Southern shield., 1851-03-22
THE MASSACRE IN MARYLAND.

The late horrible murders in Kent coun- I ty, Maryland, have produced the most II, tense excitement in the neghborhood where they were perpetrated. Meetings have been held upon the subject, ana large rewards offered for the arrest ot the assas- sins. The Kent News of Saturday con tains full particulars of the horrible al1alf:
 On Thursday night last, the 2|th lnst.' the family of Mir. Wm. Cosden, consisting chiefly of himself, his wife, Miss Cosden' his sister, on a visit, aged about l7 years; Miss Webster, his wife's sister, two small children, Zone an infant, the other a jew years old and capable of talking;) a white lad' a colored boy, and negro woman' K''cn- en servant, were living in peace and qne'' @ unsuspecting harm from any one. me white family were at tea, between six;ana seven o'clock MT. Cosden having flnlShei, turned his chair to the fire, when ne was deliberately shot down by some one from the yard, through the window, an ounce ball having penetrated his body. The wretches, three in number, immediatel. beat down the door with the butts ot thei puns and enfarAd th--r-~rn, .uhArc, c,,n5 1l
 .supra,,'~ immense Trees.
 The Boabab of Senegal (Adansonia d. gitato,) the Bald Cypress of Oaxaco, (1ero- deum distichum,) and the famous Chestnut of Etna, have been often cited as the giants of the vegetable kingdom. But these sovereigns are dethroned, and put into the second rank by those lately discovered in Tasmania, which leave far behind them those antique monuments of nature. Last week 1 went to see the two largest trees existing in the world. Both of them are on the border of a small stream tributary to the river of North West Bay, in the rear of Mount Wellington. They are of the spe- ces named there Swamp Gum; and my companions Give of us)measured them. One of them had fallen; we therefore easily ob tained its dimensions. We found its body two hundred feet from the ground to the branches The top had broken off and partly decayed, but we ascertained the en- tire height of the tree to have been certain ly three hundred feet. We found the di- ameter of the base of it to be thirty feet, and at the first branch twelve feet. It's weight we estimate to be about four hun dred and forty tons. The other tree, now growing, without the least sign of decay, resembled an immense tower rising among the humble sassairas trees, although very large in fact. The Gum tree at three feet above the ground measures one hundred and two feet in circumference. In the space of square mile, think there were not less than one hundred of these trees, none less than forty feet in circumference. It must require several thousand years to produce the largest.- ReUue Horticole. 
 During the sitting of County Court not long since in Connecticut, on a very cold evening, a crowd of lawyers had collected round the open fire that bazed cheerfully on the hearth in the bar-room, when a traveller entered benumbed with cold; but no one moved 10 give him place 10 warm his shns, so he leaned against the wall in the back part of the room. At last al smart young limb of the law addressed him, when the following dialogue took place:
 You look like traveler?'
 Wal, l s'pose am--I am come from Wisconsin a-foo, at any rate'
 From Wisconsin? What distance to come on one pair of legsn
 Wal, done it any how
 I say, did you ever pass through hell in your travels?'
 Yes, I've been through the outskirts
 I though it likely. Well waat are the manners and customs there? Some of us would like to know
 'Oh, you'll find lem much the same as in this place; the lawyers sit highest the fire