The Sun.
London, England, 1869-09-08 00:00:00

THE HARVEST.

Correspondents from Yorkshire complain that the
importance of early cutting is not generally recognised in
that county. Where wheat is allowed to become dead
ripe before it is cot, there is an increase of
bran at the expense of the flour. The grain
when fully ripe is more exposed to the influence of
weather and the feeding value of the straw is affected. The
use of machinery in harvesting has greatly facilitated the
process, saving both time and money. There are two
kinds of reaping machines—one which is called a mannat
machine, in which the cut corn is raked off by an atten•
dant, and one in which the corn is both cut and
delivered automatically. Each kind has its special
advantage, and a combination of the two principles was
exhibited at Plymouth some time since. The methods of
securing the harvest differ greatly in different parts
of the country. In Yorkshire men are engaged foi
a month, and are well paid. It is not unusual to give
a good labourer from 3s. 6d. to 4s. 6d. a day, in addition
to food and lodgings, but, in such a case, be is expected tc
work early and late. In Norfolk, and Suffolk, each hand
is allotted so many acres of corn to cut and carry,
receiving a fixed sum whatever the time occupied.
This plan is said to work well as the men
have an incentive to despatch. Last week was
a very favourable one for the harvest throughout
the country. Accounts from the East of Scotland
state that no one remembers a finer harvest in the way of
weather. It is curious, after this, to find Gloucestershire
complaining of frosty nights. The general accounts
are, however, favourable; and the Mark-lane Express
pronounces the country to be now safe. So much has
been said of the ravages of insects among ourselves that
it is interesting to notice the complaints of our con-
tinental neighbours in this respect. The destruc-
tion of cockchafers is a regular business in
some parts of France. The General Council
of the Seine Inferieure has during the last three
years set aside a sum of money to encourage the destruc-
tion of white worms and cockchafers. In 1868 the actual
payment for this aurpose was £BO, but the allocation for
1870 is carried to -£6OO, and many perons hope this
credit will he completely exhausted. The Seine
Inferieure seems, notwithstanding this liberality, to suffer
severely from these winged invaders, for we find the
councils of arrondissements and agricultural societies of
the department uniting in the wish that the destruction
of cockchafers shall be rendered compulsory.

RIR WILLIAM AI?MSTRONG ON WORKING
MEN'S AND MECHANICS' INSTITUTES.

Sir William Armstrong presided on Monday over the
annual meeting of the Northern Union of Mechanics'
Institutes, held in Newcastle. In his opening address he
expressed surprise that mechanics' institutes failed as they
did to lay hold of the working man. They opened, he
thought, a way out of the road of a degrading course of
life. The neglect shewn to them was caused,
he thought, by the want of education among the
classes for whom such institutions were intended.
"To men who can neither read nor write Mechanics'
Institutes can have no attractions whatever, and I sus-
pect that if all working men were to stand up for exami-
nation in reading and writing, it would be found
that while absolute impossibility to do either
would be rare, comparatively few would prove
qualified to read and write with such ease and fluency
as to make either reading or writing a matter of pleasure
rather than a matter of labour. Only let us have
reading and writing thoroughly taught at school, and men
will then be in a position to realise the pleasures and ad-
vantages offered by mechanics' institutes. The question
of elementary education is therefore intimately mixed up
with the progress of mechanics' institutes, and I conceive
there is no question which can engage the attention of
Parliament of such vital importance as that of a national
system of rudimentary education. Even if it went no
further than a thorough teaching of reading and writing,
it would confer inestimable benefits upon the people. If a
compulsory system of education be inadmissable, let us at
all events remove from careless, selfish parents every
temptation to keep their children from school. Let us
take care that they do not save their pockets, or other-
wise benefit themselves, by keeping their children
at home, or sending them prematurely to trade. Let
us sweep away all those impediments to school edu-
cation which arise from difference of religious
opinion, and let us leave to parents, however poor and
ignorant, no possible excuse for preventing their children
from acquiring the precious advantages of education."
In conclusion, Sir William advised all large firms to do
as he had done, establish mechanics institutes with
schools attached ; so that in the schools the children
might learn, in the institutes the men might find intellec-
tual amusement and obtain culture. The amount of the
schooling might be taken out of the men's wages.

In Massachusetts, last year, 170 persons changed
their names, not including brides.

During the past week large quantities of fish
which are peculiar to the tropical regions have been seen
alone the southern coast of Ireland. Shoals of the bonita,
the dolphin, sword-fish, and other species are observed.
This visit is attributed to the unusual warmth of the
weather in this latitude.

THE PRINCE NAPOLEON AND THE COBDEN CLUB.
—Some of our readers may be interested in knowing that
the Prince Napoleon (Jerome) wai elected in July last an
honorary member of the Cobden Club. In a cordial letter
to the honorary secretary, Mr. T. B. Potter, M.P., his
Imperial Highness warmly expressed his sympathy with
the international. Objects of the club.—Daily News.

- - --
A fine sample of French criticism is given by a
M. de OetTey, in a periodical edited by M. Arsene
Houssaye., The subject in hand is a volume of lyric
poems by M. Fridolin Werm, who is especially praised
for his thoroughly German-like poem, "We are Seven."
As a/German composer " lifted " " The Last Rose of
Summer " to his side of the Rhine, why should not M.
Wtrm take his good things where he can find them?
THE DUNKELD BRIDGE TOLL DISPUTE.—The
Dunkeld Bridge nuisance has culminated in a most
wanton outrage. The well - known Hermitage within
the Atholeipolieies at Dunkeld was on Sunday night
blown up"-by gunpowder, and the beautiful building is
now a. mass of unsightly ruins. The Rebeccaites
richly/ deserve to be defeated on the postage question
after such a piece of vandalism.l'rtit British Daily

Mr. Alderman Crewdson, a Manchester magis-
trale, on llonday granted a warrant for the apprehension of
Michael Gallagher, "minister, Reformed Church, Milton-
Ftyeet, off Moss-lane, Stretford-road," for having on Sundt.,
according to the information of Mr. F. Hutton, one of
the wardens of the church of St. John-the-Baptist, Llultne,
Leen " guilty of riotous, violent, and indecent behaviour."
The proceedings arose out of the disturbances which took
}lwo at tho above-named church on Sunday.

AN ANECDOTE OF PRESIDENT GRANT. -- At
Nashua, N. IL, on Wednesday, just as the train was
starting off, President Grant noticed a little girl vainly
endeavouring to get to the car, that she might shake
llamas with him. The child in her disappointment burst
into tears, and the President, pointing to her, asked some
one to bring her to him. Two men seized her, and hold-
ing her above their heads, rushed with her to the car, and
the General had just time to embrace her with both hands,
when the train bore him rapidly away. Many of the
crowd saw the act, and their parting cheers broke forth
anew.—New York Tina:, August 27.

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