The Liverpool Standard and General Commercial Advertiser.
Liverpool, Merseyside, England, 1850-02-19 00:00:00

THE CHASE.

The CHESHIRI HOUNDS will meat on Wednesday (to.
morrow) at Appleton ; Thursday, 21st, at Tatton Park ;
Saturday, 23rd, at Vale Royal ; Monday, 25th, at Morley
Hall ; Wednesday, 27th, at Shipbrook Bridge ; Thursday,
28th, at Poole Hall; Saturday, March 2nd, at High
Legh.

Sir W. WYNN'S HOUNDS will meet on Tuesday (to.
day) at Aston; Friday, 22nd, at Penley Hall; Saturday,
23rd, at Farndon.
At half-past ten each day.

i B istrut geths.

----.411..-

The theatre of 'Warrington, after having been closed to
all theatrical performances for upwards of ten years, is
about to be re-opened.
A meeting was held in Manchester on Tuesday evening,
to take into consideration the desirability of forming a
People's College, similar to those at Sheffield, Norwich,
and Nottingham.
DISGRACEFUL SCENE.—On Wednesday, as we were
proceeding down King-street, a gentleman called our at-
tention to a fire which he said was blazing in the parish
church-yard, the fuel being—the coffins of the dead.—
Preston Guardian.

It is said that the only daughter of the Rev. P. Bronte,
incumbent of Haworth, near Bradford, is the authoress of
" Jane Eyre" and " Shirley," two of the most popular
novels of the day, which have appeared under the name
of " Currier Bell."

A very gratifying scene took place, on Tuesday evening
se'nnight, at Cheetham-hill, Manchester, where the con-
gregation of St. Mark's Church assembled in their school

room, for the purpose of presenting their pastor, the Rev.
Hart Ethelston, with the title-deeds of a handsome resi-
dence, costing nearly a thousand pounds, which they had
built for him, as a testimonial for twenty years' services
among them.
THE FIRE AT ALL SAINTS' CHURCH, MANCHESTER.
—Last week a meeting was held in the Town Hall, Man-
chester, to provide for the restoration of All Saints'
Church. Among those present were Archdeacon Rush-
ton and the Rev. C. Burton, (of St. Philip's Church,
Liverpool,) son of Dr. Burton, incumbent of the church.
About £5OO were subscribed, and many donations have
been subsequently received. All the speakers dwelt for-
cibly upon the faithful and painstaking ministrations of Dr.
Burton, and on his scriptural teaching. There were four
hundred free sittings in the church, which were always
crowded. The receipts from the church during the thirty
years of its existence have never equalled the usual
amount of interest on the original capital, and Dr.
Burton has been therefore working efficiently in the
parish for thirty years for literally nothing.
EXPLOSION OF FIRE DAMP.—An accident of an alarm-
ing nature occurred at the Lower Patricroft Colliery
(Arley Mine), belonging to the Ince Hall Coal and
Cannel Company, on Tuesday evening, by which five
unfortunate human beings met with an untimely death.
Tt appears that on Tuesday evening two men went down
the mine, as usual, for the purpose of commencing work,
and on one of them (a young man, called " Prinny,")
reaching his " working," the damp immediately fired,
shattering everything around, and instantly killing the
person who fired it. The other man was dreadfully
burnt, and died on Thursday. At the time of the melan-
choly occurrence, three men named George Broadhurst,
John Anders, and Peter Till, were engaged in wedging
the conducting rods in the mine, and stood on a scaffold-
ing which had been erected about fifty yards from the
surface. The scaffolding was blown to pieces by the vio-
lence of the explosion, and the men being thrown to the
bottom, a distance of about 150 yards, they were killed
on the spot. The flame was visible at the mouth of the
pit.
THE TEN HOURS' BILL—REVIVAL OF THE AGITA-
TION.—The result of the decision of the Court of Exche-
quer has created great excitement amongst the operatives
of the manufacturing districts. Meetings are being held
nightly in the various inns in which they assemble, at
which the most firm and determined resolution is expressed
that the hours of labour shall be ten consecutive hours.
Manchester, Bolton, Blackburn, Preston, Ashton, Bury,
Oldham ; in short, every manufacturing town in Lanca-
shire is in the same state of excitement on this question.
On Sunday, a very large assemblage of overlookers and
managers took place at the White Horse Tavern, Bolton,
at which the annexed, amongst other resolutions, was
adopted unanimously :—" That in the opinion of this
meeting it is of the utmost advantage to masters and men
that a uniform working of ten hours per day be enforced
by act of parliament, and that we pledge ourselves never
to rest satisfied until it be made universal." On Monday
the Lancashire Central Short-time Committee held its
third meeting since the decision, at which it was agreed
to call a delegate meeting from every town in the king-
dom. On the same night the committee of the Manches-
ter overlookers held a meeting, and have issued a circular
calling a general meeting of the whole body. The carders,
the power-loom overlookers and managers, and several
other bodies, are holding similar meetings, and the forth-
coming delegate meeting will be the most numerous and
important ever held.
IGNORANCE, INTEMPERANCE, AND CRIME.—Fron, the
report for 1849, just published, of the Rev. John Clay, the
excellent chaplain of the Preston House of Correction, it
appears,—that of 1,949 persons committed to the House
of Correction during the past year, 936 persons were un-
able to read ; 533 could read only ; 441 could read, but
wrote very imperfectly ; 26 could read and write well ; and
13, or under one per cent. were of superior education !
With regard to religious knowledge, 781 were ignorant of
the Saviour's name, and unable to repeat the Lord's
Prayer; 956 had heard of the Saviour's name, and could
repeat the Lord's Prayer imperfectly; 204 were acquainted
with the elementary truths of rergion; only two persons,
much under one per cent. were familiar with the scrip-
tures and well instructed. An idea of the density of the
mass of ignorance which exists among our criminals may
be formed from the following facts :—Of the total num-
ber, 1,312 persons, or about 67 per cent, wese unable to
name the months ; 1,198 were ignorant of the words " vir-
tue," "vice," &c. ; 1,173 were ignorant of the name of
the reining sovereign; and 367 were unable to count
100. 767 of the prisoners had read or had heard read
books about "Jack Sheppard" and t` Dick Turpin."
Mr. Clay gives the following as the prominent features in
" character and condition " of the prisoners : profligacy,
853, ignorance, 955 ; distress, 30 ; comparative respecta-
ability, 82 ; uncertain, 20. Mr. Clay gives the following
as the proximate or direct causes of crime .—Drunkenness
of the offending or the injured party, 722; temptation,
259 ; profligacy, 798 ; other causes, 306. The rev. gen-
tleman states that drunkenness, which, as a direct cause
of offence, had considerably diminished last year, has again
become very prominent, and states his belief that four-
fifths of the recorded offences spring from habitual
drinking.
PHYSICAL VERSUS MORAL.—Whether the physical
wants should be remedied through the moral, or the
moral through the physical, has been a question which has
occupied the attention of philosophers and philanthro-
pists for centuries. Without attempting to decide the
question, there can be no doubt that when the physical
condition is impaired it-demands the first attention. For
instance; a person•whilst suffering from an acute attack
of Gout would
~he unable to appreciate the sublimest
lessons of philosophy, even though enunciated by the
divine Plato: How much more welcome to the sufferer
would be et'box of Blair's Gout and Rheumatic Pills, so
efficacions in eradicating this distressing malady.
QUACKS AND THEIR QUACKERIES.—The legislature
having left the public much at the mercy of those igno-
rant compounders of useless or dangerous nostrums for
which their authors claim such astonishing virtues, it
becomes a duty of the press, the natural guardian of
society, to sift the tares from the wheat, and warn off the
unwary from those deceptive appearances, which, if they
do not altogether invite to destroy, care little what the
consequences may be, so long-as they dispose of commo-
dities made only "to sell!" Were we to judge, then,
merely by pretensions how many infallible remedies
should we have to stiginatise as barefaced impostures on
the public.. But
.amidst this host of frauds, as manifest
to the wary age as they have been proved to be dele-
terious in fact—still there are some wholesome and relia-
ble remedies, which accomplish all they pretend amongst
these—the "rare avis" of patent medicines—is Coetut's
PILLS : what they promise they perform, while it is cer-
tain that they are a safe medicine; a character which
cannot be accorded to nine-tenths of the. comjounds that
perform so many, astounding miracloci—in print—John

agrinatural anb Ilortietilturat

COLUMN,

The prospects- of improvement in horticulture in this
neighbourhood during the present year, are more pro-
mising than usual: The " practica/s" are rapidly, open-
ing their eyes to the real importance of their position ;
instead of mere labouring dependants, they‘now feel that
they are artisans practising a profession,. which, if not
fully entitled to rank as a science, is so nearly allied to se-
veral of the physical sciences that the exact •points of con-
nexion cannot •be defined. We are led to these remarks
by the expressions of delight and satisfaction which have
reached us from most of those who were-present at the
last meeting of the Liverpool Horticultural Society, when
Dr. Inman gave his interesting lecture upon the physio-
logy of the elementary vegetable structures. Nothing can
be more pleasing to men of liberal minds than the diffu-
sion of pleasing and useful knowledge amongst a class of
men thirsting for it, but almost debarred from the means:
of attaining it. No less than four gentlemen of high lo-
cal standing_ and medical attainments --Drs. Inman,.
Nevins, Brett, and Dickenson—have this year given their
valuable aid to promote the interests of this society, which
has for its chief objects the information of practical hard.
culturists, and the collection of their experience. Hitherto
they have been isolated, and acting merely,from the sug-
gestions of their individual minds ; and the want of some
means by which they could compare notes, and benefit by
each others-experiments, was much, felt until the este,-
blishment of the Society at the Clarendon Rooms, which
has, doubtless, effected much good ; and with such power.
ful assistance as that now afforded,, it; cannot fail to be
highly beneficial. Of course, the improved tone of feel-
ing and thinking thus created amongst the practical men
will manifest itself in the floral exhibitions, which we ear-
nestly desire to see improved.
It is quite true that they are gay enough for that por-
tion of the public which visits them as-an agreeable lounge;
but something else is wanting by those whose tastes lead
them to contemplate the objects exhibited, and these per-
sons now form the majority. Our exhibitions have
hitherto possessed too much the character of collections of
flowering plants, rather than a. choice assortment of
highly-cultivated specimens, exciting a spirited competi-
tion. Flowers are always abundant on the stands, and
happy, smiling faces are not wanting to admire thrm ;
but those examples of fine tut, which excite-astonishment
and admiration at the metropolitan exhibitions, are but
rarely seen at our flower shows. The reasons for this are
twofold ; in the first place, the employers of gardeners
have not given that encouragement which is needed to
stimulate the energies of the cultivator and the gardeners,
until lately, have had no opportunity of seeing better
specimens than those they have cultivated for years past.
Now the spirit of emulation is assisted by the knowledge
of what can be accomplished, and, with a fair amount of
liberal patronage, will soon produce a decided improve-
ment.

These remarks do not apply so much to the suburban
exhibitions as to those which are held in town, and are
supposed to be the exhibitions of talent. At Childwall,
Woolton, Hale, and other places, the flower shows are
delightful gala days, to which the neighbouring gardeners
contribute all they can to give interest to the scene. At
those places we look upon the competition as secondary
only ; the primary object is the healthy stimulus afforded,
by an innocent amusement, to the population of those
places, and especially to this gardeners themselves.
During the present year, the gentlemen of the Woollen
Committee, in consequence of holding surplus funds, have
determined upon devoting the proceeds of the present
year's exhibitions to the various charities of the township,
irrespective of creed or party. Such disinterestedness is
highly deserving of encouragement. At Childwall the
surplus is considerable, and will enable the committee to
proceed vigorously in continuing these delightful fetes.
Several other exhibitions, in more distant places, are
spoken of, but we are not yet furnished with particulars.

PAPERS ON AGRICULTURAL CHEMISTRY

NO. XIX

Lime is an important inorganic manure, but its opera-
tion as a fertiliser is not clearly understood, for it is found
that certain plants will take up as much lime from a soil
poor in that material as from one much richer ; neverthe-
less these plants thrive much better in the latter. There
is an evident complexity of action in this manure, because,
if a plant can, like water, only absorb a specific quantity
of lime, of what benefit can a surplus be ? In all proba-
bility it exerts a chemical and mechanical action upon the
soil, especially the latter. Lime may increase the absor-
bant power of the soil, the texture of which it will also
alter, rendering it more tenacious—a good quality, too
often overlooked. Litre is a most ancient manure, and
was extensively used by the Romans. Palladius, Pliny,
and even Cato, thought it of sufficient importance to en-
gage their attention. Palladius speaks of a dove-coloured
variety of river-stone, called tiburtine. This, in all pro-
bability, was a species of talc-tufa, formed in the volcanic
districts; it is abundant in the neighbourhood of Vesu-
vius, and being easily calcined, would form a most valua-
ble manure; it is deposited from the calcareous springs on
the banks of the Tiber, and various other localities, in im.
mense quantities. The Romans not only used this ma-
nure for their crops, but also used it for the cultivation of
individual plants, especially cherry trees. In Britain it
was doubtless used during the Roman occupancy ; but it
was soon after discontinued, or all record of it has been
lost up to about 1788, when Dickson, a miter of that time,
mentions it; but his remarks upon the subject are valua-
ble only as far as they serve to illustrate the profound
ignorance which then prevailed upon the qualities of this
material ; its stimulating effects upon certain crops had
been noticed, but these observations had not been reduced
to any practical shape, nor is this to be wondered at when
the complex action of lime is considered. One of the
most valuable qualities of lime is the property it has of
making a light soil tenacious, and lessening the tenacity
of clayey ones. In its action upon crops, it improves a
greater number of plants than most other manures. It is
of great importance to the grasses, and the corn crops de-
rive great benefit from its use, especially in improving
the quality of the corn ; and it is extraordinary in its
effect upon clover. We will enter upon some other
properties of lime in our next.

UISCELLANEA

We have just ascertained that several plants of a yellow
camellia were, some twelve months or more ago, pur-
chased by an English lady then in China, but about to
return home ; and that the plants were sent or brought
to England. Whether they reached this country alive or
dead there appears to be no positive information. Should
this fall, therefore, into the hands of any person who may
happen to know anything of the matter, we shall esteem
any information on the subject as a favour. The flowers
are described to us as anemone-shaped—that is, the cen-
tre of the flower is filled with small petals, and surrounded
by single prominent outer petals ; or, in other words, like
the common Waratah. The outer petals are said to be
" peach-white," and the small petals in the centre " prim-
rose-yellow." It would also appear—we refer to the
Gardeners' Chronicle—that Mr. Fortune has also met
with a similar variety during his travels in China ; and
doubtless it will in due time find its way to this country.
That camellias travel safely has been very satisfactorily
proved. We learn from a gentleman who has recently
made some large consignments of camellias to distant
parts of the globe, that in one instance, in which he had
dispatched a large cargo, they were five months on the
voyage; and, notwithstanding, only one in twenty died.
We understand that the system adopted in packing was
the following :—The plants were taken out of the pots,
the balls made wet, and then plunged in earth made into
puddle, tied down with moss, and put into very stout
packing-cases—not glazed cases.
We are glad to find that the scheme, which we were
the first to communicate to the public [?], of sending a
Botanical Collector to obtain the seeds of hardy trees and
plants from those regions of North-West America,
hitherto imperfectly explored, but rich in plants suited to
the climate of Scotland, is making favourable progress.
At a meeting of gentlemen interested in this undertaking,
held yesterday at the Royal Botanic Gardens, Professor
Balfour in the chair, a committee was appointed to adopt
active measures for completing the subscription lists, and
for taking the necessary steps for carrying the project into
effect. For reasons, which we may bye-and-by have an
opportunity of fully explaining, it is of the utmost im
portance that the lists should be closed within the nex
three weeks. We need not say how heartily we wish th
project success. Mr. Murray, of Conland, W.S., and
Mr. Charles M'lntosh, of Dalkeith Park, have under-
taken the duty of secretaries.—North British Journal of
Agriculture.

The various species of the orange tribe are almost all
natives of the East Indies and China, from whence they
have been transported into other countries within or near
the tropics. Most of the oranges and lemons intended
for transportation to a distance are gathered while they
are green ; and it is remarkable that the trees from which
the fruit has been gathered green bear plentifully every
year, whilst those upon which the fruit is suffered to
ripen afford abundant crops only in alternate years. The
oranges of St. Michael are the best known in Europe.
The tree was introduced there by the Portuguese, as it
was by the Spaniards into the New World. It is exten-
sively cultivated in Spain and Portugal, where it was early
introduced by the Moors. Near Cordova there are trees
which are considered to be 600 or 700 years old. And in
Andulasia there are extensive orchards, which have formed
the principal revenue for ages. In the south-east of
France, also in the north of Italy, the orange is cultivated
with success.—J.M'lNTosH, Milton Abbey.—Gardeners'
Journal.