died of inflammation of the peritoneum, and only 125 males-the females who died from this disease were generally between the ages of 20 and 35, the males from 25 to 45. This difference in the number of deaths of the two sexes is to be attributed to the period of life, as then females, from the development of the functions of maturity, are subject to frequent inflammations of the peritoneum. Manna of Mount Sinai.--Mr. Bove, formerly director of the gardens and farms of Ibrahim Pasha at Cairo, gives an account in his report made to the Academy of Sciences of the different productions of Egypt. In 1832 he found the tamarix manniferis, the turfah of the Arabs of the desert, growing in great abundance in the desert, about a day's journey to the northward of Sinai. He saw women and children engaged in gathering the manna, which was running from the branches of this shrub, The Arabs assured him that when this manna was purified it was equal to the finest honey. What he gathered himself was in large drops, of the size of a pea, of a pale yellow colour, rather agreeable taste, or slightly sweet, and gummy. In order to purify it, the Arabs put it into boiling water; it rises to the surface, and is immediately skimmed off. This is probably the manna which nourished the Hebrews. Some authors pretend that the manna of the Hebrews was the production of the alhage maurorum, a shrub which is never found but on the borders of the desert, where there is a good deal of moisture, but there is one of these near to Sinai. Two cities in Russia have been nearly reduced to ashes. The city of Kremenczug in the government of Pultawa, and Elizabethgrad in the government of Cherson; in the former 93, and in the latter about 300 houses were burnt down. Petersburgh itself, according to the last accounts, was enveloped in clouds of smoke, occasioned by an extensive conflagration in the neighbouring forests. Earthquake in Cephalonia. A very severe shock of an earthquake was experienced at Cephalonia on the 5th of June; by which houses were thrown down and considerable injury done. The natives were much frightened, but no lives were lost. Neither sea nor sky gave the slightest indication of the phenomenon. According to the almanack for the present year, the clergy of France, on January 1st, were divided into 121 titular or honorary Canons, 3241 Rectors, 24,517 Curates, 6289 Vicars, 449 Chaplains, 943 Almoners, 439 Priests, and 1158 Priests directors of Seminaries; making a total of 40,447 engaged in the service of the church. The following is a table of the number of French ships on the different naval stations in all parts of the globe: -Newfoundland and Iceland, 4; Mexico and Cuba, 2; the Antilles, 13; Brazil and South America, 11; Islands of Bourbon and Madagascar, 2; Western Africa, 9; the Levant, 7; Algiers, 21; the different ports and stations on the coast of France, 46; reserve for the coasts of France in the Mediterranean, 21; reserve for the coast of France on the ocean, 22.-Total, 158. Population of Paris. On the 15th of March, 1827, the population of Paris was certified, by an ordinance of Charles X., to be 890,431. On the 11th of May, 1832, another census was taken, when the returns made out but 774,338, being 116,093 less after than before the revolution. Out of the whole number, only one in every 172 of the inhabitants voted at the late election. The Directors of the National Debt of Prussia have just published a statement, from which it appears, that, on January 1, 1833, the debt amountedto 174,868,830 thalers (about 656,000,000fr.) AGRICULTURE. A NOBLEMAN who was recently applied to for the refusal of a farm, supposed to be likely to become vacant, gave this answer: "Tell your friend that it is a never varying practice upon this estate, not to grant a lease to a stranger until it is perfectly ascertained that no relation of the departed tenant, however distant, is able or willing to take it. This ever has been, and ever will be I trust, the rule of my house." And the rule is excellent, for there is no circumstance of such evil augury as the decline of old connexion, which is also the decay of old affection. We are brought to relate this anecdote by the continual changes visible now-a-days in the occupancy of farms, changes but too plainly declaring the progression of adversity. "Three removals," saith the adage, "are equal to a fire." When, therefore, these "flittings," as they are provincially called, are observed to be so general, it amounts to proof presumptive of loss and failure. Never did the local journals contain so many advertisements of the sales of farming property as in the present year. Some of them have, speaking to the letter, hundreds in a week. Even in Norfolk, where the reputation of the tenantry stands so high both for skill and capital, we perceive from one to two hundred agricultural sales for the last two or three weeks in the papers of the district. Yet it is a fact no less singular, that no sooner does a farm become vacant, than there are numerous applicants for its occupation. We know more than one instance where increased rents for large tracts have been offered, and others where increased rents have been obtained, even during the present year. The new game-law has not been without its effects in this particular; for where either the quantity of hares and rabbits has been reduced, or the tenant has been indulged with the shooting, or hired that privilege, a higher rent has been given. In spite of these partial appearances, however, those best qualified to judge apprehend a year not less adverse than that of 1822, in that which, speaking agriculturally, is now commencing. For the extra growth of a favourable season, which, as respecting all crops but barley, this is reported to be, does not compensate by the increased growth, the comparative reduction of price. Perhaps the widest points of fluctuation in the worst and best years, are somewhere between a quarter of a crop below, and a quarter above the average. The price of wheat is of all commodities that which is most easily and most extravagantly affected by opinion. We have seen the 'cost of a quarter of wheat rise to 140s. in a year (1812), when subsequent events have proved the failure of the crop to be inconsiderable, the actual scarcity purely ideal; on the contrary, we have known the same cost to be depressed to 40s. in 1822, when the superabundance was nearly as imaginary. In truth, the largest induction drawn from the supply and consumption during a period amounting almost to a perpetuity, declares that the one is so nearly equal to the other, as neither permanently to elevate or permanently to depress the price of the article in any extraordinary degree. But returning to the point from which we set out, the difference between a comparatively small production with a very high price, and a large production at a low one, is always much to the farmer's disadvantage. Suppose, for instance, the average to be 100, the crop is one-fourth above that average--the price sinks to 40s. and the farmer obtains for his 125 quarters, 250l. If, on the contrary, the crop is one-fourth below the average, and the price rises to five pounds (we do not take an extravagant estimate,) he would obtain for his 75 quarters, 375l. Thus it happens that the abundance which is a blessing to the community, is to him a curse, so ill-regulated must the trade in corn always be, while there are excluding duties, from its extent being too vast for the formation of any exact judgment of consequences, and its importance to the very existence of mankind being too interesting to admit of dispassionate treatment. This year it is but too probable the farmer will suffer under an exaggerated depression; and exhausted as is the operative capital of agriculture, there is but too much reason to believe (the result will be very disastrous, especially to those whose former losses have rendered them too weak to en counter new and severe pressure. The very necessities of such men compelling them to send their stocks to market in larger quantities also to compensate reduced price, will tend to bring down and to keep down the rate. With these melancholy forebodings, the early transactions of the London market since the harvest but too closely accord. It should, indeed, appear from the relations of supply and demand during the past year, that the computations hitherto esteemed the most to be relied upon, are fallacious. It has been calculated that an average crop is about 9 per cent. less than the consumption; but during the entire interval from 1815-1816 to 1830-1831, the whole importation of wheat and flour did not amount to more than 19,000,000 of quarters. Another important fact is the large augmentation of the supply from Ireland. During the first five years of the period alluded to, it was no more than 150,000 quarters annually; during the next seven it reached $450,000, and during the last three it had mounted to 600,000 quarters. The transactions of the market which corroborate the notion of a fall are, first, the extent of the supplies. During the last month (that is to say, up to the first week of September) 62,572 quarters of British wheat came up to Mark-lane, of which 52,788 were returned as sold, the greater portion of the residue being probably transmitted to millers direct. The next symptom arises from the total absence of speculation. The immense sum already locked up in foreign grain, amounting to not less than a million and a half of money, precludes the merchant from purchasing British wheat for the purpose of storing, and availing himself of the present low price. Heavy expenses, and heavy losses from the fluctuations in the trade, have affected the disposition of the dealer on speculation to purchase scarcely less than the absorption of his capital has diminished his power. Thus there is no dam between the grower and consumer, and that chance for a rise, and, indeed, that adventure which used at this season to prevent a fall and support the market, are now nowhere to be found. Another change in the trade is, that the distant millers, where water-carriage is easy (and where is it not?) purchase the best wheat in Mark-lane, while those in the neighbourhood of the metropolis commission agents in the country to buy up the samples of lower quality. In addition to these facts, the farmers are generally believed to hold considerable stocks of old corn, much larger, that is to say, than is usual at the close of harvest. All these things have forced down the rates to a lower ebb than since 1822. The average of the four quarters of that year was 498.-458. 2d.-42s. 11d., and 39s. The general average of the second week of September this year was 44s. 3d., that of Lincolnshire being 39s. 11d., and of Cambridge 39s. 7d. Nothing but necessity compelling the grower to sell, can, it should be thought, reduce the price to any lower sum. But still the trade is dull both in wheat and flour, and in the latter article has declined about 1s. per sack. Barley comes slowly to hand, and is in demand, though the maltsters have not yet begun to work. There can be no question but the prime article will be scarce, and in this belief, orders have been sent to the Baltic and Hamburgh for the best qualities. The Chevallier has preserved its superiority, and samples for which so high a price as 40s. was offered have been held. Oats arrive slowly, and the necessitous buyers have submitted to a slight advance, but dealers hold back from purchasing, in the conviction that when large supplies come in, prices must recede. Beans are stationary, and boiling peas a little on the advance, owing to short supplies. It is exceedingly difficult to ascertain the real state of the foreign harvest, but judging from the prices of grain in the several markets of France, Italy, and the North, it does not seem that there will be either a large export trade or very low prices. Every country, Portugal excepted, has probably in its own growth an adequate supply, so that no great foreign demand will exist. At St. Petersburgh the price is (for the best Kubantra) 30s. 6d. At Riga the quotations are nearly nominal. At Dantzic a decline of 38. per quarter, and trade dull. At Rostock and Wisma 24s. 6d. on bond. At Lubeck 21s. the quality fine, and the weight heavy. At Hamburgh White Anhalt, weighing 62 lbs., 28s. 3d. There is little out of the common routine in the ordinary occupations of husbandry, except that the turnip crop, everywhere abundant, is more affected by mildew than was perhaps ever known. The Swedish are particularly blighted by this visitation, and it seems likely to stop the growth of the apple, so completely has it clogged the leaf, the respiratory organ of the plant. The second crops of hay have failed as much as the first, from the same cause, the want of moisture. Notwithstanding the early completion of the harvest, the farmer has delayed to break up his next year's wheat land, waiting for rain, but the manuring, &c., is forwarder in proportion than usual. There never was a more plentiful growth of apples-the trees are loaded. Grapes and other autumnal fruits exhibit the same luxuriance. In some of the county towns, good winter apples have been sold at 4d. the peck, and grapes at 4d. per lb. The almost universal establishment of horticultural societies has given an immense impulse to gardening, and while it has added to the luxuries of the mansion, it has certainly multiplied in more than an equal proportion, the comforts of the cottage. These societies, so encouraging to the industry and skill of the cottager, act with double efficacy now the allotment system is so universally adopted. The rapid completion of the harvest, by widening the interval between its cessation, and the commencement of wheat sowing, has thrown a vast many men out of employment pro tempore. No improvement from the new poorlaw Bill is yet visible; indeed, we have heard of no novel proceedings under its clauses, except in those relating to bastardy. At this season we cannot recommend too earnestly, nor too often, the superior benefit of thick sowing. It has been ascertained by the most competent experiments that the yield is incalculably increased by this means. The more stems-the more ears-the more ears the more corn. Thick sowing also prevents the incursions of hares, rabbits, and vermin of all sorts. We therefore again press it upon the attention and serious consideration of the agriculturist. Three bushels, or three bushels and a half per acre, will not be found to be too much, or to be thrown away. RURAL ECONOMY. Economical Mode of preparing Food for Cart-horses.- The Earl of Balcarras's horses, ten of which are kept in Liverpool for the purpose of delivering the coal brought thither from his lordship's mines, like most of those used for draught in this town, are particularly large; and in a district quite celebrated, and justly so, for this description of horse, we certainly have seen nothing equal, take them altogether, to his lordship s teams. They are fed in the following manner:---Statement of the nature, quantity, and cost of the food consumed by ten horses during seven days. The outside current prices are charged for each article, and of course, in different state of markets, will vary the cost of maintenance: -33 bushels of potatoes, steamed, at 1s. 6d. per bushel-21. 9s. 6d.; 2 bushels of barley, crushed very fine, at 4s.-108.; 24 of beans at 4s. 6d.-11s. 3d.; 22 stones of cut hay to mix with potatoes, at 9d. per stone-16s. 6d.; 14 stones of hay uncut, at 9d.-10s. 6d.; fire and labour. 2s. Total, 4l. 98. 9d. We repeat that the horses kept there are in the highest possible condition and health, and while we re-assert that the particulars of the statement may be relied on, it will be admitted that this plan, which has been adopted in Ireland, as also in America, is well entitled to be called economical.British Farmer's Magazine. Mr. J. H. Payne, of Bury, has made the experiment of applying a solution of common soda as a manure with great success. The difference between vegetables so treated, and those watered with common water, is very conspicuous, and the vegetable marrow on common mould to which the alkali has been applied surpasses in vigour plants placed on a bed of dung. The proportion used is one pound of soda to twelve or fourteen gallons of water. Chelmsford Chronicle. Mr. Nutt's apiary at Moulton Chapel has afforded a most interesting display of honeys, which have been obtained from his hives this present season. From ten hives he has obtained no less than nine hundred pounds of honey, being an average of ninety pounds' weight of honey, being an average of ninety pounds' weight from each hive, the greater part of which was removed in the presence of Mr. Booth, lecturer on chemistry, Benson The Rathbone, Esq. of Beccles, Suffolk, the Rev. T. Clark, of Gedney Hill, and several other gentlemen, with scarcely the destruction of a single bee. interest of the display is greatly heightened by a collection of honeys from other apiarians, practitioners of Mr. Nutt's system; and superior as its objects are in point of value, as well as interest, to many, over floral collections and exhibitions, it will, we doubt not, excite great attention. Assuming that the above quantity was obtained by the bees in a circuit of three miles in diameter, what an immense addition to the revenue of the country might not be gained, if an equal number of hives on these principles were established within every similar district in the kingdom! USEFUL ARTS. Conversion of Salt Water into Fresh. - The Editor of the "Literary Gazette" states that he witnessed a completely successful and a very important experiment, made by Mr. Wells, the patentee, in the conversion of salt sea-water into a perfectly fresh and pure liquid, fit for every purpose of domestic use and economy. A barge was moored in the Thames near Westminster-bridge, and a number of naval officers and scientific gentlemen were invited to inspect the process. The sea-water was brought from off Ramsgate, and fully impregnated with the saline principle; some of it was in a very impure and dirty condition. The apparatus invented by Mr. Wells consisted of a cast-iron cooking-machine; a cube on a comparatively small scale, especially when we looked to the extraordinary utility of its operation. It seemed about four feet in height and the same in width; and contained ovens, roasting-fire, pots, pans, kettles, &c. &c. suffieient to dress a dinner for seventy or eighty men. The consumption of fuel is very small-about two bushels we are told in twenty-four hours; and yet, by the internal application of the heated air, by means of spiral and circular tubes surrounding the various parts of the machine, roasting, boiling, and baking were carried on with the utmost regularity and precision. Here, alone, would be a valuable addition to the conveniences and comforts of life, whether ashore or afloat; and, even without the far greater improvement yet remaining to be described, would entitle Mr. Wells's invention to high encomium and general adoption. Whilst the cooking is proceeding, the sea-water is gradually supplied from a cask, or tank, as may be most ready, and, passing into the interior of the machine, is there submitted to distillation. In its distilled state it then flows into a pipe of cast iron, or of copper tinned, which pipe is led over the bow of the vessel and along the cut-water into the sea; and thence along the |