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S. A. WEBSTER. Editor and Proprietor. VOLUME IT. ORANGEB?RG. SOUTH CAROLINA. SATURDAY, OCTOBER Ki, 1875. A Weekly Paper Devoted to Temperance, Literatur? and Politi? NUMBER 10, TIMELY TOPICS. THK clay pits mar New Brunswick, N. J., yield annually wine 2.1."),duo uins ol'clay, worth over $1,000,000. Tm: Phoenix Cotton Factory, near Baltimore, on the Northern Central Bail way, was sold" ninler the hammer, last week, l'or sic?.uno. Besides the mill proper, the sale included machinery, tene ment and storehouses, and 1M(> { acres of ground. Tnt". British Airlie expedition will winier at a point only loll geographical miles from the north pole, and the explo rers expect to start upon their important mission in April. All that, science and experience can suggest has been done to make this expedition a success. RXi'EKl.MKNTfi prove that codee can he raised iii every positon of California where the soil is congenial. California plants produce twenty-two shoots, whiie those td' Europe produce hut one. Thc Cali fornia soil is believed to he more favor able, as, unlike those of European coun tries, it needs no irrigation. MOKE stoves arc annually manufac tured, by a single Albany finn, than are made in France ami England combined for thc same period. They employ i??O men and a half million of capital, and their business last year amounted lo $1,(1(10,(100. They are running to their fullest capacity to till orders, foreign and domestic. PENNSYLVANIA has passed a new law to cover cases of abduction like that ot Charlie Boss. The law imposes a tine not exceeding live thousand dollars, ami imprisonment at hard labor not exceed ing fifteen years, on conviction of com plicity in harboring, or concealing, or en ticing away, any child, either within or without that commonwealth. THE population of the original thir teen states of the Union h'i-1790, thc period of .the first census, together ivith that of Maine,"Vermont, TC?i?fifolcyiand ? Tennessee, which w?fe formtjd* 'fto?ti'^t?i? original thirteen, ami admitted* to the Union subsequent to 1700, was only 3.929,214. Tlie population of tho same slates, in 1870-our last census-was 10, 070,800; showing a gain of 10,041,195 from 1790 to 1X70. PETltOLEUM and arson are not the only enemies of the Underwriters. Sparks from a lighted pipe have caused lite de struction of many a superb steamboat, causing a fearful loss of life, as well as of valuable cargoes. A gentlemanly smoker, who throws down a cigar st ump carelessly, is often the " unknown cause " of many fires. Cannot insurance companies de vise greater care in this matter, and thus avoid many heavy losses? THK .Sinthern Pacific railroad is meet ing with much opposition. The change of guage, according toa report just made to the Memphis chain her of commerce, cuts Kentucky. Tennessee, Arkansas, North Mississippi, Virginia ami Mary land, out of all diance to n participation in its ad vantages. But can that he justly called a Southern Pacific railroad which excludes two-thirds of thc population of the Southern states from all participation in its benefits ? IT appears fron: a statement just issued by the Statistical Bureau that in the fis cal year ending June, 1874-tho last,year of which tho Bureau has made up full returns-that ?mr domestic exports amounted, in specie value, to over $569, 500,000. For the samo period of the pre vious decade, that ending .Tune .'JO, 1864, the special value of the exports was but $768,5000,000-an increase of more than three-fold insten years. FflOM thc discussions ol' the Associa tion ol' the Boards of Trade in England, we gather the pregnant fact, that not withstanding the balance of trade with the world at large is in favor ol' Eng land, it yet frequently happens that gold is exerted to meet balances against her at particular periods. Another fact is also demonstrated, ?md that is. that gold is a commodity which goes where it is needed, and where it will bring the best P"<*c- _ THE state railroad tax assessors of Tennessee have just completed their la bors at Nashville, under the law, just enacted, which makes railroads liable to a tax for both state and county purpose*. Thc railroads were all allowed to choose between being taxod IA per cent, on t heir gross earnings or 40 cents on the $100 on the assessed value of their prop erty lying i" the state. Nine embraced the former proposition, including the Memphis and Char?fes?on, while fourteen refused the li per. cont, alternative gome denying ute right of tho state to VMS their roadfli It ie estimated that the laxes derived from all lines of railroad in Tennessee will aggregate $100,000. Tm; arguments in favor of a Southern Cacilie railroad, of proper gauge, may he briefly stated, as follows: Such a road can only lie built with government aid; lie government need not risk anything in granting thc aid required to build it; it can he built at less than a third of the expense of the existing liue, ?uni eau be operated proportionately moro cheaply ; it will furnish milch the shortest transit across the continent; it will not be liable to the snow and ice barriers of Hie nort h ern route; it will open the best, part ol' our western territories and states to set tlement: it will increase loreign immi grai ion and attract foreign capital ; and, finally, it will be ol' incalculable advan tage to the trade interests of the whole country -by breaking up a formidable monopoly, and greatly reducing J he cost .1 transport?t ion between the eastern ami western divisions of the continent as well as between tho Atlantic and Pacifie oceans. OHE sources ol' wealth, says the New York Exprew, are remarkable. The poid and silver products of the. United States in 1874 waa $72,000,000. Of this, California furnishes 820,300,000, Nevada $30,452,000, Utah $5,000,000, Colorado $4,191,000, Montana $3,489,000, and Idaho $1,8SO,000. Nearly all ?if this went abroad to pay for imports. Gold and silver, adds the editor, are au im portant source to wealth; hut compar ing their yield with sonic other produi ts, the mistake is found. Thc United Stales corn crop is wortli four times :is much as the gold and silver crop, and the wheat crop five times as much ; the cotton crop more than three times as much, and the hay crop lour times as much. California, with all its poid would be a poor state but for its wheat crop? Carlysle is right. Let us plant potatoes and corn, by all means, and do not busy ourselves too much digging for gold. _____ . - THE report of the Massachusetts bu reau of statistics shows that the annual surplus earnings of the families of me chanics, as indicated by the earnings of .'{97 families, is $24.72; of these 497 fam ilies, ?S ran in debt, 92 earned a surplus of $9.86, lit) a surplus of $20.20, 71 a surplus of $32.48, 3* a surplus of $57.77, 1(5 a surplus of $49.01, 4 a surplus cl ?lO?.Hn, 4 a surplus of $129:35, li a sur plus of $172, and 1 a surplus ol $228.70 and of $27?.8(J. The wages of two fam ilies were over $1,600, (54 between $900 and $1,(500, and 331 from $300 to $1,000. The average earnings of the whole were ?7(52, and the average expenses $738. ( If 2?0 families, however, the seale pf wages ranged from $500.to $800, with a propor tionate scale of expenses, leaving an annual average surplus of $5.13 to $20.25* Only one workman in a hundred owns the house in which his family resides. THE failure of the Bank of California is now known to have been precipitated, in large part, by thc unprecedented ship ments of gold from San Francisco from January to July. Thc shipment of gold for thc first six montlisof 1874 footed up $2,311,400; for the same period in 1875, it. reached the startling sum of $18,207, 400! No such amount of gold had ever beeil shipped from that city in the Maine period. In fact it was more than thc market could liear. Even during the London panic in 1806, no such volume of coin disappeared. Hence the incon venience. But thc coin movement bo gan to fall off in July, and has been still less this month to date. PERIODS of financial depression, arnott nt ing sometimes Lo panics, have pervaded all nations. Of thc cause no satisfactory solution can be made. For more than I wo years past England has been subject to this depression. It seems to be greater now than at any previous time. Heavy and disastrous failures have ad ded to thc trouble, ?md hence capital is unnecessarily cautious, and thereby a great existing evil, without apparent cause, has been great ly aggravated. The same state of things, toa considerable ex tent, exists on the continent. ? . A I,ATI: London letter gives this report of tlie. condition of monetary affairs there : "The official minimum is atil 2 jier cent., and in open market the best billa are taken at 1J to J J per cent. The supply of money seeking employment is very large, and there is but little pros pect of any diminution. There ie just now, owing to thc timidity of the public, a great demand for sound dridend-pay ing securities. These have been forced np in value to a point which yields to tho investor but a small return of inter est ; but as safety is every consideration i with the public, it is nccessai y to Ix; content with small profits. Among these ; ure United States government and iir.it mortgage railroad bonds. These are quoted at high prices. S?coriU-rn?e se curities cheap and much neglected. THK president ?if the. Continental in surance company of New York, in a con vention of insurance men held last week, jinnie the astounding statement, thal the losses Of insurance companies in this country are six times greater than in j England; that in his own company, he thinks twenty percent, of the losses paid are for fraudulent claims, saying nothing of claims that are fraudulent and not paid ; that legislatures often do all they eau to help swindlers of insurance com panies; thal the law courts "generally" strain the law in favor of incendiaries, and that the honest part of the com munity hus to make up for those bur dens on the coin patties. This cannot be said to form an agreeable picture for contemplation. THK consumption of Brazil coffee in this country is enormous. During the season of 187-1 it was 10.3,751 tons, or au average of 8,64ti tons per month. This waa the largest consumption ot Brazil coffee in the United States that was ever known, with thoexception of that of 1870, when 108,502 tons were consumed. ' Thc coffee trade is now on ti firm footing, and the consumption stead ily increasing, especially in this ?oun : try, where it is about one-fourth of that of the entire world. It is worthy of note that thc world's consumption of coffee is nearly, if not fully, 4*25,000 tons, or '.)it5,00O,000 pounds! The people of the United States consume more coffee than any other people on the gloltc. The main source of coffee, supply is Brazil, but Java, Ceylon, and the West Indies furnishes a considerable quantity. The yearly value of thc coffee crop is esti mated, by an Amsterdam authority, at first hands, at $125,000,000, .and this amount is considerably reduced before it. flows back from the consumer. THK September report of thc deparat mcnt of agriculture says of the cotton crop:- Could it be thorough-ripened, its aggregate would exceed any previous crop,and the yield per acre would be one of the best, notwithstanding the losses by the overflow of bottoms and the saturation of heavy flat soils. Such losses have proved less than the usual damages by drongtli and insects, .while thc raina have greatly benefitted thc crops on drier and higher sails. Nearly t everywhere corn is late in maturing front one ti? two weeks. In general a high condition is still maintained, the average being one per cent, higher than in August. The state averages are: Maine ----- 107 New Hampshire - loo Vermont ----- os.Massachusetts - - MW Connecticut - - - 108'New York - - us New Jersey - - IlllPennsylvania - ins Delaware - - - 1001 Maryland - - - .ins Virginia - - - I eJ|North Carolina - inf. South Carolina - - 87|Georgia - - - Ul Florida .... sa!Alabama - - - - lin Mississippi - - - 1161 Louisiana - - S3 Texas - - - - Sill Arkansas - - - - Uti Tennessee - - - - It-liWesI Virginia - - in Kentueky - - - UKItOhio -. U7 Michigan - - - - 101 Indiana - - - - sa Illinois .... II.Y\Visconson - - - - ito Minnesota - - - "'.''Iowa - - - - wi Missouri - - ? tn Kansas - ... mu Nebraska - - Kl California - - - S."? Oregon ... - UKI DIRECT Trade with South America, from Southern ports, is certain sooner or later to bc accomplished. At the present time there is no regular and reliable com munication with Venezuela, and hence they are uaw importing steam engines from England. Our hold upon Brazil has sensibly diminished since thc failure of a Baltimore finn that was engaged in exporting provisions and manufactures thither in exchange for Brazilian coffee and other products. This circa instance will result favorably to the ollbrts of the Mississippi Valley Company iiicstablish Direcc Trade, in that portion of t he world. Their ships will have the. advantage, too, of a shorter distance from New Orleans to South America, and all the. gains of interior wutercommunication. Even the Philadelphia North American confesses that the interests of the people of the en tire country will he directly or individ ually benefited by Direct Trade between Southern |K>rts and South America, the enterprise hoing really National and not local. THE SECRET or HEALTH.-M. Robing, au eminent French chemist, announces to the French Academy of Medicine Iiis belief that life exists only in combusto? which occur* in our bodies-like that winch takes place in chimneys-leaves a detritus which is fatal to life. To re move this, lie would administer lactic iteid with ordinary food. This acid is known to poHsesB tho power of removing or destroying the intrttstntions which form on the arteries, cartilages, and valves of the henrtj and, as buttermilk abounds in such acid, and is, moreover, an acceptable kimi of food, ?ts habitual use, it js urged by M. Bobing, "will free the system from these cnuse:- which in evitablv cau?c death between the seventy fifth and ODO hundredth year. MAN NOT I)K(? KN KU ATI Nt?. rite ?Modera Ktr.V|l(llll1 UH Kit; MM 111? lilian ul 'iii mi-..mils ol' Vi-ars Also, lin- Hoiliit, KiisllNhiiinii Kiifgei' 'limn Ills Aii?-?s<oi-?. There never was a delusion with les* evi lencc for it. ex copi a permanent iinpre.s .ion among mankind, which is often the .csu lt. not nf accumulated experience, nit of an ever renewing discontent with .he actual .state of things. There is not ihe slight's* evidence anywhere that man ?vas ever lugger, stronger, swifter, o nore enduring under Inc saine cundir ions of fond and climate than he is now. As to the bigness, the evidence is pos itive. Modern Egyptians are as big as the mummies who were conquerors in their day, and modern Englishmen sire lugger. Then' are not in existence a thousand coats ol' armor which au Eng lishman regimen) could put on. Very few moderns can use ancient swords, he cause tho hilts ?ire too small for their hands. Endless wealth and skill wert! expended iii picking gladiators, omi there is no evidence that a mau among them was as hig or as strong as Shaw. No skeleton, no statue, no pictures, in tlicates that men in general were bigger. The .lews of to-day are as largo ?ts they were in Egypt, or larger. The people of the Homagua have till the hearing and more than the size of the Hornau soldiery. Nb leal is recorded ns usual with Greek athletes which English acrobats could not |jcrforih now. There is no naked savage tribe which naked Cornishmen or Yorkshiremen could not strangle. No nice exists of which a thousand men similarly armed would defeat au English, or (.{orman', or Russian regiment of equal numbers. Nothing is recorded of our forefathers here in England which Englishmen could not do, unless it ht; some feats of archery; which were the results ufa long irai liing of the eve continued for genera tions. The most, civilized and luxurious family that ever existed, the European royal casts, is physically as hig, headily, and as powerful as any people of whom we nave any account that science can accept. Theirs' French man in ptesaf's Gaul in all hoddy conditions, and with an increased power of keeping alive, which may he partly owing to improved conditions ot living, hut is probably owing still more to developed vitality. There is no evidence that even the feeble races are feebler than t'.iv-been inc after Llielr first acclimatiza tion) The bengalee was what we know him twelve hundred years ago, and the Ulli namen was represented on porcelain just ax he is now before the birth of Christ. No race over uni I ti plied like the Anglo-Saxon, which has had no ad vantage of climate, and till lately no particular advantage ol' food. Physical condition depends on physical condi tions, and why should a race better led, hi tter clothed, and better housed than it iver wa.- before dejgenerato I Because, it sats oom instead of berries? Compare the California and the Digger Indian. Because it wears clothes*.' Tho wearing >f clothes, if burdensome-which thc ex perience of army doctors i n India ns to thc best costume for marching makes ex cessively doubtful, they declaring unan imously that breeehless men sillier from varicose veins, as men wearing trousers lo not-must operate as a permanent physical training. You carry weight Fialiitually. Because they keep" indoors? Coin pare English professionals with Tas manian savages, living in identically the .ame climate, but living out ol'doors. Tho conditions of civilization not only lo not prohibit Capt. Wehl?, who would linvf out-walked, out-swum, or strangled my Herman that Tacitus ever romanced iboiit, hut they enabled him to live to seventy instead'ol'dying at forty-live, as two thousand years ago he, then probably i slave bred for the arena, would have lour. That the human race, even under ?.he best conditions, advances very little in phydcal capacities is true, hut then it is I nm also that those conditions are not fatal to the most powerful of the old im proving forces, the survival of the titlest. Still an advance is perceptible in vital |H?w(r, and we question whether a Greek swimmer would ever have crossed from Dove: to Calais, just, as strongly as wo question whether the ancient world ever posse***(I a horse which would lum iichierod a placent Epsom. Why should men '.row feeble i;i civilization any more than torses.-London Spectator. Thc (nui in orchil l'rosperlt y of Prance. A financial jolt mal publishes some in formation respecting lue commercial s'u ttation! of Prance before and since lb war, tillich prove to a certain extent what Macaulay said about no form ol government hindering the march of.pro." pcrity. Wealth iii England steadily in creased under Elizabeth, .lames I Charles. I, Cromwell, etc., nor haven jun visional government lind-a republic prc vented the development of the resources of this country. The total commercial movement, exports and imports, for 1871 (which will prove inferior to that of 1876) ?mounted to 7,f>,J.r?,7(i4,(K)(i francs -say ?:*l)0,'*l*0,()00-exceeding that ol' 186U ls; about Kr?n,00l),000, when thc Empire'was at the height of its prosper ity, and when Alsace ?uni Lorraine he longed to France. The railways are con sequently doing a larger business. The Western'line has improved ii,OOO francs a mile; thc Northern, 7,000 francs Lyons, 9,000 francs; th;- Eastern, 14,000 francs; the Southern, 10,900 fiancs. As far as P.-Aris is concerned there are fewer failli rcs, and the theatrical _ receipts sign of luxury-show an increase i f 7,000,0041.francs over those ofel8li0. In spite of restless jnolitieinni-? flood-* and other partial disasters, there can be no tlvjtlbfc U) m France lifts fcuthim- to wm |>la?n ut', and tliiit she lins inure limn rc covered that material welfare which is supposed to have unnerved her under the immoral ?iud luxurious empire. There is. of eourscj a dark side tu this brilliant picture mu alluded tu by the financial writer, to wit. the extra burden- with which t!ie country is saddled. Deep Tilling; and I ndi r-Di ainiiig. Intelligent ami observing tillers of the soil in almost every oeetinn of the conn try where the drouth has [irevailed to any considerable extent during thc past season, have been strikingly impressed with thc surprising advantage to the growing erops arising from thorough drainage ol' heavy soils in connection with deep tillage and abundant fertiliza tion ol' lite seed-bed. W hen the water line of a heavy soil that is disposed to lie wet, is sunk by means ol' a system ol' thorough nnderdraining, say thirty or more inches beneath the surface ol' the soil, if the seed-bed be broken tip deep, the finely comminuted soil will retain a much larger iiunntitv of moisture in dry and liol weather than if there were no undcr-drains. Astin- soil is deepened hy under-draining ?ind deep plowing, thc capacity to absorb moist ure from the at mosphere is greatly augmented. Ilene??, in a dry season, if the seed-bed bc bro ken nil deep, the roots of growing plants spread farther ill every direction I li rough tlie soil : and as the mellow earth will absorb a much larger quantity of moist ure than if the cut ire st rata were one sol ld mass, every growing plain is. in a great measure, fortified against the trying in fluences ol'hoi and e!rv weather. Under draiiiing and deep ploughing, in numer ous instances, have been the means ol' saving large crops from utter ruin by protracted drouth. I lenee, many farm ers have been led to appreciate the ad vantages ol' under-draining and deep til lage where the soil was heavy, tis they have never done before. It will pay well to liuder-draiu wet html and to plow it deep, whether the growing season is to he too wet or too dry. Dull Life in Portugal. A writer on Portugal life says: The huger of the country towns have streets full of gentlemen's bouses, and here veg etate front year to year families who are just rich enqugli to live without working. To live," Iiiileeu, as the Portuguese do in such towns need cost lau little. A large house, with a plot of cabbages,*a kan yan! behind it; willi whitewashed walls, tloors tinearpcted, a dozen wooden chairs, one or two deal tables; no fireplace, not even a stove, either in silting or bedroom; no curtains lo the windows, no envers to the table-, no pictures on thc walls, no mirrors; no tables pleasantly strewn with hooks, magazines, newspapers, and ladies' work; no such thing visible as a put of mit Howers; no ran- china, nu clocks, no hrony.es-noni- of thc hundred trifles and curiosities with which in our houses we show our laste or want ol' it. hut which Bittier way give such ?tu individual char acter and charm to Knglish humes. All these negatives describe the utterly dreary habitations of the middle-class Portuguese. Foroceupations the women do needlework, gossip, go to mass daily, ?ind look out of window by the hour. Kxccpt the one short walk to church at fight o'clock in the morning, a Portu iruese lady hardly ever appears in the streets. A s to the men, they lounge about muong the shops, they smoke inn?mera - Ide naper cigarettes, they take a "siesta" in th?- heat of thc day. If there is any ut nsh i ne they stand in groups at the street corners, with umbrellas over their heads; in winter they wear a shawl over lheir shoulders, folded and put on threc cornerwis'e, ns a French or Knglish wo man's shawl is worn- for this is a fashion in Portugal, and the Spaniards laugh a good deal at their neighltors on the score :)f their being a nation who invert the line order of things. In these towns there is never any news, and if two men arc seen in eager discussion nf some mat ter of apparently immense importance, ind if om- happens to bc near enough to iverheilr the subject of conversation, he ?i'm that one ol' them is plunged in de spair or killing with enthusiasm at a rise ir fall of a half-penny in the price bf a (mund of tobacco. There are not even fashions for them to think about; young men and old men dress alike, but tin younger men wear exceedingly tight hoots, iiml when they " take their walks abroad" it is obvious that they do st) in considerable discomfort. The young men however, have one occupation more im portant even than wearing tight boots that of making the very mildest form ol love known among them. The process indeed, is carried on in so platonic a tuan ncr and w ith so milch proper feeling that I doubt if even thc strictest Knglisli governess would find anything to object to. Tin- young gentlemen pay their ad dresses by simply standing in front of tin housestiecupied by the objects of theil affections, while thc young persons ?1 [|ll?stion look down approvingly front tin II poer windows, arni there thc mattel ends._ AFRICAN EXPLORATIONS.-A com pa ny has been formed in Berlin which pro poses to found at ('boa, thc most south urn province of Abyssinia, a pcrmanen settlement, in order tosend out Kcicntilii expeditions into tin- unexplored porfi?! nf Africa, and to develen the commerci nf.the country. The objects of the com puny are, however, supposed to be mon commercial than scientific. -Only nine ]>orsoiis out of a hundrct are insane from hereditary causes. Tin jim-jams finstance, are inure read-head itary than hereditary. MOODY and Snakey will (noan In ward ly when they return to Chit Aro nm lind tho Mibln bn?iabml ?'ivn? Hiv pUb)i< FACTS AND FANCIES. -A tree in Ceylon is said to huvc been standing more than two thousand years. The Buddhist priests sell it? leaves as a panacea for sin, and it is a real bonanza to those pious teachers. - It is snit! that the game of chess was invented by a tender woman, more than two thousand years ago. She was a (jileen, and played the first game with the teeth sin? had extracted from one ol her slaughtered enemies. Hans Tam mer, an Austrian, is exhi biting in Paris a canine quartet. He has four ?logs, and he has taught each dog to bark in two notes, and each dog's notes are di li?rent from those of the other dogs. He thus commands eight notes, and gives " IJQ donne mobile" and some other pieces. - While a couple of women were dis cussing, the other day, the merits of a certain physician, one (d' them asked the other what kind of a doctor he was, .' Sure. I dunno," was the reply, "but I think it's an alpaca doetor they call him." -Chateaubriand said, "Mme. Chat eaubriand would not dine later thau live. I was never hungry till seven. But wc com promised and dined at. six, so that we could neither of us enjoy it; and that is what people call the happi ness of mutual concessions." -It will hardly !>e necessary to tell the name of the facetious party who went into a village ?Irv goods store tho other day, and was observed to be look ing about, when the proprietor remarked to bim that they didn't keep whisky. " lt would save you a good many s'?>ps if you did," was the stage-driver's quick reply. -A tramping printer on the route be tween New York and Newburgh, is ac companied by his wife. When asked the other ?lay by a country editor, why he carted her around with him, re marked that she took him for better or worse, and. having had a good taste ot the latter, was endeavoriug to i td out where the better came in. t -".lob printing?" exclaimed m old lady, thc other day, as she peep over ber*spectacle?, nt the advertising re of a country paper, "Poor Job It ly'vo kept bini printing, week after week, ever since I In nit to rend; ami if ho-wjjjKs'* the patientest man that ever was, he never could have stood it so loni;, no how!" * - I was acquainted once with a gallant moldier who assured me that his only method of courage was this: Upon tho first tire in an engagement he lmmedi ttely looked upon himself as a dead man. Ile then fought out the. reuiain ler of the ?lay perfectly regardle . of all manner of danger, as becomes a dead niau lo be. S?> that all the life or limbs lie carried back to his tent he reckoned ts clear gain, or, as he. himself expressed t. "so much ?nit of the fire."-Sterns. How to Hold Fertility of the Soil. Gypsum attracts. It is not only a ma nure tn itself, but it attracts the atmos phere that comes in contact with it, which is abundant on windy days, but it catches and holds the fertility of the ground that in some soils escapes. Lime will also ?lo this-sii will clay. Clay, iriednrid powdered, is an encellent thing to put on a barn-yard, or to cover a com post heap with, or work through the heap; lenee wc use gypsum or lime in our sta des or privies. Gypsum is best; it has the most attraction, besides other proper ides. A little should be kept by every larmer for use, even at high cost, as the nenefit is sometimes more important than the high price. But we waste our manure; ive not only permit its strength to escape, but we are glad to get it out of the way. The same recklessness extends to the land. It is well our land lins a good pro portion of clay to hold its strength. We must conserve. The time is not tar distant when we shall bc compelled to lo it. Already there arc symptoms of lack in our soil; we donut rnise ns heavy .:rops ns we used to-here and there a fie hi, here and there a farm is less pro btet ive. It is not so much that weneed plaster here in thc west to hold the strength of the soil, as to use it to ab itract it from the atmosphere, and to ?ive the ammonia of our barn-yards and stables. For this let. us always keep a itt le on hand. Let us save and improve mr manure and thus stive our farms. Rural World. Tm; FAST MAH, TRAINS.-A feeling nts prevailed among commercial men iince the establishment of the new fast nail t rains that their interest? were being tacriliced to those of the morning news wipers by the post-office department. The idea got abroad that mercantile tat ers were delayed until morning,and that die time of transmission to the west was hereby increased instead of diminished tnder the new arrangement. A numhor if merchants and publishers of evening ?ewspapers met at No. 17 Brondway yes terday, and Major Bangs addressed the issemblagc, explaining the system of railway service ol' the United States very 'tilly, and said that the etty could not Kiss'ibly be better served than it is nt. iresent. The morning train? from this .ity had been arranged to catch most of he through trains in the west. Ilms ?verything combined to render a lust ivening train of no practical SyalUe.. In -dunning thc new service all theso things ind lieen carefully weight* , the principal ,bieet being to accommodate tlffo largo ?lies which arc the distributing agencies. . Should any now considerations of un por u?ee be Offered to the department Major liaiiir? promised that care would bo taken o Rive them thc attention ibey might