MISCELLANEOUS.

Inangahua Times, Volume II, Issue II, 7 January 1881, Page 2

MISCELLANEOUS.

« Beds of strawberries, which have shown signs of exhaustion through the frui^in^ season now pasf, should be dnej in, *nd the space used for some other crop Three years is as Ion? ns the same plants will generaUy continue to produce a profitable crop of fruit, therefore onc»third should be renewe I each year, an I the space for that purpose should be allotted at once, so that it may h? in readiness for plant* ing in March.- Currants and ecmse berries have mostly done fruitinc sad a larga por tion of the yonnu shoots should be thined oat This will better allow the reniiinine wood to ripen and next season's fruit buds to more fully swell out. But such old worn out bushes with hundreds of suckers, as one often see*', are better dm out and consigned to the fire, that they may give place to younger and more de» cent plants having clean well trained stems. Youne trees ' of apple _■ jin.dpe.nr slwujd a^ain be looked over, «!»d any wwlirmrt-will^nttt be of advantage to ilte formation of the tree must be re* moved, and the main branches should now be stopped, which stopping will cause the buds to fill out, thereby throwing the trees much sooner into fruit than if allowed to run all to wood, and thistles and other rank weeds muse not impede the wind playing frvply around thorn. The Electro«Metalurgisfc says that a useful test paper may be nude by boiling one pound of leaves of the red cabbage in one pint of water for some time, and then straining the blue liquor through muslin. Kvaporate to ahout half its bu'k } place layers of white blotting paper in the liquid, and then hang them up to dry. Acids change the blue color of tJw paper- to red and alkalies turn it green. This ii a very good substitute for liimu* paper.. We f Marl borough Express) have been requested to publish the following question, which was put to 11. A. Proctor, during liiß visit to Blenheim : — ' R»s the moon any influence on the tides nnd weather, and if so, what effect? ' Mi* Proctor replied : — • The moon certainly rules the tides (with the sun. the m M)n's action being to the »un as 5- to 2), but t tier»! ier» is no sc'eniiffo evidence that tbe moon effects the weather — though »l*e- exerts yome influence iv clearing clouds (so Sir J. IlerscheJ thought), probabiv.hy tbe slight amouut of heat she reflects apd radiates.' A late telei^am from th°, King Couotry states that Tawhaio is establishiiTg a new settlement". Ti'ie Natives «re rfescrilvd as being anxious for peace, nnd as disclaiming and sympathy with Parihaka. A clergyman has invented a practic.il means of lessening the number of deaths by drowning. A chemical preparation is inserted between the lining and the cloth in a portion of the coat, waistcoat, or dress The I moment a man f.il!s into the water the coat iiiflites, nnd he cannot keep his head under the water. An interest* iog exhibition of this, says 'he Home News, was made a lew days ago in the large tank at the Westminster Aquarium. Au attendant put on a coat with the preparation insert d ia it. He first went undor a shower bath, i where he was thoroughly drenched, to show that inflation would uofc take ' jjlaco under the ordi-ary circumstance* ot' a shower. He tlieu took, a ' Leader 1

into the water. He reappeared at th< surface almost immediately^ \ul th< coat promptly inflated. ICivestinfi himself of the garment-, it fl).ite< about the bath till it was taken out It is calculated (says the Jrish Australian Almanac) that within the present centnry alone L 1,061,018 ba( been expended in Ireland on Catholt< churches, £3,198,627 on convents L 309,918 on colleges and seminaries and over L 158.135 on asylums ao( hospitals. L 300.000 has been ex pended on schools under Catholii management, L 40,000 has been raise* for throwing op a Catholic University and since the year 1833X159,124 has been contributed for the Propagatiot of the Fa : tb, The archdiocese ovei which (he Most Key. Dc Coorto presides has sent out to Foreigr Missions from its own bosom 143 priests, 33 monks and 147 nans in CX years ; Limerick, 122 priests, H monk' and 87 nuns in the same peri.ii , and since the year 1812 All Hallow* College has sent out 400 priests 200 Christain Brothers now teach schools in Ireland ; and thvre are'sl impeTrio* schools for guU of the Citholic church. The Jj^uits direct sis cok leges, and there are fSO regulars ii 117 convents. Finally there are 269( schools built and nunaged by Catholic and 77 7 per cent of the population, ii the face of every trial, renain of the Old Faith planted by Patrick mow than 1400 years ago. 1 1 cannot close my report,' says Mr Henry W. Hammond, ths Im spector of Schools for South Canterbury. * •without deploring the upp! rent, necessity for ostracising religious siid moral instruction from our schools A child possesses religioiw instiLclJ* which are ever show ng themselve and w.utin* for development; ;md apart from the loss of a D^erfu mean* of religious and moral training I am convinced thit the simple fac of tacitly ignoring these instinct* o principles must have an iojurbu effect/