Poultry and Game Salesmen. Messrs Ebenezer Howard, Leadenhall Market. ... ... ... George Bowles, 20 Newgate Street. William Hayes, 7 and 8 Newgate Market. Bowles and Bewley, 4 Rose Street, Newgate Street. MISCELLANEOUS NOTICES. I. Potato Experiment. The following account of an experiment on renewing the constitutional vigour of the potato, was sent to us by Mr George Sime, parochial schoolmaster of North Berwick, under date of 17th August 1837. It would be desirable to know afterwards how the new varieties stand cultivation.-E. Q. J. A. "Owing to the partial failure of the potato crop for several years past, it became an object of importance to try experiments with the view of restoring the constitutional vigour of that excellent esculent. Last year Mr Arthur, gardener at North Berwick Lodge, noticing a field of thriving potatoes, of sorts, in his neighbourhood, bestowed considerable pains in crossing the strongest and most approved varieties in the field, and afterwards carefully collected the seed. The seed thus collected was sown early this season, and the plants thus produced were in due season transferred to new ground, on which potatoes had never been grown. The crop, which covers more than a quarter of an acre, has the most promising appearance, the stems being nearly as strong as the best fields in the neighbourhood grown from sets. From the pretty extensive scale in which the experiment has been made, and the scientific manner in which it has been conducted, it seems well deserving the attention of the agriculturist, as a great number of new and important varieties may be obtained, no two stems exhibiting the same characteristics." II. The Value of the Precious Metals of France compared with those of the same Denomination of England.—The price of gold at Paris is 3434 francs the kilogramme, the premium on which is 12 francs the kilogramme, making the price of gold at Paris in all 3446 francs the kilogramme, which, when reduced to English money and weight, is about equal to L. 4:0: 8 the ounce; and comparing the price of gold at Paris with the price of the same metal in London, which, as regulated by the Mint, is valued at L. 3: 17: 104, shews that the gold of France, though admitted in all respects to be much inferior to that of British manufacture, is 2s. 94d. per ounce dearer. The silver is valued at 118 francs the kilogramme, and the premium on that metal being 7 francs the kilogramme, gives the price as 125 francs the kilogramme, which, when reduced to English money, in weight is about equal to 2s. 11d. the ounce, and shews that the silver of France is lower in value per ounce than that of England by 1s. 11d., the price of silver in England being 4s. 10d. the ounce. It will appear, however, by classing both metals together, viz. the gold and silver of France, the price of which per ounce, as embodied together, is L.4, 3s. 7d., and comparing it with the same metals of England, and also classed in the same way, the price of which per ounce is L.4: 2:9, shews that, on the whole, the gold and silver of France is 10d. per ounce dearer than that of England; as separated, the gold of France is 2s. 94d. per ounce dearer than that of England; and the silver of England 1s. 11d. per ounce dearer than that of France. III. Relative Purity of English and French Gold and Silver Coins.-In both denominations our sovereigns and shillings are more free from alloy than those of our neighbours. Thus, of 1000 parts in the French coin, there are only 900 pure gold, and 100 copper, whilst a sovereign contains 916.67 pure gold, and only 83.33 silver and copper. The five franc piece, likewise of 1000 parts, contains 100 copper and 900 pure silver, whilst the shilling contains 925 silver and 75 copper. The assay of English jewellery is not given, but that of French contains only two-thirds of pure gold, being as 750 to 250 copper, and the silver plate has 950 to 50 copper, being less alloy than would seem from such dark-looking metal. IV. Population of Cities and Towns in British India. The city of Calcutta is computed to contain 265,000 inhabitants; the town of Madras, 160,000; the town and island of Bombay, 162,570; the town and island of Singapore, 25,000; the town and island of Penang, 57,400; and the town and territory of Malacca, 33,800; making a total in these six places of 703,770. The following is the number of British firms, at the several ports of British India :Calcutta, before the failure in 1830, 50, at present 62; Bombay, 17; Singapore, 15; Madras, 10; Penang, 2. To these, perhaps, we ought to add Canton, where a large body of English merchants are settled, amenable to a certain extent to English laws. We have here no less than eleven English firms, some of them very wealthy, besides six American houses of great respectability, and a considerable body of Persee merchants, who are British subjects. -Sketch of the Commercial Resources and Monetary and Mercantile System of British India. V. Density of the Population of England.—It is a remarkable fact, that the more dense the population is in England as to numbers upon every square mile, the proportion of births to any given number of marriages varies inversely. Thus, according to the mean average of the population of England, from the returns of 1811 and 1821, where the inhabitants are found to be on the square mile, from 50 to 100 (in 2 counties) the number of births to VI. The Married and Unmarried.—Some very curious facts on the subject of marriage, as connected with longevity, are stated by Dr Casper, in a paper of his lately published at Berlin. It had been long ago vaguely asserted, bachelors are less long-lived than married men. Hufeland and Departhat cieux were of this opinion; and Voltaire observed that there were more suicides among those who had not given hostages to fortune than among those who had. Odier, however, was the first who set on foot the inquiry with exactitude, and he found (Bibl. Britannique, 1814) that, in the case of females, the mean duration of life for the married woman of 25, was above 36 years; while for the unmarried it was about 301. At 30 there was a difference of four years in favour of the married; and at 35 two years, and so on. It may be said, perhaps, that married females ought to be considered as picked lives; but, as Dr Casper observes, this is far from being generally the case, especially in the middle and upper classes of society; it is chiefly among the lower orders, where a livelihood is procured by labour, that importance is attached to the bodily health and vigour of the female. With regard to men, we gather from Deparcieux's and the Amsterdam tables, that the mortality of those from 30 to 45 years of age is 27 per cent. for the unmarried, while it is but 18 for the married; and that for 41 bachelors who attain the age of 40, there are 78 married men. The difference becomes still more striking as age advances; at the age of 60 there are but 22 unmarried men alive for 48 married; at 70, 11 bachelors for 27 married men; and at 80, for the 3 bachelors who may chance to be alive, there are 9 Benedicts. The same proportion very near holds good with respect to the female sex; 72 married women, for example, attain the age of 45, while only 52 unmarried reach the same term of life. M. Casper, in conclusion, considers the point as now incontestibly settled, that, in both sexes, marriage is conducive to longevity. VII. Propagating Apple-Trees.—A new plan for increasing plantations of apple-trees has lately been carried into extensive practice by the horticulturists of Bohemia. Neither seed nor grafting is required. The process is to take shoots from the choicest sorts, insert them in potatoes, and plunge both into the ground, leaving but an inch or two of the shoot above the surface. The potato nourishes the shoot, while it pushes out roots, and the shoot gradually grows up and becomes a beautiful tree, bearing the best fruit, without requiring to be grafted. Whatever may be the success of the undertaking, its novelty at least is an inducement to give it a fair trial. QUARTERLY AGRICULTURAL REPORT. August 1837. THE most striking circumstance, to those who feel an interest in the crops, is the state of the weather for the last half year. The temperature of the winter was uniformly cold, the thermometer seldom ranging above 45° in the day. The spring was equally cold, with a low temperature during the day, and frost almost every night. The consequences were alarming. The fodder was nearly exhausted in keeping on the stock after the turnips were consumed. There was no vegetation; and, of course, no green food for ewes and lambs, which were overtaken with great mortality. So late as the end of May there was no spring in the grass; the spring-sown corns, although sown in a dry bed, were scarcely brairded, and the wheat land in many instances appeared red, whilst in the best si tuations none of it covered the clod. But after 9th June a change came over the face of the earth. Vegetation burst into luxuriance, and, in the course of two or three weeks, every plant and tree was as vigorous as if it had been growing and covered with foliage for months. The temperature seldom exceeded 65° in the day, but never below 55° in the night. This unprecedented equability of temperature, night and day, conjoined with the brightness of the sun veiled with thin vapours, encouraged vegetation to a degree that we never before witnessed. The consequences were cheering. There was soon plenty of food for every living creature; a heavy hay crop was cut down in not much beyond its usual time. The spring sown crops, particularly barley, grew at the rate of an inch a-day; the turnips were sown, and brairded almost in the instant; and the whole fields hastened towards maturity of growth in an incredibly short time. Now, while we write, 23d August, harvest is already begun in some of the earliest spots, and next week it will be pretty general; and all this has come to pass when, only three short months ago, it was considered impossible to reap corn, under the most favourable circumstances, before the end of September! So short-sighted is man and distrustful of the goodness of Providence! We hear favourable accounts of the bulkiness of all kinds of grain crops. Turnips could certainly not get finer weather. The pastures continue fresh, from the dropping rains. The potatoes present no failures. The heavy thunder showers in the end of July laid much of the heavy grain crops, but there is no doubt of their filling in this genial weather. Of course, we can as yet pass no opinion on what the quality of the grain is likely to be. Many collateral subjects would have had their due share of attention, had there been space, but we are again curtailed in that respect, and must reserve what we have to say for a more convenient opportunity. THE REVENUE. ABSTRACT of the Nett Proluce of the Revenue of Great Britain, in the Quarter and Years ended on the 5th of July 1836, and 5th of July 1837,-shewing the Increase and Decrease on each head thereof. Date. TABLES OF PRICES, &c. The Average Prices of the different kinds of GRAIN, per Imperial Quarter, sold at the following Markets :— TABLE shewing the Weekly Average Prices of GRAIN, made up in terms of 7th and 8th Geo. IV. c. 58, and the Aggregate Averages which regulate the Duties payable on FOREIGN CORN; the Duties payable thereon, from May to June 1837. Average. Aggregate d.s. d. s. d. s. d 8. d. s. d. 434 12 333 2 3 35 යය 20 37 7 Weekly |