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Colonist, Volume III, Issue 296, 21 August 1860, Page 4

Ingenious Mode op Tying Houses.—The Icelanders have a moat curious mode, and a most effectual one, of preventing horses from Straying, which, I believe, ia entirely peculiar to this island. Two gentlemen, for instance, are riding together without attendants, and, wishing to alight for the purpose of visiting some objects at a distance from the road, they tie the head of one horse to the*tail of the otheri and.[the head of this.to the tail of the former. |n'|s|s state it is utterly impossible that they can,move on, either backwards or forwards, one pulling the one way and the other the other, and, therefore, if disposed to move at all, it will be only in a circle, and even then there must be an agree* ment to turn their beads the same way.— BanWs Visit to Iceland.

Negroes in the West Indies. — The social state of the negroe3 bears out all that the most enthusiastic advocate of emancipation could have foretold. In thousands of cases tbe negroes have built new villages for themselves. The cottages are either neatly thatched or shingled with pieces of hardwood; some are built of stone or wood, but generally are plastered also on the outside, and whitewashed. Many are ornamented...with a portico in^front, to screen the apartment from sun or rain: while for the admission of light arid air, as well as to add to their appearance, they exhibit either shutters or jealousies painted green, or small glass windows. There fa usually a sleeping apartment at each end, and a sitting room in the centre. The floors are, in most instances terraced, although boarded ones for sleeping-rooms are : becoming common. Many of the latter coo* tain good mahogany bedsteads, a washing-stand, a looking-glass, and chairs. The middle apartment is usually furnished with a sideboard, displaying sundry articles of crockeryware; some decent* looking chairs; and not unfrequently with a few broad sheets [of the Tract Sooiety hung round the walls in neat frames of cedar. For cooking food and other domestic purposes, a little room or two is erected at the back of the cottage, where are also arranged the various con* venienceafor keeping domesticstock. The villages are laid out in regular order, being divided into lots more or less intersected by roads or streets. The plots are usually in the form of an oblong square. Tbe cottage is situated at an equal distance from each side of the allotment, and at about eight or ten feet from the public thoroughfare. The piece; of ground in the front is, in some instances, cultivated in the style of a European flower-garden, displaying rose bushes and other flowering shrubs among the choicer vegetable productions; while the remainder ia covered with all the substantial fruits and vegetables of thecountry heterogenepusly intermixed. Evangelical Magazine. '. . ;

Test of Flour.—Mr. G.. Goodey, of Paddington Mill, has sent the following hints as to the best method of observing the quality of flour. He says: First, look at its color; if it is white with a slight yellowish o* straw-colored tint it is a good sign; if it is very white with a bluish cast or with black specs in it, the flour is not good. Examine its adhesiveness ; wet and knead a little of it between the fingers. If it works dry and elastic it is good; if it works soft and sticky it is poor. Flour made from an inferior quality of wheat is likely to be sticky. Throw a handful of dry flour against a dry smooth perpendicular surface, if it adheres in a lump the flour has life in it; if it falls like powder it is bad. Squeeze florae of the flour in your handi if it retain the shape given by the pressure that too is a good sign. ~.;