The Abbeville banner. [volume] (Abbeville, S.C.) 1847-1869, 1857-05-14

| ly increased more than tnifty-nSe per cent.
Notwithstanding Irish famines and English
strikes, cholera and short harvest, the num-
! Der of children born has been continually
in enormous excess over tho deaths. But
in France we find that every natural or po-
litical calamity checks the increase in n
marked manner. In 1s47 the excess of
births over deaths fell from 237 900 to 62,-
600, on account of the scarcity, and this
small excess was again diminished to 49,
600 by the cholera of l84o. Things grew
worse after 1851 under the double influence
of scarcity and war, till in 1854 and 1855
| the deaths for the first time exceeded the
births. Thus we learn the astonishing fact
that at the present time the population of
France is actually diminishing, although
emigration has almost entirely ceased. War,
a succession of bad harvests, the grape blight
and the disease Of the silkworm, are all
pointed to as having share in producing
this startling result but we cannot but feel
that there must be some cause deeper and
more abiding than any of these. For the
last thirty years, at least, the proportionate
increase has been steadily lcssening, and the
present time only witnesses the change from
the increase to diminution. This is a fact
which may somewhat justify Guizot or 4
De Tocqucville in their mournful tone.
France has certainly changed in charac-
ter since the revolution. Before that great
convulsion the French had great deal of
Saxon qualities. They colonized and con-
qucrcd; they settled Canada, where they
keep their ground TO the present day; they
planted Louisiana, asccndcd the Mississippi,
and nearly succeeded in checking the de-
vclopment Of the Colonies which are now
the United States. They got the start Of
us in India. won battles, formed alliances,
and almost effected what Providence event
uaIy reserved for England. Their fleets,
even as late as the American War, were
equal to ours in strength, and fought against
us without disgrace. Their merchant ma
rine was to a still later period almost equal
to ours in tonnage. But within the present
century the two nations have gone different
ways. How much we have changed it is
unnecessary to say, but certainly France
seems to have lost much of the energy and
vitality Of the old times. Tile excessive
development of the military system in Eu-
rope, and the attention paid to strictly Con
; tincntai concerns, have turned the French
from the field on which they wresllcd with
us under the elder Bourbons. They >!c no!
trade and colonize as they used. Manu-
f;.ctures, mostly of an artistic kind, and ag-
riculture, carried on in a comparatively
primitive fashion, are the occupation of the
people, aud these do not give the energy
and spirit which more adventurous employ
J ments infuse into a population. If we add
, to this the land system which the Revolu
tion has established, and the parcelling ou
t of inheritances which are too small proper
: ly to remunerate labor, we may partly ex
e plain how it is the French, with all thei
n taste and genius are smitten with incrtncs
and stcriity. Yet we cannot believe in til,
h decay Of our brilliant and high spirited
neighbors. France has gone through trial
d which might have destroyed nation o
l. less vitality. Revolutions, prescriptions
= wars in which the youth of the countr
re pcrishcd literally by the million, politic;
s, insecurity, communistic agitation, have al
,e tended to misdirect her aims and cramp he
is energies. When we consider all, the wor
v der is that the French should have ACHE,
ID ed so much. 1t should be remembered tha
IL our own population only begin to increas
s. after our political troubles were over. W
10 may, then hope that with continued trar
G. guilty in France, the future numberings
III the people will exhibit results moro chez
cd ful and reassuring.
&c London Times, April 10.
-e~s%-
OF Preservation Of lfanures.-Exact pra
ty tice has clearly settled the following fact
IN yiz:-That manures should never be G
III posed to the sun and air, as in an open bar
ny yard. Tint they should be kept under co
or er, and the head so arranged with cisie
We at:its lowest end supplied with a pump, til
he the fluid drainage may be pumped back
is, the heap twice each week or oftener if ,
he quired, to prevent are-faugipg. That t
lat fluid manures should be led from the 81
're bles through enclosed cutters to the drai
ith -age cistern. and when the heap is so dry
len not to supply the necessary amount of dra
'he agc to keep itrthoroughly wetted, that "
'se ter should be added to make up this {
ad- ficisncy. "That when manure is giving
ers its odor, the owner has a hole in lis ps
- et." az.