GLEANINGS.

Waikato Times, Volume XXII, Issue 1802, 24 January 1884, Page 4

GLEANINGS.

The following reads very much like a •paraphrase of Arthur Sketchley's "Airs Brown at the play." It is related that at the Opera-house, Leicester, a luly in the pit was so carried away by her feelings in that scene of " Tlie Lights o' 'London' 1 whwe Mr Armytage aceus.-s his son of the murderous attack upon him that she vociferated, '; It was them two at the hack who did it." A HhMUiKAULK Plant.— Mr D. M Taylor, of Indianapolis, after 15 years, spent in trying to bloom a daniperii, or Australian glory pea, lias finally succeeded. It is a flower of striking beauty, its petals having an outline of the human face, surmounted by a helmet. The leaves of the plant fold like those of a sensitive flower at night. It is grown in dry sand, and the least moisture applied to ihe leaves or roots is fatal. Mildew on Apple Trkhs.— lt must be a bad case indeed if flowers of snlphur will not destroy it, and as your trees have been well attended to, it is difficult to say what ought to be done. Evidently the roots hay c penetiated a bad subsoil, or it may be, the ground is not well drained. Could you not diain the ground if that is necessaiy ? And if the trees are not very old, some of the roots that have penetrated deeply in thesubsoi. iniy be cut, and some cood fiesh sou oiiWit to be worked in amongst them. A good plan would be to wash the branches of the trees in winter with soapy water, thickened with flowers of sulphur and a little soofc. The New York Spirit of the Times has a very clever aiticle pointing out defects in the details of Mr Irving's presentment of "The Bells," the mountain and stago management of which has received such microscopic attention. Cluistian, who is a quartermaster of gendarmes only, is said to wear too much rmiiuim. The windows of the Alsatian inn are such as could at the time be found in none but public buildings. The snow is on the scene, and yet Mr In ing permits one of the passers-by to push open the window and wish him good nioming as though he •were in an Italian \ ilia in sumniei. When he stnggeis out of bed in the last act the audience peiouvcs that he has been asleep in Ins shoes, Sec. Mr It vmg & study i& a peculiarly line diawn one, and as the ciitic not unjustly says, a stioke too much or too little will spoil such an effect. The Armies ok Germany and Fkavt,. — The London Times, of November 3th contains the following telegram fiom its Beilinconespondent : -" Fiance's lleadincss for Wai," the title of a pamphlet which appealed here towaids the end ot Soptembei , i& aho.idy in itsfomth edition, and is being tr.inslitcn into Fiench and' Italian. The author is a Prussian oißcer. His opinions claim to be founded on caiefn) study ot French ailaus. and personal observations made at the list Fveuch Autumn manauures. Tlio contents of the pamphlet aie briefly as follows : — Numerically, the French aimy is decidedly '-uperior to the German— it has 190,000 men and UU <_cuns_ more. But numbers aie not cveiything in this question. On the Gei man bide must be reckoned the greater unrfoinnty ot training which France cannot rival, because of" her system, of dividing the leciuits into two portions, one ol which senes 40 months, and the other only 8 or 10 ; gieatu solidity of the cadies, which aie stronger in time of peace; gi eater uni fortuity in the augmentation of the number of the men, bUtei quality, and keener attention of the subalterns; strategically better lailways, swifter power of concentration and a gi eater number of squadrons and of hoises fit for service. Germany lias oT"2 field squadions and 93ieseivcb squadrons; Fiance 307 of the former and 81 of the latter, including the African troops. In Germany a squadron h.'s 130 holies; m France nominally 150, and leally not more than 120. The Fiench forts winch gnaid the load and i ail ways near the frontier will, contrary to the original intention, mjime the defence of active troops. The French me warlike, but not mihtaiy ; the German^ drink in the military spuit with their mothers' nnlU. The Fiench have no permanent Commander -in-Chief, llrey are not steadfast in advcisitj, and do not willingly follow any leader who has not bouruf \ictoiy to his chaiiot wliccls. Political bocieties e\ei cisc a dismtegi a ting influence in the French ai my, both among olliceis and men. In short, there are still many w eak points in that ai my as i cgai ds training, \cci.oiting and c^ouetal aduiimstiation, winch must be remedied before it can be called ready for war. With reference to the sublet matter of this pamphlet I may state than augmentation of tlieGeiaman artillery is now seriously intended. The Minister of Wai seems to favom the project. Tub Fedeial Australian hns the following on the coming harvest m Victoria :—: — Itls genei ally admitted our harvest this season v. ill yield a much better return than was e\ei obtained since wheat-giow-ing became a staple farming industry in the colony. In all the pimcipal graingiowing areas the season has been unusually favourable, and the ciops consequently have been able to make steady, continuous giowth, instead of having their progress checked by dr ought as in previous seasons. Dining the growing season lain fell at shoit inteivals in sufficient quantity to provide for the wants of the ciops, which have, therefore, made a strong healthy growth, instead of presenting the .stunted and miserable appeal ance that they assume in a diy season in all the eaily ceieal growing districts. Insect and fungoid pests have not been so troublesome as usual, though grasshoppers have done .some damage in a few localities, and " red mst" lias made its appearance in othcis. These pests have, howevei, come too late to cause much damage to the ci ops in the early districts. The area under •wheat in Victoria is, we believe, laiger by at least .10,000 acies than it a\ as last year, the weather during the sowing season having been sufficiently favourable to induce fat mers to get as much land cropped as possible. The increase h piincipally in the northern and north-western disliicts, though in marry of the long settled localities the area under cereal uops has been extended. In ordinary seasons a Urge percentage of the w heat crops arc cut lor hay, being too stunted to leave for giain ; but this season a comparatively small ai*u ill be disposed of in this matter. Last) ear, according to the oHicial returns, the aiea under wheat was !)G!),3G2 acres, while the yield io given at 8,733,440 bushels, the average being ( J.l bushels. This mount for a certainty will be mere than doubled this .season, its not only are the croops goodm all the eaily districts but the area is much laiger in many than last year. . . This gives a. total of nearely 17,400,000 bushels as the lcsult of this season's harvest. It is quite possible that our estimates may be somewhat lower than the actual returns, so many of the ciops promise over 30 bushels to the acre ; but \v\\6n the general averages are taken we opine that our calculations will not Ye far out. For home requirements about 3,000,000 bushels will be absorbed for food, and 1,300,000 bushels for seed, or a total >f G,500,C0D. Deducting this amount there will be the large bulk of 10,900,000 bushels for export. Last season the exports from the ■whole of the Australian colonies of the United Kingdom amounted to only 4,620,000 bushels, not one half of what we shall have to spare from Victoria alone. As a matter of course, in the face of such returns as we are likely to get, prices will probably rule low, but in this respect much will depend upon the American, Indian, and Russian supplies. Estimating the price of the grain to the producer at even three shillings per bushel, the value of our wheat crop represents more than two millions and a half sterling. The value of the grain that has to be exported "will amount to Dearly one and three-quarters of a million sterling, which will prove a substantial d^ition %q tta income of the country,