MISCELLANEOUS.

Nelson Examiner and New Zealand Chronicle, Volume X, Issue 470, 8 March 1851, Page 8

MISCELLANEOUS.

California.— We have San Francisco • papers to the 9th December. The winter had set in, but there had not been much rain, and owing to the fine bracing weather the cholera was decreasing. Crowds of people were daily leaving for the United States and other countries. It was calculated that from deaths and emigration the population of the State would be at least thirty thousand less on the Ist January than.it was on the Ist Julyjaat. Long lists of deaths appear in the papers, but thousands die in the interior of whom nothing is known, and of whose death no record is kept. The , papers before us dp not contain an extract able paragraph The Right' Reverend Dr. Southgate, formerly a missionary bishop at Constantinople, has been elected Bishop of the Protestant Episcopal Church.— Sydney Herald, Feb. 1. "

The Timber of Van Diemen's Land. —Among the contributions from Van Diemen's Land to the great Exhibition of the Works of Industry of all Nations, is a magnificent plank of blue gum (Eucalyptus piperita), length 146 ft; breadth 20 inches, depth 6 inches. The various species of Eucalyptus attain generally a great size, both in girth and length, in sheltered situations where the forest is thick, wher.e there is no grass, and where injury has never, or very rarely, been sustained from bush fires. A blue gum •>, has been measured upwards of 90 feet round, near Tolosa, on the nojatern aspect of Mount Wellington range; and on the southern aide, according to the Rev. T. J. Ewing, a swamp gum has been measured 102 feet at three or four feet from the ground. A stringy-bark is known to exist near the " Cam" river, on the north-west coast, measuring 64 feet of solid timber, at 4 feet from the ground, the tree haW ing somewhat the form of a four-sided column, with its angles bevelled : is 200 feet to the first limb, where it is estimated to be more than four feot in diameter, giving the enormous cubic j measurement in the trunk alone of 225 tons of timber.

Preparation of Flax Without steeping. — This simple and enconomical mode of preparing the fibre for the spinner, is attracting important attention at this moment. The machinery ewployed is singularly facile and inexpensive: the flax may immediately be taken from the field, dried, and prepared ; and the yield is one-third more, and the strength onethird greater, than when treated in the ordinary way. Not being tanned by steeping, it is bMched as easily as cotton : and the essential , oirremaining in the fibre imparts a lustre to the flax, and preserves that nature which will enable the spinner to rival the finest hanc 1 spinning, both in quality and brightness. So economical is this process, that the woody portions broken away, retaining much of the oleaginous richness of the plant, are admirably adapted for feeding cattle : and thus not one single atom of this valuable crop need be lost; the seed, the stem, and the fibre all being made valuable. There is> moreover, a particular idiosyncracy in flax so prepared, to unite " kindly " with fabrics of silk or woo], imparting great strength and beauty, .and considerably lessening their cost.

To Make Essence of Celery. — This is prepared by soaking for a fortnight half an ounce of the seeds of celery in half a pint of brandy. A few drops will flavour a pint of soup or broth equal to a head of celery.

The Vacant Coi.onei.cies. — The colo-nelcy-is-chief of 60th Rifles, vacant by the decease of the Duke of Cambridge, has been bestowed on Prince Albert ; the colonelcy of the Coldsteam Gaurds, also held by the late Duke of Cambridge, has been bestowed on General the Earl of Stafford, G.C.C., G.C.H., who has resigned the colonelcy of the 29th Regiment ; the colonelcy of the 29th Regiment has been conferred upon Lieut.- Gen. Lord Downes, X.C.8., who resigned the colonelcy of the 54th Regiment; the colonelcy of the- 54th Regiment has been conferred on Major-Gen. W. Gordon, C.8.; the colonelcy of the 74th Regiment, vacant by the decease of Major-Gen. Cameron, has been conferred on Major-Gen. A. Thompson C.B. - x

Dispatch in Business. — The New York Dry Goods Reporter gives the following ..instances of quickness of business transactions between Europe and New York : — " A Bradford manufacturer sent goods from his warehouse, via railroad on the 19th of August, they were shipped on board the steamer Atlantic on the 21st. arrived in New York on Sunday, the Ist of September, were «old s by sample card on Monday the 2d, delivered on Tuesday, the 3d, and a sketch of the same returned by the steamer Europa, which left Boston on Wednesday, the 4th inst. Allowing the steamer an average run the consigner will be in possession of the result* of the shipment in 27 days from the date of consignment, a shorter space of time than would be likely to elapse between the giving of an order through and receipt of-goods.from an American manufacturer."

New Locomotive. — We understand that a new locomotive engine on an improved principle has lately been manufactured at the Great Northern works, Boston, which the makers warrant will run the distance from Boston to London (108 miles), with six carriages and two breaks, the usual express train, in one hour and 30 minutes. The principal improvement we hear, is in the safety-valve. — Lincoln Gazette.

A rogue asked charity on pretence of being dumb. A lady having asked with equal simplicity and humanity, how long he had been dumb, he unguardedly answered, * from birth, madam/ "Poor fellow/ said the lady, and gave him -a dollar. ,