Connecticut western news., 1879-09-03
NOTES AND COMMENTS.


 duction, where the phylloxera seems to have made it's appearance. It is esti- mated that this insect has already de- stroyed some 900, 900 acres of vines, and great fears are entertained for the safety of the remaining 6OO,OOO. Up to the present nothing but inundation has pre- vailed against the phylloxera, and there are not many vineyards to which this remedy can be applied. Some people have urged that the vine is not destroyed by the phylloxera, but that diseased plants generate that insect, which then feeds on them. Their theory is that the soil is exhausted, and that no land can long sustain the same plant. But the vine has been cultivated from time i'm memorial in Italy, Spain, and other countries which have not suffered like France; and the phylloxera attacks in- differently and with the same result old and weak plants and young and vigorous vines. It is evident that the presence of the phylloxera can neither be traced to the weakness of the plant nor to the ex- haustion of the soil.
 Prisons in Switzerland are anything but places of safe custody. From the jail in Lucerne nine prisoners escape on an average every year, and recently the number has been above the average. In 1861 two convicts, who were fettered with heavy chains, escaped from this prison. Excavating tunnel from the floor of their cell, they succeeded in working passage through wall three feet thick, and thus gained the outside of their prison. They then broke into 8 neighboring smithy, and contrived with the tools they found there to rid them selves of their shackles. The establish ment of strong and properly managed central prison, to which convicted offend CTS shall be sent from all the cantons to undergo their period of imprisonment, IS now strongly advocated by the lead ing Swiss papers. The canton of Uri has just led the way in the reintroduc- tion into Switzerland of the punishment of death; it's Landrath having passed a law which provides that persons con- victed of willful murder should be pun lshed with death, and that the death sentence shall be executed in the pres- ence of certain authorities who arc specified.
 An extensive emigration which is going on from the central provinces of Russia lying to the south and southeast of Moscow is causing the authorities much anxiety. The fact is that lands once rich and fertile, and affording am- pie subsistence to large families, are now so exhausted, owing to the igno- rant and wasteful system of agriculture universally pursued, that the peasant finds it impossible to obtain bread for himself and his family, and at the same time to meet the heavy taxes with which the Russian lower classes are burdened The land taxes were generally assessed according to the fertility and prosperity of the districts in which they are levied. The moro eastern provinces of Russia, having hitherto suffered from the draw. backs of inaccessibility and thinness oi population, have been comparatively lightly taxed. The disadvantages, how. ever, under which they formerly lay are now rapidly disappearing, and it is therefore, reward the eastern Govern ment that the present stream of emigra tion is setting.
 The plague of rats in the Deccan Bombay, for the second season in sue cession is occasioning serious alarm These animals overspread the countr, like locusts, destroy the crops almost a thoroughly, and are even more dificul to keep down. So grave has becom the aspect of affairs that 8 sRat Com mittee" was appointed to inquire int the best means of disposing of the crea lures. They have advised the peopl to turn out en masse and face the enemy Rewards are to be offered for dead rats and, in fact, the invasion is to be treate as matter to be dealt with vigorousl by the whole community. In the mea, time the question has arisen as to hoy the rats have multiplied.
 In an article on the Russian peas antry the Molva observes that the chic peasant in village sometimes has nor power than any man In the empire excep the Czar. He has the power for instanc Of ordering culprit to be logged, right which is denied by law to an other public funotionary or citizen i the empire. Further, majority of tn peasants in commune can sentenc one of their number to be beaten wit sticks, and there is no appeal agains the sentence, and the commune can stil sentence man to punishment to Siberi for life. This sentence has been passe, for such petty offences as stealing
 handkerchief or a little honey, or open ing brandy shop without the permis sion of the commune. In the Govern ment of Samara man was sentenced t be banished, together with his family Shortly after, however, the Senate, t. whom the case was referred, decide, that the man should be permitted to re main in his village, on the ground tha his health would not permit of his going to Siberia. The case of the mans wife however, was not considered ; and tn, sentence was carried out, :.so far as sh was concerned, though she was innocen of any crime, and had been directed t. go to Siberia merely in order that sh, should not be separated from her hus band.
 The word pin-money is not muel used nowadays, and when it is, is art t,