Persons had passed through the turnstiles, and even then
they continu d to flock in in large numbers, until at last the
total visitors reached 27,826.

The entertainments yesterday were admirably arrenge d
by the committee—comprising amongst the most active, Mr.
Burgess, the grand master of the whole order, and C.S. of
the South London district, G. M. Mann, S. L. D. Bell, D.
G. M. GritEn, P. G. Backster, P. G. Rough, P. U.
P. G. Stevens, D. G. M. Mitchel, G. M. of the North Lon-
don district, Brockman, 0. M. of the Stepney district, and
Newman, C. 0. of the Pimlico district—and had it nut been
for the crowd pressing forward at one part of the day with
great force could not have failed in giving satisfaction to the
many thousands assembled together. One mishap, and only
one, took place during the day, but that might have been
attended with very serious consequences. A procession of
probably a mile in length, consisting of members with flags,
was formed. After passing along the gardens and terraces,
each band playing, the parties repaired in front of the stage
erected for Mr. Nelson Lee's entertainment. The back of
the stage was filled by the London Irish Volunteers' Band,
and the front was staked and roped off, but so great was
the pressure from the crowd that some of the poles were
broken, the ropes thrown down, and parties, to avoid be-
in g trampled upon, rushed upon the stage and the space
behind. M. Chapino's ballet troupe managed to get
through their Chinese divertissement in a manner to elicit
the applause of as many thousands as could get near enough
to see them. Mr. Mackney, who had been advertised to
appear as well as Sam Collins, were both at their posts at
the appointed time, but in order to get to the platform both
gentlemen had to force their way through an immense mass
of people. Mackney managed to get upon the stage, but the
crowd increased to such an extent that the rifle band was
obliged to hold their drums and brass instruments over the
people's heads to save them from being broken, and

MackLey found that the place was so crammed that it was
impossible to go through his performances. Mr. Nelson
Lee tried with all his humorous and persuasive powers for
the crowd to make way, but without success, and conse-
quently he was obliged to leave the stage, and so was Sam
Collins. The former, in leaving, got much bruised and
roughly handled, though not purposely.
Military sports of the Foot and Life Guards, fencing and

broad-sw-ordexercise by the 2d Life Guards, dancing and
tae grand organ and orchestral performances, ended the
day's amusement.

The Archaeological Institute of Great
Britain and Ireland.

The concluding meeting of the Institute, which has been
occupied in its sittings at Rochester for an entire week, was
held yesterday, when there was again a large attendance,
the proceedings retaining their interest to the last. The
Marquis Camden, K.G., presided, and was supported
by Sir It. Kirby, Lord Neaves, the Mayor of Rochester, the
Provost of Oriel. the Rev. Mr. Hartshorne, Mr. Reach
Smith, and other distinguished archaeologists. On Monday
evening the sections assembled in the County Court, when
an interesting communication was made by Mr. J. G.
Waller on " the Sepulchral Brasses in Kent," and
the fine collection of brasses of the Cobham family, in Cob-
ham Church, as well as the brasses in various other churches
in the county of Kent, were very fully described. A paper
was also read by Mr. W. Warwick on " The Poet Gower,
and his probable connection with the County of Kent."
At the meeting of the sections of History and of Early and
Medieval Antiquities, held yesterday morning, the first
paper read was by the Rev. W. Stubbs, M.A., librarian
to Archbishop of Canterbury, " On the Ancient Con-
nection between the Sees of Canterbury and Roches-
ter." In the course of an interesting paper Mr. Stubbs
traced the intimate connection which from the earliest
recorded period always existed between the two sees,
Rochester being the see of the first suffragan bishop in Eng-
land, as well as the see of the first English bishop in the
person of Ithamar, who held the see from 644 to 655, and
was buried in Rochester Cathedral. Mr. Stubbs also gave
other interesting particulars of the See of Rochester, which
for many centuries was always considered next in import-
ance to that of Canterbury, while the Bishops of Rochester
occasionally assisted as Archbishops of Canterbury. The
next paper was by Mr. J. Burtt, Assistant Keeper of
Public Records, on " The Archives of Rochester ;" when
some interesting facts were given of the ancient charters
granted to the city by King Henry 11. and succeeding
sovereigns, all of which are exhibited in the museum of the
Institute. At the termination of the sitting of the section,
the Rev. C. H. Hartshorne, M.A,, conducted the members
of the Institute over Rochester Castle, and explained the
chief points of interest in connexion with that remark-
able Norman edifice. Contrary to the usually accepted
belief, Mr. Hartshorne altogether ignores the claims of
Bishop Gundulph to being the builder of the present
edifice, which, from documentary evidence recently dis-
covered, there is little doubt was erected by William
Corbyl, Archbishop of Canterbury, between the years 1126
and 1139. With the exception of Dover Castle—which,
according to ancient records, was erected at an expense
of £l,2oo—the keep at Rochester Castle was the largest in
England, that at Castle Rising being the third in size, while
in point of beauty and grandeur Rochester Castle surpassed
them all. The members of the Institute afterwards re-
assembled in the Guildhall, when the names of several
new members were announced, including the Earl of
Darnley, the Earl of Mansfield, M. Maury, the French
archaeologist, &c. The Marquis Camden proposed a vote
of thanks to the Mayor and corporation of Rochester for
their kindness in placing all the public buildings in the
city at the disposal of the Institute during its sitting.
Lord Neaves also proposed a vote of thanks to the Kent
Archeological Society for the co-operation of that body in
the proceedings of the Institute, and for contributing so
many valuable articles to the museum. Complimentaty
addresses were also delivered by Professor Willis and the
Provost of Oriel ; and a cordial vote of thanks to the
Marquis Camden for presiding over the meetings
of the Institute during the week brought the
proceedings to a close. In the afternoon a large number of
the members of the Institute paid a visit to Cooling Castle
and Clitle Church, in which two synods are stated to have
been held during the Saxon period. A portion of the mem-
bers also visited Upnor Castle, erected for the better pro-
tection of Chatham Dockyard during the reign of Eliza-
beth. The proceedings of a most agreeable week were
brought to a close last evening, and the congress then
broke up.

COTTON CULTIVATION IN BRITISH BURHAM
The government of India has published a brief repor
of an experiment in cotton cultivation in British Thirmah in
1862-63. Tho experiment was on a very small scale cer-
tainly, too small, we should think, to be of value for any
practical purpose, or to test fairly the capabilities of the
district for the profitable cultivation of the plant for com-
mercial purposes. Four acres of ground were cleared of
elephrnt grass in May, 1862, near a village on the banks
of the Boben stream. Three and a half acres were sowntie
with seed of the New Orleans and Egyptian variwe
.h
(which were unfortunately mixed), and half an acre
n d
Sea Island seed. The seed was all the produce of last
ir year's
June
ne
cultivation, the sowings took place partly irl
and in
partly in July. The. Sea Island cotton entirely,failed in 13urmah.
no instances, says the report has it succeededOctober, before
The pods of the other sorts ripened
the rains had ceased, but great ceret:
Co as to keep it
was taken to pick
the cotton immediately the pods
.bnuternedent was sent to the
from damp. An European su
spot to superintend thefrom the three and a half
pickings Which continued up to the
end of November, The first crop
seed ;
a small second
acres yielded 6751 b• of _
_ cotton
areb, with
1863, when 1501 b, more
crop was picked up in N a total for the year of
were collected, making
gioy 2041 b. of cleaned cotton were
8251 b. After ginning, proportion of about 21b. uneleaned
obtained, which
appears the seed sown in June did nut
to 11b. cle:l::ths
s r.pc:itasgown in July, which is accounted
produce n much
too early when the rains were
for partly by it i
, partly because the ground was not so well pre-
still heavy second sowing was
pared, and by an overseer who knew something of the
partly because the July or
its treatment, from a residence
superintendedit and
eotten P-an
in the Southern States of America. incessant rain,
it is said, prevented his superintending the first sow-
ing. The result of the experiment is stated to be that
cotton will grow, but the experiment is very incomplete,
~as failures arise from accident, such as bad seed and
want of proper superintendence, if the localities chosen
for experiment arc distant and difficultchoon
for the seat ofof
access." It is proposed, however, next year to try expe-
riments to test whether it can hbe grown for profit,
d
" whether later sowing, so as to ensure the heavy rains
being ended before the picking
more fruitful results." fheel begins,
t such will not give
obtainede being the utter failure °f etrimn
the
esea,
Island
as
seedit
'.lh report closes by stating that "some seed has been
given to an overseer who works in the forest, and who is
anxious to try an experiment of his own on a larger scale,
to
see whether the plant will thrive with a minimum
amount of labour spent upon it, and thus be made remu-
nerative." We should have thought the Government, if it
did anything at all in the matter itself, would have done
it on a larger scale, and taken a great deal more pains to
ensure the success of what it did undertake. Judging
from the proceedings of Government in the present case,
from its own report of a very meagre experiment, that
is, seems hardly to have had a fair trial, for the
brief report on the subject admits ignorant and im-
perfect superintendence, and that the various varieties
of seed used were hopelessly mixed together, so that
it was impossible to say whether one kind of RINI,
would do better than another the only patent result
experiment clearly failed from the want of precautions most
an without whic
essentil to secure an chance of succss,
failurea y might have been looked one as cedrtain.— Bo bah
casette.