The Liverpool Standard and General Commercial Advertiser.
Liverpool, Merseyside, England, 1843-03-17 00:00:00

MR. COBDEN AND MR. BANKES

(From the speech of Mr. Bankes on Tuesday night.)

He had been asked by the hon. member what he intended
to say at the next agricultural dinner at Blandford. If he
hesitated to reply at all, it was only on the ground that he
had strong reasons for believing that the hon. member for
Stockport would be there himself— (laughter) and his
ground for this belief wastbat the hon. member in his speech
said, at the next agricultbral dinner, there would be " one
black sheep in company." (Laughter.) Having told him,
(Mr. Bankes) what the black sheep would say, he would tell
him (Mr. CobdenThis answer. The black sheep promised
that when he (Mr. Benkes) was talking of the "agricultural
sunshine gilding Ora-church, the palace. and the cottage,"
to add, " Yes, and the landlord's chimney." To this he,
(Mr Bankes) would rejoin, " Yes, and your factory chim-
neys, too—(laughter)—your tall, gawkey, ill-looking, un-
graceful factory chimney, which—'
" Pointing to the skies,

Like a tall bully lifts its head and—lies."
(Laughter.) That would be his answer; and if the hon.
member wished to hear more of the speech he was ready to
give it. (Cries of "Go on.") It would, at this dinner, be
his duty to rise and say—" We have this day been honoured
by the company of a distinguished individual, whose health I
am about to propose—(laughter),—and I shall have the less
difficulty in doing so because the party is no personal friend
of mine. (Renewed laughter.) He comes here as the son
of a farmer, as he has told us, descended from a long line of
Sussex yeomanry, he comes here in sheep's clothing to tell
you what he will tell you when his, time comes to respond to
the toast." (Laughter.) So much for the speech at the
Blandford dinner. The hon. member for Stockport put
another question, which it was his duty to return an answer
to. He said, " I put you on your defence, and I call on you
to prove the benefits which the corn laws have conferred on
agriculture ?" His answer was that with respect, to the
county be represented the benefit which had resulted was,
that thousands and thousand of acres, which otherwise would
never have been cultivated had no protection existed, were
brought into cultivation. (Hear, hear.) The labourers who
tilled these acres would never trive found employment—and
enclosures and appropriations of waste lands ware going on
and affording further opportunity for employing labourers,
until the time when a check to agriculture had taken place;
and he could further state, if some means were not found to
encourage and animate agriculture, and to give life and spirit
to the interest, that this source of employment would speedily
stop. (Hear, hear.) There was a time when, travelling
from his father's house to London, 100 miles of waste land
were to be seen. Bue now if the same ground were gone
over not ten miles could be found. What was the reason of
this difference ? There was no land formerly less encouraged
and more barren than the waste lands in Dorsetshire, Hamp-
shire, and Sussex, but now villages were springing up and
cottages were seen, where all heretofore was desolate heath.
The husbandmen were all deriving employment from the
soil, and he trusted they would find further employment
from this extended system of cultivation. There was one
point which he had neglected to set right in his previous
statement—it related to the poor lavi union where his pro-
perty was situated.' He had stated that the union embraced
a space of 14 square miles, and included a population of
about 16,000 souls, and that in the whole district there was
not one able-bodied labourer who received parish relief.
Since he had made this statement he had been informed that
there were two able-bodied labourers who had parish relief.
He had stated some of the advantages of the enclosure and
cultivation of waste lands ;—advantages which the honourable
member for Sheffield would check by his present inquiry.
(Hear, hear.)

THE NEW TARIFF.—The first importation of Dutch sal-
mon this season, under the new tariff, was brought over by
the Columbine steamer, from Rotterdam. They are of a
very fine quality, weighing from 361 b. to 401 b. each, and at-
tracted general notice on Monday in the city. A few hampers
of soles were also imported, weighing from Glb. to Sib. per
pair; some were as heavy as and particularly firm. A
very large quantity of Dutch salmon is expected this season,
as the Scotch fish are seldom caught till May. This is a
proof of the mildness of the weather in Holland. New pn-
tatoes ate very plentiful; several baskets have been brought
Over

—London-Paper.
PORTUGUESE TARIFF.--THE BUTTER TRADE.—The fol-
lowing letter has been addressed by the firm of Morrogh and
Walsh, of Lisbon, to their correspondent in Cork
" Lisbon, Feb. 27, 1843.
"My dear Sir,—l have reason to believe that the Portu-
guese government have at length submitted such proposals
to our government that they will be accepted, and that, there-
fore, we may look for the speedy conclusion of the Tariff
Convention. I know that a reduction on Butter from 50 to
30 res was proposed, and that will give your Butter an ad-
vantage of 20 res over that of Holland and Hambro' ; and if
this does not give you the exclusive supply, it will certainly
tend to diminish the imports of Butter from those places, and
more particularly from Holland, on account of the high cost
there.
" I flatter myself, therefore, that we may very confidently
look for an increased business between us; and, as to Beef
and Pork, I furnished Lord Howard de Walden, our Mi-
nister, with information thereon, and probably—indeed I
doubt not—there will be a reduction on the actual heavy
duty.
" A reduction will take place in England in the duty on
wines, and this will enable us to ship low priced wines. We
could send good white wine which could be afforded to be
sold, with profit at Is. 6d. per bottle, and we could also send
good and full bodied red wine at a less cost.—Reporter.
THE COAL TRADE OF THE NORTH OF ENGLAND•—OH
Saturday last a meeting, consisting of several hundreds of
pitmen, and attended by a band of music from Sheriff-hill,
Gateshead, and was held at Scaffold-hill, near Longbenton,
within five miles of Newcastle•upon-Tyne. Speeches were
made by several men of the locality, and by Mr. Cloughan'
(a Scotch delegate), Mr. Swallow (from Wakefield) and Mr.
Brophy (a Chartist lecturer). The condition of the pitmen
of the ryne and the Wear, which is now sorely depressed,
was depicted in forcible language ; and one of the speakers
(the Wakefield delegate) stated that he had been in commu-
nication with Lord Ashley, who was ready to support their
Cause if they would only be true to themselves, and had sent
him one of the Commissioners' Reports, containing statements
and pictures that must harrow up the feelings of every man
of common humanity. Resolutions were passed in favour or
a national union of coal-miners for the protection of their
interests; of the repeal of the export duty on coal ; and of the
retention of Lord Ashley's Mines and Collieries Bill unim-
paired. Thanks were then voted to the noble Lord for his
humane and zealous efforts to improve the condition of the
people.

. -
WONDERS WILL NEVER CEASE !—While our agricultu-
rists are eagerly discussing the comparative advantages of
particular soils, and studying the theory of manures as pro-
pounded by Sprengel and. Liebig, a countryman of these
distinguished professors comes forward to proclaim that
their labours are vain ; for, if we are to believe him, he has
discovered the art of growing luxuriant crops on the poorest

land, and without any manure whatsoever ; and the cost of
the process is so trifling, that, for the acre of wheat or maize,
it does not exceed five. Fence sterling ; and for rape, cabbage,
&c., amounts to only about half that sum ! At first we were
disposed to consider such extraordinary pretensions as an
effusion of quackery, and entitled to little or no credit; but
our incredulity has been somewhat shaken by numerous and
respectable attestations which the author has appended to
his pamphlet,.andwhich tend to prove that his method has

. .
been practised with success, during the last twelve years, in

various parts of Germany and Holland. Thus the certifi-
cates from Vienna, dated in 1825 and 1830, declares, that
Mr. Bickes's process, vvbich would seem to consist in some

preparation of the seed, `,re.nders all clanging unnecessary,
is applicable to the poorest soils, and to all sorts of plants,
and imparts to them a wonderful degree of vegetation and
fulness ; ' and they give the results of the experiments in
the Imperial Garden of the Chateau ; from which it appears,
that wheat raised from seed sown by Mr. Bickes had larger
ears and more grains than that produced from unprepared
seed ; that the barley showed ears with four rows and a larger
number of grains, while that from unprepared seed had only

two rows, and a smaller proportion of grains on each stalk;
and the Indian corn exhibited a hirer number of much

stronger and thicker heads

At Offenbach, in unmanured

and light sandy soil, the prepared wheat produced 10-15
stems from a single grain, with larger and fuller ears ; rye
and barley presented the same vigorous growth; and flax
had stronger stems, with heavier and more numerous cap.
stiles, and was of a dark-green colour; while the plants from
unprepared seed had become yellow. Potatoes had seldom

fewer than ten shoots from a single tuber, and some as many
as twelve, fifteen, and even seventeen strong stems; while
the green crops—namely, grass, clover, beet, white cabbage,
savoys, &C.—were equal, if not superior, to those raised in
gardens. At Bildingen, again, some plants of the sunflower,
treated according to Mr. Bickes's method, grew to the
height of ten to eleven feet, with woody stems of eight and
a half to nine inches in circumference. Ten or twelve potato
plants, of a large yellow sort, called Marburger, yielded each,
on the average, thirty good-sized tubers, with stem and
branches seven feet long ; and maize, which grew partly
singly and partly in rows, had from
.two to five, and in some
instances as many as eight and nine heads. These crops
were obtained in the garden of Count Isenburg ; and we are
further assured by the certificate, to which are attached the
signatures of two burgomasters, the court gardener, a grand
ducal councillor, and other official personages, that they
were raised in ground but partially dressed, and in the midst
of tall weeds! The trials of this method in Holland, made
in the summer of 1834, were attended with results not less
astonishing. Prepared wheat and rye, though sown thick,
gave from fifty to sixty, and even eighty stalks from one
grain ; and a plant of barley bore
eight large ears. Buck-
wheat rose to four and a half and five feet; flax had four and
five stems from one seed ; and Indian corn grew from nine
to ten feet in height, with four or five stems, and four to five
heads from a single corn.. The
green crops were equally
luxuriant. Red and white clover and lucerne grew three
feet high. From two tobacco Plan°'
541 seed capsules and
200 large and small leaves were cut ; and a second blossom-
ing yielded 742 fresh capsules, and of larger size ; the seed
from the whole weighing two hectograms, or upwards of six
ounces. At the date of the report (October 30th), these
plants were budding anew; and all this, if we read the de-
scription aright, was effected in the shifting sand (Flag--
sande) of the downs of Holland ! The method of preparing
the seed is a secret,—Gardeners' Chronicle.