MISCELLANEA.

Lyttelton Times, Volume III, Issue 148, 5 November 1853, Page 11

MISCELLANEA.

Samuelson's Digging Machine.—We have had the opportunity of witnessing the operation of this novel implement, which has been noticed in the. Times, and the leading London and provincial papers, and which has excited much interest among the agriculturists. Mr. Samuelson's new digger has been tried on various farms in the neighbourhood of Banbury. The trial appears to have given universal satisfaction, and what surprised us most was to see a machine of such extreme simplicity accomplish the operation of digging; whereas in all attempts hitherto made, a great complication of parts has been introduced with the erroneous view of imitating the motions of the human body. Circular motion has been the foundation of all our most important improvements in machinery; in this instance a number of steel pkJtigs, firmly connected, hut revolving in circles, perform the work of digging with facility and effect. The implement covers a breadth of about 2 feet, and digs to a depth varying from 4 to 10 inches, which latter is regulated in a very simple manner. Provision is also made to prevent clogging. On this occasion it was drawn by five horses, and dug at the rate of abJut two acres in three hours and a half. The draught however, will vary, as may be supposed, with the nature and condition of the soil. The inventor is not so sanguine as to think that it will supersede the implements at present in use ; —indeed in some instances it will require to be followed or preceded by them, in order to ensure the most perfect cultivation ; but in most cases, it will doubtless, without their assistance prepare a more perfect seed bed than any tool now in use (the fork not excepted.) There is probably not a favm of any extent to be found \ where it will not be a most valuable adjunct. "Indeed, its great merit is, that it enables the fanner to imitate the culture of the market gardener, with more than the expedition of the plough. It is needless to say wdiat is the advantage of such culture at a time when the altered value of our cereal crops has rendered the growing of roots the main stay of British husbandry.— Oxford Chronicle.

A Pint of Ale and a Newspaper.—How strangely the value of difference is estimated in some minds! A few grains of roasted barley are wetted, aud the juice squeezed into a little water, with a taste of" the hop plant—the value of both being too small to be calculated ; and a very slight tax is laid upon the mixture which, with costs and a little labour, is hardly to be reckoned in our coinage. A pint of this sells, retail, for fourpence, and if of good flavour, it is reckoned cheap and well worth the money ; and so it is. It is drunk off in a minute or two —it is gone. On the same table on which this was served lies a newspaper, the mere white sheet of which cost one peuny farthing, aud the duty thereon is one penny, with no deductions for damaged, crooked, or overprinted copies made ready for sale, and charged too with carriage from mills and stamp-offices at a distance ; and it is covered with half a million of types, at a cost of thirty pounds for itself, and other sheets printed at the same office on the same day ; and sells for no more than a pint of ale, the juice of a little malt and hops. And yet, after one person has enjoyed it, affording him news from all parts of the world, and useful thoughts on all that interests him as a man and a citizen, it remains to be enjoyed by scores of others in the same town or elsewhere ; and it promotes trade, and finds employment, and markets for goods, and cautions against frauds and accidents, and subjects for conversation ; and there are some who think this article dear, though the swiftly gone barley water is paid for cheerfully. How is this ? Is the body a better paymaster than the mind, and are things of the moment more prized than things of moment? Is the transient tickling of the stomach of more consequence than the improvement of the mind, and the information that is essential to rational being ? J f things had their real value, would not the newspapers be worth many pints of the best ale? — Chambers. A Yellow Coat—There was a man about 40 years old, Dick Harness by name. He had received a wound in the hip, from a grape shot; and his leg having in consequence contracted, it occasioned him to limp very much ; but he was as strong and hearty, in all other respects, as a man could be. He was a very merry fellow, full of jokes ; and if any one told a story which was at all verging on the marvellous, he was sure to tell another which would be still more incredible. He played the fiddle, and sang to bis own accompaniments, which were very droll, as he extracted strange noises from his instrument. Sometimes his bow would be on the wrong side of the bridge, sometimes down at the keys ; besides which he produced sounds by thumping the fiddle, as well by touching its strings like a guitar ; indeed, he could imitate, in a certain way, almost every instrument, and most of the noises made by animals. He had one fault—for which he used to be occasionally punished—which was, he was too fond of the bottle ; but he was a great favourite, and therefore screened by the men and overlooked by the officers as much as possible. The punishment for a pensioner getting drunk was, at that time, being made to wear a yellow, instead of a blue coat, which made a man look very conspicuous. One day Harness had the yellow coat on, when a party of ladies and gentlemen came to see the hospital Perceiving that he was dressed differently from the other pensioners, one of the ladies' curiosity was excited ; and at last she called him to her, and said:—' Pray, my good man, why do you wear a yellow coat, when all the other pensioners have nothing but blue ones ?' ' Blesss your handsome face, ma'am !' replied Dick, ' don't you really know ?' ' No, indeed !' 4 replied she. ' Well, then, ma'am, perhaps you have heard of the glorious battle of the Nile, in which Nelson gave the French such a drubbing ?' ' Oh, yes!' cried all the ladies and gentlemen, who had crowded about him. ' Well, ladies and gentlemen, I had the good fortune to be in that great victory; and all we Nilers, as we are called, are permitted to wear a yellow coat, as a mark of distinction, while the common pensioners wear nothing but blue.' ' Dear me !' said the lady ; ' and do I really speak to one of those brave fellows who fought at the battle of the Nile?' and she put her band into her pocket, and pulled out five shillings. ' There,' said she, ' I hope you'll not be affronted, but accept this from me.' ' Not at all ma'am,' replied Dick pocketing the money. Then the whole party made a subscription for him, aud Dick went off with a handful of silver."— Captain Marryat's " Poor Jack."

A Curious Helic—Our friend, Captain Pederson, recently arrived from Peru, brought us for examination, a day or two since, a remarkable curiosity. It is part of a poncho, dug from an ludian grave, at the town of Huachu, about 60 miles from Lima. Its texture is moderately fine, and the raised flowers embroidered in it are as fast in their colours as when first manufactured. It is in itself a sufficient proof that the Peruvians were acquainted with the fabrication of woollen goods long before Europeans ever discovered the country, as there is no doubt that this poncho was buried uhbthe body which it enveloped, previous to 1532. The evidence of this is, that it was obtained from a grave near that of one of the Incas ; and it will, be remembered by the reader, that when these sovereigns died, it was the custom to sacrifice a large number of their attendants,who were interred with them, that they might appear in the next world, with their family dignity, and be served with the same respect as they had been in this.— Panama Star. Lord Byron's Fame. —It is not only because Byron was graud in his descriptions, sublime in his musings, and lasiu'ug in his satires, that he eclipsed all the poet^ of his day : he was essentially the uiiiu of the age. Purity of diction is, of necessity, almost lost in translation ; why was it then, that, among foreign nations, and especially in Fiance, who»e language least of any admits of a worthy rendering of Byron's glowing imagery, he occupied attention almost to the exclusion of all his contemporaries? Because he breathed the restless, vacillating, superstitious, onward-tending spirit of the times ; because iu the midst of wars, and rumours of wars, when Europe was convulsed, when no man could tell what next would befall, when nations knew not what they would, nor whither they were tending, when opinions were shaken, when kingdoms changed hands, and crowns and thrones were tottering—one man whose mind was convulsed as the face of Europe ; whose will was as powerful and ill-directed as that of the raging nations; whose opinions were as shaken, as vacillating, as uncertain as those of the fallen empires and trembling kings ; one who breathed the pervading spirit of bitterness, of discontent, and helplessness ; in whom all these feelings, all these ernotious found a living voice, and whose magnificent strain echoed and resounded through all those lands whose interpreter he was; therefore, was he the idol of his own age, as he will surely be the wonder to the future generations !