smithclay/nortonstories huggingface dataset:
Year: 1876

On January 26th, Secretary Chand-

 Ter established the following princi.

 pies in public land matters:

 That the surveyors return of the character of land is prima facie cor rect and the burden of proof is upon

 him who alleges Its incOrrectness. In contests To determine the character of the land, any person who has knowl edge thereof, whether he has any in- terest therein or not, k permitted to appear and testify iii behalf of the sur veyor's return. The right to tax lands of the United States, entered under homestead laws, does not accrue tu the

 State unti, he expiration of the period of residence land cultivation, and un- til the final proof required by the law shall have been made and approved, and the final homestead certificate is- sued. Where a homestead claim k sought to be cancelled for abandon ment, where the party is in the peniten

 tIary under sentence of imprisonment for term of years, nOucC of contest must be served personally upon the complaint, if possible, if not possible, then by publication for twenty days In case of the dccease of a party holding a certificate deposited for survey, and who had entered homestead or pre-. emptiOn, said certificate may be used by his heirs m cOnsummatiOn Of the pre- empliOn claim or in consideration oi his homestead entry; but it cannot be received on behalf of any other party or for other land than that for the sur vey or which The deposit was made There is no provision for repayment of moncy deposited for survey, unless there l. an excess over the cost of sur ycy and office work.
Year: 1876

siderably strengthened. AS soon as the war
broke out there would probably be truce
with the Carlists and the whole Spanish feet
be sent into the Cuban waters.


Another reason why war is improbable un-
less it should be begun before the meet
ing of the Republican National Convention
is the impossibility of fcreating ornaments and
making preparations subsequent to that date.
Congress will adjourn about the time when
the political conventions are held, and the
President has not only no authority to de-
clare war "a difficulty which might be got
over by provoking one), but he has no power
to raise q soldier or spend dollar without the
sanction of Congress So the President will
be helpless after the adjournment of Con-
gress, and any illegal or extra constitutional
measures would be fatal while he was rum
ming as a candidate for a third term. A sur
vey of these disabilities justifes the conclu-
sion that we shall be pretty safe if we get
past the political conventions and the ad-
journment of Congress without war. All
the danger lies within the ensuing three or
four months
Year: 1876

Austria is less diplomatic than she might
be in what is put forth as her first thought
on the occasion of the presentation of Count
Andrassy's scheme of reforms at CONSTANT
nople. She seems afraid that the world will
not recognize in her the natural protector of
the Sultans Christian subjects, the Power
with a mission" to carry the civilization of
Western Europe down the valley of the
Danube. Doubtless it will be all the better
for the success of this mission if less is said
about it at Vienna. Russia and Prussia have
accorded to the Vienna government a sort of
primacy and representative character in
their dealings with the Sultan, partly be-
cause these dealings are of no great conse-
quence and partly because the outrages that
are the occasion of the diplomatic interven-
ton Immediately affect the tranquility of the
Austrian frontier. But if Austria under
stands this as an assent on their part that
she should become the executor of the de-
funct Empire or if out of the position ac-
corded she endeavors to assume the role of
the great Christian protector of the op-
pressed people, events will proceed less
smoothly 1t would be much better course
on her part to assume the protectorship as
far as she may quietly and talk about it when
she gets it; for all that she says about it in
the meanwhile, though it will not startle
the Turk, will excite some susceptibilities in
st. Petersburg; and against st. Petersburg
Austria can only have the whole valley of
the Danube when she sends word to Berlin
that she is ready to surrender her German
Drovinces
Year: 1876

The AMNESTY BILL met its coup de gracein
the House yesterday through the brilliant
tactics of ex-Speaker Blaine, who, in all this
contest of words that are not things, has
shown himself most accomplished matador.
Very few ifany ofthat great public whose sers
wants the windy orators upon both sides are
supposed to be will fail to understand
that the entire debate was for political
effect, without any reference to the merits
of the question, and the speeches will be
received at their proper value. Meantims
the fact remains that the very great mass Of
the people of the North are in this, the cen-
tennial year, in favor of complete and uni-
versal amnesty, and they will be slow to for<
get the demagogues who, for their personal
advancement, have raked up the ashes of thu
dead past to its defeat.
Year: 1876

Before the war nothing more strongly
marked the distinction between the civil
lizations of North and South than thd
methods of public discussion. The South
erner, and especially the Virginian who
did not go to Congress, was unused to
debating with political opponents. Groups
of colonels and majors gathered on tavern
porches, and, being agreed as to the
general subject of discussion, had only to
wrangle about little details and to split con-
stitutional hairs. They read English books
of the Tory school in preference to Northern
books. They were isolated, feudalistic,
naughty, and, though usually broad on
distractions. were usually narrow on pracx
tical subjects.


Two new elements are now entering aa
leavening into Southern civilization-tha
lyceum system and the evening newspaper.
Our readers will be surprised to learn that
the evening newspaper, which is considered
less as a luxury than as q domestic necessity
in most Northern cities, is rarely known In tho
South The Northerner can hardly fancy
life which does not include an after-suppeu
local journal But the newsboy is beginning
to cry his cuckoo notes in the twilight OF
Southern cities The result will be to make
the sitting room rather than the inn porch a
place for evening gatherings. The system OF
public lectures, which has had great infu-
ence in making Northern communities dem~
ocratic, and in connecting widely separated
localities in thought, is beginning to find
operation in, the South. We welcome this
innovation as one which will aid to join the
two sections in sympathy. If Boston and
Richmond can be stirred by Anna Dickinson
in the same week i; if Wendell Phillips
eloquently talking of "Lost Arts" can
soothe American buncombe in Cleveland and
Memphis in one fortnight; if even Josh
Billings can excite laughter from Savannah
to Philadelphia there will besuch brothers
hood and such a community of interests be+
tween the two sections as we have never had
before
Year: 1876

The CASE OF LA PAGE--La Page, just
convicted in New Hampshire of the murder
of schoolgirl, experiences the benefit of a
peculiar law, which is certainly not in ac-
cordance with the common idea that Justice,
to be effective, must be swift He is sem
fenced to be hanged in one year from the
present time, the law of the State providing
that criminals under sentence for murder
shall have one year in which to exhaust all
the possibilities Of the law as to stays and
exceptions and new trials. Indeed, it ac-
cepts the fact that there will be delays. and
fixes to them remote limit, but certainly a
limit. That murderers are ruthless and sud-
den is no good reason why the law should be
without mercy; but certainly the terror of
the law must come to culprit's ear with q
softened sound when the Judge is compelled
to tell him that he shall be hanged in year,
particularly if the prisoner has the sanguine
spirit that can fill every one of the interven-
ing three hundred and sixty-five days with a
chance for escape.
Year: 1876




President Eliot in his annual report, says
that the average age of the Harvard under
graduates at admission has gradually IN
creased throughout this century, being now
about eighteen years and half; that as
many come of poor as of wealthy parents,
but that far the larger number are from the
respectable middle classes; that sixth OF
them are sons of widows; that culture is
more hereditary than wealth, and that the
educated insist that their children shall be
equally or more favored. Also that Harvard
is gradually reaching out of New England;
that her number from the Middle States
grows steadily greater, one-eighth of her
whole list coming from New York alone.
Professorships of music and of the history
of art have been founded and are encour-
aged, and the latter aids the student
either of the classics or of the mod
marked change in the last years record is
the introduction of voluntary attendance by
the Seniors instead of compulsory as ordi-
narily While the effect on the scholarship, as
tested by the examinations, is not marked
either way, it is found that healthy emula-
ton has developed among the professors to
each make his branch of especial interest,
and that the students are pretty certain to
choose those branches really most valuable.
Meal times have been changed so that din
ner comes at six instead of noon, and reci-
tations are wisely through at halfpast four,
leaving an hour and half for exercise. Re-
port of progress at the gymnasium is
omitted, probably, as usual, because, as in
those of most of our colleges, there has been
none. Four dollars and half a week boards
the majority of the students at commons, in
the great Alumni Hall. The Divinity School
has doubled it's advantages but its number
of students has fallen off sadly COM
Law School intends to demand here
after that the candidate for admission
must have some academic preparation
and the resulting mental power The Medi-
Cal School will do likewise, and we will have
fewer poor lawyers and doctors, as all men
of the right stamp, if such a condition is i'm
posed, will fill it. One hundred and thirty
four thousand dollars out of the two hundred
thousand wanted for the new Warren
Museum have been subscribed. The library
can no longer hold all the books, and as
nearly ten thousand are added yearly it is
to be pieced out. The financial condition of
the University is reported as satisfactory.
Dr. McCoshs suggestion that Princeton
sadly needs debating societies holds equally
good of Harvard, and as the English Univer-
sity debates, in which so many great men
have figured, are daily telegraphed to the
press, and the statesman and every intelli-
gent person naturally like to know the
opinion of Young England, so, and even more
so, would they in this land that of Young
America. The press is ready; will the
stndenrs do their mart 2
Year: 1876

CRUELTY AT SEA-Following closely upon
the stories which we recently printed con-
cerning the captain of the jefferson Borden
is the sad and singular tale of the British
bark Island Belle which comes by cable this
morning. Cruelty at sea is becoming almost
as common as it was in the era when mutiny
was a common offence. The revelations in
this case and the haste with which Captain
Aarlsen, of the Norwegian bark Prinds Oscar,
was acquitted upon a charge of murder, are
further proofs of the necessity of an interna-
tional maritime tribunal which shall have
Year: 1876

THE STATEMENTS made by Captain Jen-
nings, of the steamship Adriatic, and those
of his officers, touching the collision had on
the night of December 80 are quite contra
dictory, to say the least. The Captain
first says that the whole story about
the Harvest Queen being the collid-
ing vessell is fabrication, and then
he goes on to say that the strange vessel
simply carried away the steamers. boom
and he adds that, hearing a cry he lowered
two boats, but nobody was found in the
water. The language of Captain Jennings
in speaking to the reporters was reprehensi-
BILE, TO say the least OF it, and his careless
ness in not reporting circumstance which
was probably a serious disaster calls for care
full inquiry.
Year: 1876

The Prince of Wales has witnessed series
of elephant, rhinoceros, buffalo and ram
fights at Baroda, and the English newspapers
four a man might be thought old enough to be
treated as man, but the gravest of the Eng
lish journals are never tired of dry-nursing
Albert Edward, Prince of Wales, who may
some day be King of England. He has been
thirteen years married, and has handsomely
provided for the direct succession, which is
about as much as could have been expected
of him as q prince; but still the wise old
Sairey Camps must occasionally take him on
their knees and shake their fingers at him
and tell him he is good boy but he mustn't
be falling down and soiling his white pima
fores, so he mustn't. All this may be very
comforting to the proverbial British pepchant
for having something to patronize. SO well
typifed in the blacking manufacturers wife,
who used to say, 1--WE keeps poet" The
Sairey Camps say, "We keeps little king;
and if we keep telling him he's a little pet
and he mustn't make mud pies it's because
we want him to be a goody, goody king,





To the outside world it looks very much as if
the English people were all the time sur
prised that the Prince of Wales is not q fool
or prize-fghter, blackleg or burglar. If
he lays the corner stone of a hospital for
debilitated hunchbacks the newspapers
apologize for his speech and praise his
smiling bearing during the reading of
the Directors address, as if they were as
tonished that be could string half dozen
sentences together without shouting ''houp
la p in the middle of them; and that, instead
of listening like a martyr to the fulsome
praise of his father, his mother and himself,
he had bonneted all the old professors and
wound up by playing leapfrog with the
fifteen specimen hunchbacks, brought to
the ceremony for the purpose Of shedding
tears of gratitude at the proper moment
The English people have paid the expenses
of his trip to India much as they send
their children to the Crystal Palace in care
their royal baby who wears long beard and
is growing bald wants to see the Indian
elephant" in all its native glory and not
stuffed skin so he went to the young Gui-
cowar's show without thought of the Berghs
and old-horse-loving societies of Great
Britain that would 90 into fits at the news
As a consequence the cry has gone up,
There our good little Prince is puddying
his pinafore again r. He does not deserve
this treatment The young gentleman is
comparatively harmless and might be hence
forth let alone, while-and we commend the
idea to the English press-his eldest son,
who has the correct royal marks upon him,
would be fit and fresh subject for the
coddling of the Sairey Camps.


No CoUNcIL~-It turns out that there is
to be no council after all, and the decision of
the differences between Mrs. Moulton and
Mr.. Beecher, in the language Of Judge Van
Year: 1876

THE ACCIDENT to the French steamer
LAmerique, as we learn from a special de-
spatch to the Evening Telegram, which we re-
print this morning, is likely to give rise to
many lawsuits. This case is another illus
tration of the necessity of n clearly defined
international code for the benefit of COM
merce
Year: 1876

QUEEN VICTORIA has had busy time find
ing husbands for her daughters, but if there
is German prince left and she succeeds in
securing him for the Princess Beatrice dur
ing her visit to Coburg her life work will be
ended. 1t is to be hoped she will be COM
pletely successful in her delicate mission.
Year: 1876

The accumulation of practical legislation
made necessary by the late war and the con-
tingencies growing out of it doomed speech
making in Congress to a secondary place in
public and popular esteem In the House
itself all measures of national Importance
were shaped in the committee rooms and not
in Committee Of the Whole So general had
become the practice of relying upon the
committees for practical legislation that Con-
gress was only a ratifying body for the Sc
cret juntas constituted by the Speaker The
eloquence which at one time was wont to
electrify the country became a thing of the
past, and speechmaking was allowed to fall
into desuetude. In the Senate, it is true,
the freedom of debate was undisturbed, but
which obtained in the House was felt even
there, and it was only on field days, when
men like Sumner and Schurz and Conkling
took the floor, that the fashion of the capital
crowded the galleries At no time since the
war has anybody expected to hear q speech
worthy of oratory in the shear garden" of
the Republic With men like Blaine and
Randall and Banks and Wood in the House
there was no possibility of debate, as in the
old time, because the severity of the rules
was an effective check to all oratorical dis
play. The habit of making speeches merely
for their political effect, as was illustrated in
the Andersonville debate, has also helped
to stife statesmanlike argument If mat
ters are allowed to go on much longer
as they have been going speechmaking
in Congress will become one of the lost
arts, and we shall look back to the time of
Clay and Webster and John Quincy Adams
as the golden age of oratory as well as states
manship in this country,


1t has been too much the custom to
decry speech-making and to laud the
benefits of the sitting process. Even
jobbery could not be exposed on the
floor of the House, for five minutes,
which could only be obtained with diff
time to battle successfully with the schemes
of the lobby. Under such conditions modest
merit could not be heard in Congress at
all. Argument was supplanted by repartee,
and Jest was more effective than reason.
Cox came to the 'front.' while Dawes was
profanely referred to as the heavy father
of the House. Even General Butler could
not have been heard had not his tongue
been freighted with bitter words Up
to the present Congress, under republican
rule, it was only courage or favoritism which
could obtain a hearing in the House. We
trust the democratic majority will change all
this, and that both parties will be accordeda a
full and impartial hearing on the floor 1t
is time that all public questions should be
fully and fairly debated in Congress, and
the democrats will honor themselves and
benefit the country if they reopen the ave-
nues of debate and renew the speechmaking
era in our national councils Just now the
whole theory of our government is being
tested, but the test cannot be impartial or
beneficial unless all the representatives of
the people are fully and freely heard.
Year: 1876

No COUNCIL. 1t turns out that there is
to be no council after all, and the decision of
the differences between Mrs. Moulton and
MIR. Beecher. in the language of Judge Van
Cott is TO be left to a higher tribunal.
Year: 1876

The RRcoRD on Failures during the past
and previous years is, indeed, suggestive,
and it will be found that the whole subject
is carefully collated in our news article this
morning.
Year: 1876

ties in nearly all the coast and valley coun-
ties of this State. From all [ have received
good reports. From eight acres of this
sowing, in 1869, cut two crops for hay and
one for seed, the first and third for hay. Tt
yielded over five tons of seed, nearly 1900
pounds per acre, and was sold for twenty
live cents per pound.


Its yield i'll some seasons is truly beyond
credence. In 1870 estimated the yield to
be ten tons to the acre, and grazed the fields
from the fifth of November to the first of
April In this county (Yolo) some have cut
five crops during one summer. This was
up the Sacramento river, where the soil is
warm, light and alluval.


From Santa Barbara county / have adj
vices that six and seven crops have been cut
during one season; but there it is warm and
grows through the whole year.


Some cut when the growth has attained a
height of two feet, without reference to its
age or maturity. am of the opinion that
it ought to have greater age to be of the
highest excellence. My rule is to let it con-
tinue the blooming for ten days or more; it
is then less Washy and far better for horses
than if cut earlier, For mich cows it is
good at any age.


There is great advantage in following for
this crop. The time to plow is late in the
winter or early in the spring, before the
rains have entirely ceased. BY thus expos
ing the soil to the sun during the summer
all vegetation is destroyed; it should then
be put in fine tilth by the plow, harrow and
roller If needed. During September or Oc-
tober the seed may be soWn and lightly
brushed or rolled, but not narrowed after
sowing, as seed terminates well only on or
near the surface. From fifteen to twenty
pounds are sown to the acre.


We do not usually cut anything from it
during the first season, pasturing it only.
Year: 1876




How many complaints are constantly be-
in made on the part of those gardeners of
all kinds who are yet among the rudiments
of gardening that they cannot get certain
seeds to grow. The first impulse is to blame
the seeds and the seedsmen, never thinking
for moment or unwilling to think, that
the failure arose from any want of skill or
lack of knowledge on their own part; the
scotsman is often made scapegoat for the
errors of the inexperienced-no doubt q
convenient arrangement, but decidedly want
ing in justice towards the unfortunate yend-
or, for it is obvious that it cannot possibly
be the interest Of any scotsman to sell seeds
of Indifferent growth; but he oftentimes has
to ' suffer and be strong" in the face of mis-
representations that should not have been
made.


Many seeds, as full of life and vigor as
Hercules, never bring forth leaves, flowers,
or fruit in due season, because they are un-
skilfully sown, or sown in the wrong tenn
perature, or at the wrong time, and under
conditions most unfavorable to their we'll
being. That this is of constant occurrence
is abundantly evidenced by the number of
inquiries made OH all sides as to the proper
time and proper mode of sowing seeds.
Should they be sown in autumn or spring?
thick or thin, deep or shallow ?-and nu-
merous other questions of this character are
constantly being put, and for the sake of the
first beginnings in the art of horticulture,
which the Rev. Canon Hole once termed
I" the most gentle and delightful OF all occu-
pations," these questions ought to be an
swered as fully and simply as possible.


Simple as these questions may appear to
the advanced horticulturist, they are yet the
very first that arise in the minds OF those
who are wanting in gardening experience,
and so well are seedsmen aware of this that
they give much valuable information in their
catalogues, in order to meet the necessities
of this class of buyers. Gardeners Cp'on-
icle.