The Sun.
London, England, 1837-03-13 00:00:00

DESTITUTION IN SHETLAND.

EXTRACT FROM MINUTES OF THE SYNOD OF SHETLAND.
LERWICK, JAN. 12.—Your Committee having maturely
considered the reports submitted to the Synod on the state
of the several parishes in Shetland, lament to find that in
some districts the scanty produce of the late harvest is al-
ready consumed ; that in a few months the whole food at
present in these-islands will be exhausted ; and that, from
various conspiring causes, the great body of the labouring
classes are destitute of the means of purchasing the
necessaries of life. Of the fourteen parishes into which
the Shetland islands are divided, it appears that, in one
, parish, containing 2,909 inhabitants, the present crop, in
eluding grain and potatoes, will not furnish sustenance
for more than two months—that in six parishes, containing
11,891 inhabitants, there is sustenance for only four months ;
that in two parishes, containing 4,900 inhabitants, there
is sustenance for only five months—that in three pa-
rishes, containing 6,548 inhabitants, there is sustenance
for only six months—that in one parish, containing
950 inhabitants, there is sustenance for seven months.—
and that, from the remaining parish (Sandsting), containing
2,194 inhabitants, no report has been laid before the Synod,
though it is well known that in it also there is a great defi-
ciency. With reference, however, to 13 parishes, the fore-
going abstract shows the appalling result—that, when the
produce of the crop is averaged, 27,198 people have not
food sufficient to support life during five months of the year.
The inability of the people to purchase grain for their
maintenance during the remaining seven months of the year,
arises from a combination of unpropitious circumstances,
by which their earnings have been abridged, and their
means exhausted in the course of the last two years. In
1835, the crops in Shetland were fully as deficient as those
in the Hebrides ; the ling fishing failed ; the herring fish-
ing along the whole east and north coast of Shetland
was unproductive ; the whale fishery was worse than
unproductive ; and during the succeeding winter an unpre-
cedented mortality among their sheep, horses, and cattle,
swept off nearly the whole of their stocks. In 1836, the ling
fishing was again unproductive, while the whale fishery and
the herring fishing were total failures. And thus all who
engage in these pursuits, that is, nearly the whole male po-
pulation of these islands, instead of improving their circum-
stances, which the preceding year had so grievously impaired,
were involved in still greater difficulties, and rendered alto-
gether unable to help themselves under this second failure
of their crops which has taken place.—Edinburgh Courant.
STRIKING PICTURE OF MISERY.—The inhabitants of
the Isle of Skye are suffering deplorably during the present
snow-storm and frost, from want of fuel. The unfavourable
weather destroyed their peats, and they neither have money
nor opportunities to purchase coals or wood. In this ex-
tremity, the poor people have lately in some places been
driven to consume their turf huts and cottages for fire !
They meet and draw lots whose house is to be taken down
for fuel, and afterwards in the same manner determine which
of their number is to maintain the poor family deprived of
their home. Almost shut up by the stormy elements—
crowding round their miserable fire thus scantily and pain-
fully supplied—and with only, at long intervals, a handful
of oatmeal or potatoes—we know not that the history of
the British people ever presented such pictures of severe
unmitigated want and misery, as are exemplified at this mo-
ment in the case of the poor highlanders.—lnverness Courier.

GARDENING OPERATIONS FOR

THE WEEK.

(From the Gardeners' Gazette. )
In the Green-house and Conservatory it will be necessary to
have occasional fires, to get rid of the damp which will now be
fatal to tender plants, if allowed to accumulate ; and this cau-
tion is the more necessary as the mildness of the weather might
otherwise induce neglect of this important subject. If the
weather prove warm and wet, the windows may be opened a
little, even while the fire is going. If the sun shines much, of
course there will be no need of fire; but a fire may be quite
as necessary with the glass at 50, with no sun, and consider-
able wet, as it would be with the glass at 32. There is as
much mischief done with damp as with frost.
TULIPS should now be covered from the wet if practicable ;
it lodges in the heart of the plant, and lays some, injuring im-
perceptibly the embryo bud, and frequently destroying the
bloom altogether. It is a good plan to have a cloth (of simi-
lar material to that over the roof in blooming time) just wide
enough to cover the hoops or irons for it turns off all the wet,
while mats are but a partial protection from rain, besides, if
the rain gets to the bud after you have loosened the mould,
you will have all your work to do again : cover at night suffi-
cient to keep off rain, be the weather what it may. &mode-
rate frost does not injure a tulip in its present stage if it be not
wet.

At RICULAS.—The blooms of many begin to advance so
much that you can no longer sprinkle the plants safely, there-
fore carefully water them without touching the foliage, and
examine every pot that looks more moist than the others, to
sae if the drainage be good. Be careful to keep them from
the violent wind, by some artificial shelter, for it is necessary
to give. them all the air you can on mild days. Any that ad-
vance to show the colour of the blooms may be placed under
a hand glass in a sheltered situation, the glass being raised
six inches from the ground.
DAIILIAS.—The amateur who has began, or is about to start,
in Dahlias, will find that the shoots which arc broken out with
the finger and thumb, instead of cut off, will strike root
quicker, and make better plants. If the precise state at which
this is to be done be not observed, there may be the less plants
propagated, but there will be more than enough for any ama-
teur by these means. _ _

CAI NATIONS may now be potted, if you have the means of
protecting the larger pots from excessive rain and frost. The
soil in which these are bloomed cannot be too rich, but the
dung in it must be thoroughly decomposed as to become
mould, half good rich loam, and half decomposed leaves or
cow-dung, with sand sufficient to counteract any stiffness, and
allow water to go through it, will be found extremely good.
The pots should be twelve to the cast. If you have not room
to protect them in large pots, better delay a week or two.
PINK beds may be top dressed with good decomposed dung,
the earth being first stirred between them.
CALCEOLARIES, established plants of the shrubby kind now
begin to grow ; if they be not tied to small sticks as they ad-
vance, training them will be a very troublesome job ; there
should be a very light stick to each main shoot. The herba-
ceous kinds as they advance require the same assistance, but
have not a quarter so many shoots.
Rosas.—Prune them now close, the garden kinds espe-
cially, select the strongest wood a year old, and cut down to
the last bud or the last two, and wherever you can spare it
cut the old wood clean out. The china sorts you may either
cut into any form you wish, or if you want show flowers, those
should be cut very close alio.
Garden roses may be propagated by Grafting, and especially
as the cuttings would otherwise be wasted, but the china and
noissette kinds strike so freely, that the cuttings may be placed
under a hand-glass in the open garden, under a north or east
wall.

Cabbage and Cauliflower plants may now be put out for a
general crop.
Brocoli, Cauliflower, Savoys, and Cabbages of all kinds
may be sown.
Lettuces may be planted out every week to succeed each
other; sow also for a succession.

Peas and Beans for general crop may be got in tire first fa-
vourable day, if not done before.
Endive, selccttoine of the best plants for seed, and sow
endive. -

In the stove keep the plants well syringed, once or twice a
day. The facilities for doing this easily and effectually are
great.
Look well to past directions, and see if you have omitted
anything ; if you have, lose no time.

The Duke of Palmella, accompanied by his two
sons, the Marquis of Fayal and Don Rodrigo de Sousa, are
making a tour in the manufacturing districts.
Mozart was fond of saying, " Give me the Bohe-
mians, they comprehend me." This great compliment has
been long appreciated, but it is only now that some return is
about to be made for it. The people of Prague, to which city
the great composer was particularly partial, are about to erect
a monument to his memory.
Yesterday the Rev. Dr. Macleod, Moderator of the
General Assembly of the Kirk of Scotland, now in town, ad-
vocating the cause of the starving Highlanders, preached a
Gaelic sermon in the National Church. The congregation
was very large and respectable, but, whether from a desire to
avoid the appearance of ostentation on the Sabbath, we did not
observe any of the carriages of the Highland gentry, who
doubtless attended on so interesting an occasion. The Mode-
rator's eloquence in both languages is well known, and on this
occasion he powerfully arrested the attention of his hearers.
Dr. Macleod is a strenuous advocate for imparting instruction
by means of the Gaelic, and after it has been so completely
proved that the attempt to teach through the medium of the
English, when that language was not understood, it is hoped
that a different system will be pursued, and both schoolmasters
and clergymen perform their duties in the mother tongue of
those who are unacquainted with any other.
THE DIVORCED.—BY LADY CHARLOTTE
Bur.—" The works of this distinguished Authoress always
afford us both amusement and instruction. Like Mrs. Inch-
bald, she has the art of exciting strong sympathy by following
the course of the natural passions ; whilst, from her knowledge
of life and manners, she fills her canvass with a greater variety,
and more pleasing objects. The present charming work is,
perhaps, one of Lady Bury's best productions ; the story is
simple and affecting, and makes its progress through a course
of well-contrived incidents, and characters, always pleasing,
and often striking."—Bell's Messenger.
Mr. Campbell was justly-reproached many years ago
by his fellow-poet, Lord Byron, with having " written too
little." After a long lapse of time, the reproach still holds
good; indeed, the grace, simplicity, and purity of style by
which his " Letters from the South" (just published) are dis-
tinguished, corahined with the intrinsic worth of the opinions
expressed upon subjects of the gravest interest to most readers,
the force and freshness of the descriptive parts of them—the
extent of the information conveyed, and the sense of truth and
accuracy which is everywhere a characteristic of the wotk,
unite in giving a double point to this reproach. In short, what
was true of the poet is true of the prose writer ; and the new
charge to be brought against Mr. Campbell is, that he has not
contrived to travel east, west, and north, with the laudable de-
sign of doing justice to his brilliant powers, by writing Letters
from than all. —Court Journal.