Widnes Examiner. — 1881-07-02 (Widnes, Cheshire, England)

TUB- MAMMOTH CAVE OF KENTim—The novel proposal (we learn from the Scientific American) has been made by an enterprising Frenchman to thetrustees of the Mammoth Cave to rent a portion of the cave for raising edible fungi. He has been cultivating mushrooms in the neighbourhood of New York, but complains of want of cellar space, and of the conditions of temperature and moisture as not uniform enough for the best results. The portion of the cave which he has in view is that known as " Audubon's Avenue," the first passage to the right after entering the cave. It is about half a mile long and contains little of special interest, unless it be the swarms of bats in "The Great Bat-room." The rich deposits of bat guano that have accumulated there for centuries would, no doubt, prove serviceable, when mixed with other fertilisers, in growing the fungi. The soil is at present very dry, but might easily be moistened to any desired degree. The idea of thus utilising caverns has long been a familiar one, and practically realised in France. One cave at Montrouge is said to have six or seven miles run of mushroom beds- another, near Frepillon, 16 miles; a third at Mery, ever 2L miles. The special advantage of subterranean culture lies in the uniformity of temperature, which in the Mammoth Cave hardly varies from 56 deg. Fah. all the year round. Mushroom culture is found highly remunerative. It is thought choice mushrooms would find a ready market in Louisville, Cincinnati, and .other western and southern  ----- The jury in the Bend Or case on Tuesday, found for the plaintiff, damages £1.750. Mr. Alderman Crendall, the father of Salford Town Council, died on Tuesday, in his 84th year. Wheat is thrashed for the purpose of getting out the grain; a boy is thrashed to get out the chaff. The Prince of Wales has subscribed 100 guineas towards the national memorial to the Earl of Beaconsfield.  Many a young fop imagines that a girl takes an interest io his welfare, when in truth she is only eager for his f It is expected that in about a fortnight part of the circuit in which the electric light is to be tested in Liverpool will 13.3 in working order. ' It has been decided to offer the Great Eastern steamship for sale by public auction early in October, unless she is previously disposed of by private treaty. A woman at Bradford returned to her home after a short absence to find the fiouse shut up in front and the blinds drawn. Her little daughter was playing that her doll had just expired. The telegraph clerks in the Newcastle district met on Siturday, and resolved that the new scheme of pay is totally inadequate and cannot be accepted as a settlement of their  grievance. The wholesale resignations of the Devon Volunteer Artillery Brigade hare excited great interest. The colonel has refused to accept them, on the ground that they were collectively tendered. A mansion at Newhall, about three miles from Salisbury, occupied by Mr. Lethbridge and owned by Mr. A. Buckley, was destroyed by fire on Saturday afternoon. The damage is stated to exceed £12.:000..  -On Monday the Leeds School Board entered into possession of their new offices, which have cost £30,000. The board have now under their control forty-five schools, thirty of which have been specially built. A sad event is reported from Aix College. Some masters joking after dinner came to quarrelling, and one, M. Guidevans, shot his colleague, M. Jussaud, dead with a revolver. The murderer was immediately disarmed and arrested. A Reuter's telegram states :—A waterspout burst on Saturday at Dobrzap, descending in a terrible shower of hail. A consideraboie tract of land was inundated, and great damage inflicted, the crops being partially destroyed. While six men and two boys were sailing in a boat near Denver Sluice, on the river Ouse, a gust of wind suddenly capsized the craft, and two of the men and one boy were drowned. The others could swim and managed to get ashore.  A moulder, named George Carey, of Bolton, left work on Whit-Thursday, for a holiday. He commenced to drink heavily, and on Friday last he drank a pint and a half of rum. He was carried home, went to sleep; and never woke again. Mr. Gladstone, through his secretary, has written to Mr. Reid, of Middlesboro, thanking him for the report of the delegates sent by the Cleveland miners to Ireland. He thinks the mission reflects credit on the miners' association, and hopes all legitimate grievances in Ireland will be removed by the Land Bill.  A TurEv's