The Sun.
London, England, 1870-06-22 00:00:00

THE WEATHER AND THE CROPS.

At Poulton-le-Fylde both the wheat and grass crops
are looking well ; indeed, in the Fylde district the latter
will soon be ready for the scythe. Potatoes in the fields
are improving fast, and promise to be early and prolific in
their yield. There is every likelihood of an ample supply
of fruit in the gardens, and should nothing unexpected in-
tervene,we may fairly look for an early and plenteous sea-
son. An agricultural contemporary says :—Mangolds have
been saved by the tempest. It is too early at present to
pronounce upon the character of the corn crops. As usual
in a dry time, our correspondents write promisingly of
wheats upon well-farmed loams and upon well-drained
clays, and gloomily of wheat upon light soils. We believe
that the plant is generally too defective and the straw too
short to produce more than an average, even with the
most superb weather from this date to harvest time.
Referring to the rainfall of Thursday the Leeds Mercury
remarks it is to be feared that in some cases the showers
came too late to retrieve the appearance and yield of crops
ruined beyond redemption. These cases may be few and
far between, but still they will have some influence upon
the general result.

AN INCIDENT OF GERM kN MILITAR Y LIFE
A correspondent at Coblentz writes :—A painful im-
pression has been created here by the following incident.
Three soldiers of the line were undergoing a long
period of imprisonment in the fortress of Ehrenbreit•
stein for desertion. They had originally deserted at
Saarlouis and crossed the frontier into France, but,
on the persuasion of their families, had surrendered them-
selves to their regiment. Their term of punishment was
seven years, of which only six months had expired. Find-
ing their life, as is asserted, insupportable, they deter-
mined to drown themselves on the first favour-
able opportunity as a preferable fate. A few days
ago they were employed on the Carthause, the
fine plateau which separates the Rhine from the Moselle,
and it seemed a fitting moment to attempt their rash
enterprise. One sentry alone was in charge of them
and he witnessed their flight. He immediately fired
and brought one victim down dead, the bullet having
passed through his head. With extraordinary sang-
froid and determination he loaded a second time, and
again fired with fatal precision; the deserter fell dead,
pierced through the heart. Once more loading he fired at
the third fugitive, and the bullet passed completely through
his body, inflicting frightful injury to his intestines.
The unfortunate man was brought to the military
lazaretto in Coblenz, where he lies in a hopeless
condition. In military circles this melancholy catas-
trophe is regarded as a fitting retribution for a grave
breach of discipline, a view of the case not altogether
shared in by the civil portion of the community. One
thing is certain, the needle gun in the hands of a good
marksman is a sure and terrible weapon."

A. correspondent of the Irish Times states that a
British peerage has been offered, at the suggestion of the
Queen, to the Earl of Howth, and that it has been
accepted.
PERSEVERANCE.—Mr. Mundella, M.P., presided
at a meeting at Sheffield, for the purpose of presenting
prizes and certificates to the successful candidates at the
recent local examination in connection with the Cam-
bridge
University. In advising on the subject of the
success and the failure of the several candidates in the
examination, Mr. Mundella gave it as his opinion that the
next best thing to success was failure. He trusted
any present who had failed would not be dis-
couraged, but wouid try again, because after
all, the race was not to the swift at all times ; it
was to those who persevered. Perseverance had done
wondrous things in this world ; it had made some of our
greatest men. The speaker was dining with a distin-
guished artist a few days ago, and he said, " A short time
since I painted a portrait of Charles Dickens. It was
arranged that I should sit in his room while he was at
work. He was a most painstaking, industrious,
methodical man, and nothing would divert him from the
regularity of his habits. I was there for hours,
and sat again and again, and he wrote, as it seemed
to me, almost with anguish. T looked in his face,
and watched the anxiety and the care. I saw the blotting
and the re-writing of his works, and I was astonished to
find how much he owed to his indomitable perseverance."
Now, if this held true of a genius whom we might suppose
to be most rapid in his writing, and who was undoubtedly
most brilliant, how must it hold true of those who are not
in possession of such great natural ability?