MISCELLANEOUS

Waikato Times, Volume I, Issue 60, 17 September 1872, Page 3

MISCELLANEOUS

PiUTNTNO Appt/e T.SKKri. —We copy the following from Town and Country.—" Encourage a compact bushy growth by preserving and nursing the side s'loots; cut out none of the side branches unless altogether too crowded; branches crossing each other need not be cut away, unless they are likely to come into contact or crowd, when one may be removed. Apple trees grow injuriously fast in this colony for the first five or six years after planting, and for want of proper pruning are generally allowed to form long naked stems and brandies, which by being unprotected by the shade of the foliage and branches are exposed to the, burning sun of summer, and the health of the tree is ruined either by scorching or sunstroke. Cut out or shorten the centre shoot or leader if necessary, rather than lose a branch. And stop it when there are sufficient branches. All the leading shoots of the branches should be cut back within a few buds of the old wood every winter, of course modified if the shape of the tree requires improvement. If the season getting far advanced for pruning, it will not be safe if the buds begin to expand. During the early summer growth the trees would be much advantaged by stopping the shoots at the extremities of the branches, as well as any others that may appear to be taking too much lead. Pinch the tops of such off occasionally, it will restrain their too rank growth which robs the remainder of the tree, and thus encourage the weaker shoots, and cause the tree to become more equally vigorous. This should be done frequently during the season of growth, particularly with such shoots as mav be growing very fast, and may be commenced when the shoots have grown about one foot, to be repeated as soon as they make fresh start. Tiik VoLr> T TEKU3. —The Times says : —The future of the Volunteers depends upon the disposition they show to answer the increasing calls made on then by the G-overnment. There is sufficient evidence in the regulations themselves how much remains to be done, and the improvement must be gradua'. But the Volunteers will do well to realise the fact that to discharge with usefulness the duties they have taken upon themselves, they must submit in an increasing degree to the training hitherto only required from more regular forces. This, as we observed at the time, was the moral of General Ellice's Report on the Brighton Review. The G-overnment arc prudent to raise the standard gently, but it was none too soon for them to undertake the task in earnest. A good deal will have been effected when this circular comes fully into effect. Competent officers will at once increase largely the efficiency of their men, and discipline Avill be fir more easily maintained. As the mass of the force feels its increasing capacity, it will take a pride in its further development, and really useful men will have less hesitation than at present in bestowing their spare time on the service. The regular and auxiliary forces will come to know and understand each other better, and confidence will be augmented alike between the different services and the country at large. " The Comixo Comet." —In the actual case in question it is known, says the Gentleman's Magazine, that a comet which itseif passed in sight of us in the year 1862 has its path strewed with meteoric partie'e , 'as with debris that it has left behind it. The earth intersects this path every 11th of August, and some of these particles then plunge into our atmosphere, and are kindled into visibility, giving rise to the luminous meteors of that date which have long been known in tradition-loving Ireland as St. Lawrence's fiery tears. So that on that critical date we do encounter the trail (not the tail, for comets do not trail their tails) of a comet —with what harmless consequences we all know ; and it is conceivable that the report, to which we have alluded, grew out of some simple announcement of this circumstance. It may be suspected that since each year we cross the comet's path, we may one day fall foul of the body itself; so we mav, but it will not be this year, nor in the lifetime of any one who now reads these remarks, for the last approach was in the year 1862, and, since the comet's period of revolution round its vast oi'bit i≤ 113 years, it will not come near us again till the year 1975, and the odds against the probability of an encounter even then are enormous. Scotch gentleman says : —" There are few people like Burns." Judy would think not indeed, nor scalds either!

A Caucasian Whoop.—lt will be remembered that some time ago (when Mr. Greeley was preparing for his Presidential enterprise) he wrote, the New York Tim&s says, a complimentary letter to the Weekly Caucasian—a strange paper edited by some wild man of the woods out in Lafayette County, Missouri. The said Orson is now one of Mr. Greeley's ablest supporters, as will be seen by the following extract from his " organ " : — ,l Sound the hew-gag ; strike the ton-jon ; beat the fuzzy-guzzy ; wake the gong-kwong ; let the loud hosanna ring; bum-turn, fuzzle-bum, ding-go-bim! Uuuonstitutionid Congresses of perjured ruffians; itchy-palmed, bribetak ng, oflice-peddling Presidential boors und&ots; usurping Legislatures, blasphemous pick-pocket Senators and Governors; shoulder-strapped outlaws, tilted bummers, reconstruction satraps, nigger bacchanals, oflicial incendiaries, thieves, bondholders, cutcourses, all tremble at the roar of cjming doom." Skaso.nakli: Litkkatuuk. —We notice a new book, called "In Quest of Coolies." Some days that have come in (will the series last?) suggest that a pleasant little sequel might be published, for the me of thirsty pople, under the attractive name, "In Quest of Coolers." — Punch.

A States paper has in its notices to correspondents the following :—" S. T. Ringgold : Your ' Sonnit to a Violet' is good, but it is an invariable rule amongst newspapers to publish no original poetry unless it is paid for in advance. The idea of making ' heifer ' rhyme to ' zephyr' is something unique, and would no' doubt make a sensation. Our usual price Unoriginal poetry is eight dollars a line ; but, as there are extenuatingcircumstauces in your favour, we will print yours for seven and a half. We have unsurpassed'facilities for doing this kind of work." A man costing a young woman was interrogated as to his ocfiipabjon. "lam a paper-hanger on a large scale," , replied. He was accepted as a .suitor, and after marriage it was found that he was a billsticker.

A fashionable mother's advice to a newly-married daughter : —" Do not get in the habit of taking your husband with you to evening parties. Nothing is so .stupid as a husband at a party, nor so everlastingly in the way."

The first sale of yearlings at Middle Park this season came oil , in'.Tune. There were sixty lots, which fetched ii total of over 17,000 guineas, or an average of nea 1/ 300 guineas. A colt by General Peel out of Danae sold for 1,750 guineas ; a bay colt by Blair Athol out of Coimbra, £1,550; and a colt by Blair Athol out of Margery Daw, 1,150 guineas. A young lady who lias been greatly annoyed by a lot of young simpletons who stop under her window at night to sing " If ever I cease to love," wishes to say, if they will cease their foolishness, come in and talk " business," they will confer a great favour. Wide awake. —Guard : " Tickets, please!" Rustic : "Wha-at?" Guard: " Let me have your ticket, and look sharp!" Rustic: " Noa, noa, I been an' give foive bob for moy tickut, an' 1 beaut a gawn to give up to you. If thee wants to travel, why doan't e' buy one youren." A woman in Indiana has sued for a divorce on the ground that her husbind, who was a widower, imposed on her by sending her the same love-letters witch lie had used in his courtship with his first wife. In an advertisement by a railway company of some uncalled-for goo Is, the letter "1" had by an accidentbeen dropped from the M r ord "lawful," and it reads novv —» People to whom these packages are directed are requested to come forward and pay the awful charges on the same. Besides laurel crowns, gold medals, and numiroin other honours, says the Musical Standard, Verdi bus received the sum of £8,000 for his last opera, " A'ida." This is more than Beethoven received for all the music he ever wrote. It is believed that in tho future, when the country is fully developed, America will be able to feed four times as many persons as are in the world to-day.