The Sun.
London, England, 1871-01-18 00:00:00

E UIN, LONDoiN WE DNESDA Y, JAN UARY 16, 1 0,1.

as we call out Militia for twenty-eight days' training
only per annum, it is inevitable that there should
be a great waste of power and a useless
expenditure. The artillery sergeant instructors
deteriorate for want of practice. One of these men
is now keeping a co-operative store at Woolwich ;
another is working in a flax mill; and this at a time
when our deficiency in artillery is notorious. Lord
Airlie proposes that at the end of the six mouths
training, as many men as are required to fill up
vacancies in the line should volunteer into it, ant the
others should return to their usual avocations, but being

liable to be called out for service under certain con-
tingencies. They would form the reserve battalions
of the line, and might be mustered twice a year
without interfering too much with their ordinary
work. Any scheme of military reform must, in Lord
Airlie's opinion, take the power of appointing militia
officers out of the hands of the Lord Lieutenants of
counties, and vest it in some one directly responsible.

which they might wish to keep private. It'
is i nportant that such practices should receive no
sort of oflicialsanction, and it is well that an attempt
to send county court notices by such means has been
checked. Registrars, it seems, have lately been for-
warding county court processes to each other by
bock post, but the 'I reasury has ordered all
registrars to send documents in closed envelopes.
The hint is required for some of our County Court
Judges, one of whom, in adjourning a case, directed
that the notice of adjournment should be sent to the
interested party by post-card, so as to save half the
postage. An officer of the Court pointed out that as the
postages of the Court are paid out of the Consolidated
Fund by the Treasury, nothing would. be saved to
the litigants, but the Consolidated Fund would save
a halfpenny at the expense of the Post Office. It
has been remarked that in a village shop, which is
often the local post office, a terrible amount, of gos-
sip might arise from the sight of a legal notice.
There is plenty of legitimate business for post cards
to do, without unduly revealing private concerns.

USE OF THE SUNFLOWER.

It is not generally known that our eommonEng-

lish plant,- the sunflower, posses many valuable
properties. Its cultivation is extremely useful
in marshy lands, as neutralising malaria;
and scientific men have recently called atten-
tion to this fact. In Russia and Germany

however, where it is largely cultivated, it is turned
to more immediate profit. Russian husbandmen
discovered that the seed contained 40 per cent. of a
sweet oil which is only second in value to olivo oil,
and a considerable profit is derived from it.
German farmers, learning this, have taken. up
the cultivation, and employ the oil as a lubricator
for delicate machinery as well as for household pur-
poses. The great increase of complex machinery makes
the supply of this kind of oil a matter of impor-

tance. Every part of the plant is, however, utilised.
The broad, strong leaves are turned into manure,
trom the sturdy stalk potash is made, and the
residuum becomes oil-cake for feeding cattle. Such
are the various uses of the sunflower. It is a singu-
larly hardy plant, growing readily in India as well as
in Russia. Our English agriculturists might profit
by the hint, and turn it to more account.