THE KAFFIR WAR. That "private and confidential" communications? any territory we may acquire from the King of We do not mean to say that General Godwin was Ava? None at all. so fettered; but we have reason to think it premature to blame that General for not having had recourse to more active measures. Military The war is not yet brought to a close. Operamen of General Godwin's stamp scrupulously avoid tions of the most vigorous nature are, up to the anything in the shape of individual responsibility last accounts, being carried on against the Kaffirs, or risk. Aye, military men of even greater who although repeatedly attacked, dispersed, standing and repute are prone to do this, as pursued, and killed in great numbers, are neither, witness Sir Joseph Thackwell (at Soodalapore), as yet, reduced to submission nor driven across who, with the power of terminating at once the the Kei. second Sikh campaign, conned over the instructions he had received from Lord Gough, and abided by them, to the very letter. If a healthier order of things existed in India, we should have a Commander-in-Chief whose faculties were equal to great emergencies, and whose judgment ought not to be subjected to the will of a Governor General utterly ignorant of matters military. His Excellency the Commander-in Chief of the forces in India, Sir W. Gomm, is probably at this moment presiding at a pic-nic party in the vicinity of Sinlah, while a Divisional Commander is carrying on (or rather not carrying on) the war in Burmah under instructions from the late President of the Board of Trade, the Marquis of Dalhousie! Poor old Sir William Gomm, when he heard that the troops were about to embark for Rangoon, did, with characteristic kindness and good nature, intimate his intention of "seeing them off;" but Lord Dalhousie courteously dissuaded him from undertaking a journey which would be as arduous to His Excellency as costly to the East India Company. The Daily News has an able article on the Burmese war; but it touches principally on the finance part of the business. The Daily News says: So, It appears from the latest intelligence from the Cape that the anticipations so recently expressed by the Chancellor of the Exchequer respecting the Kaffir War have been premature. savage tribe, although driven by the valour of our troops from their favorite strongholds, is still unsubdued. Their most celebrated chiefs are still at large, and although the number of their followers has been thinned by death and desertion, they have hitherto contrived to baffle the vigilance of their opponents. If Sir Harry Smith had remained at his post we should have probably known a good deal more of the position and relative strength of the contending parties. That gallant officer was communicative to a fault; and being, at the same time, a ready and graphic writer, he rendered us thoroughly acquainted with all the varied movements of this remarkable contest. The despatches of his successor present a striking contrast to the compositions of Sir Harry Smith. General Cathcart errs, perhaps, on the side of brevity; but no one can dispute that his government has been characterised by great energy and good sense; and we sincerely hope that, in a very short time, we shall hear that this costly, but inglorious war has been brought to a successful close. AUSTRALIAN GOLD. The accounts of gold in Australia become more marvellous than ever. The most recent accounts state that a few days later advices have been received, and it appears that even during that time new and extensive deposits have been discovered. Returns are also given of the amounts sent down mines, to the Colony of Victoria, to the seaport of Melbourne alone, from October, 1851, to the end of August, which show the steady increase of the yield. They were as follows: October, 1851 แ Ounces. Lord Dalhousie, intends, it is said, to make the present war pay its own cost. So did Lord Amherst, in 1824-6; but he failed to do and Lord Dalhousie will also fail. For where is the King of Ava, golden-footed though he be, to procure such a sum as fifteen millions sterling? There is no such amount in all his dominions. In that case Lord Dalhousie threatens to annex whole provinces of the Burmese Empire. That, how-by escort from Mount Alexander and Balarat ever, will aggravate, instead of diminishing the cost of this quarrel. For the financial results of all our recent annexations and absorptions have seriously increased instead of diminishing, the annual deficits in the Indian Treasury. Scinde, at the present time, is a burthen on the general revenues of India (beyond its receipts) of £200,000 a-year. In the Punjaub the cost of its civil government alone nearly eats up all its revenue, and leaves almost the whole expenses of its military establishments, necessarily very large, to be provided for by what Lord Hardinge calls "the State," but what we prefer designating "the people of India." When Lord Dalhousie absorbed the little state of Sattarah, he led the Court of Directors to expect a profit of some £200,000 a-year from its acquisition. The result has, however, falsified his expectations; and the loss compels the court to upbraid his lordship by saying, "we certainly were not prepared to find that the annexation of Sattarah would entail a charge upon the general resources of India." What right, then, have we to expect profit to the government of India from 18,482 60,878 December, 169,684 January, 1852. .107,216 66 .111,778 ..123,778 แ ..135,112 ....138,906 produce for the eleven months cannot have been less than 2,000,000 ounces, worth £10,000,000 sterling. The yield from the gold fields in New South Wales, brought down to Sydney, remains to be added, and the recent discovery of an extensive tract in South Australia will likewise have to be taken into account. In each of the three colonies there is enough, it is now believed, to reward all the population that can pour in for years. The New South Wales or Sydney mines have been in a great measure neglected, on account of the scarcity of hands, but they are believed to be almost interminable in extent, and in some parts nearly as rich as Mt. Alexander in Victoria. One large tract of 313,000 acres belongs to the Australian Agricultural Company, founded in London about twenty-eight years ago, and during the present week they have received advices that the whole of it seems to be richly impregnated with gold, and that it is impossible to estimate its wealth. It abounds likewise with quartz; and some pieces actually picked from the surface by the Government commissioner, and subsequently tested at Sydney, were found to yield 8 pounds 4 ounces per ton, or in sterling value £350 or £400. THE CONTINENT. From France we learn that the positive announcements, so long circulated, of an existing engagement between the Emperor and the Princess Vasa, have proved to be false, and the Princess has preferred Prince Albert of Saxony, to whom she is positively engaged. And now for Colonial Chit-Chat. (Major continues) : GAOLS IN UPPER CANADA. Public attention has recently been strongly directed to the disgraceful condition of the prisons in some of the leading cities and towns in Upper Canada. Measures, we are happy to say, are in progress to remedy the evil, so far as Hamilton and London gaols are concerned; and it is to be hoped that before long we may have it in our power to make a similar statement in reference to Toronto. In the prison of this city, want of room renders anything in the shape of classification almost impracticable, so that the comparatively uncorrupted youth is frequently caged with the ruffian grown hoary in crime. A LITERARY GEM. The Conservative Expositor vouches for the following, as a literal copy of the Rules and Regulations adopted by the School Trustees of School Section No. 14, in the Township of Nissouri, Oxford. It is worthy of preservation as a curiosity of literature: "Thou shalt not lie thou shalt not swear thou shalt not speak a smutty or blagard talk thou shalt not steal thy neighbour's dinner his ink or handle his books or anything that is his no whispering no laughing no leaving Seats with liberty nor meddle with books Slates pens nor ink without liberty no quareling no lying no fitting no Swearing Stealing nor telling tales out of School no disputing no bad language no pushing each other in the mud nor in the dich on the road home any Children coming without proper books their parents to be no te fyed by a letter if not HON. ROBERT BALDWIN. UPPER CANADA COMMON SCHOOLS. The number of teachers employed in 1851 was 3,277, being 199 less than in 1850. The report says, "this shews there were fewer changes of teachers in 1851 than 1850-there being not three hundred more teachers employed than there were schools in operation." The number of first class certificates given to teachers during 1851 was 378; second class certificates, 1,272; third ditto, 1,547; total, 3,187: being 247 less than the number of teachers licensed by Local Superintendents in 1850. Efforts are made to prune the profession as much as possible of incompetent teachers. Very few teachers are employed who do not profess some religious persuasion. The number of 81 is given in the table, under the heading "other persuasions and those not reported;" and of that number it is believed 61 belong to some sect or other. The largest decrease is of Methodist and Baptist teachers; the smallest, of members of the Church of England; while there is an increase in the number of Quakers. The average rate of salaries of teachers presents a gratifying improvement. It was for male teachers, in 1850, without board, £52 4s.; in 1851, £55 12s.; for female teachers, in 1850, £31 10s.; in 1851, £33 10s. GRAND TRUNK RAILROAD. The Montreal Pilot states, it is informed on good authority, that the contract for the Grand Trunk Railroad from Montreal to Toronto, has been signed by Mr. Jackson and his associates, on the arrival in London of the Hon. Mr. Ross. The line from Toronto to Hamilton has been undertaken by another contractor, at £1,000 more per mile than the Grand Trunk Line. The prospects of the Trois Pistoles Railroad are good. ST. JOHN, NEW BRUNSWICK. We copy the following account, in relation to the prosperity of St. John, from the News of that city: "We have passed through one of the finest, if not the finest, business seasons ever known to New Brunswick. Our ships, timber and deals, have brought satisfactory prices in the English market. We have had a long warm suminer. The harvest has been most abundant. The hay crop which fell short in some localities, has been made up in quantity, by the open fall weather, A which we have been enjoying for some time. farmer and a man of judgment informs us, that this favourable season has been equal to one sixth added to the agricultural wealth of the Province for the last summer. Another farmer states that he has saved £25 worth of hay, up to the present time, comparing this with the last season. Our merchants have done an active business during the present year; and as a proof that our mechanics have not been idle, we may state that carpenters in the ship yards are now receiving 78. 6d. per day. At the suspension bridge they are obtaining 10s. In the city we believe good house carpenters are getting 78. 6d. Other ope ratives corresponding rates. Our dry goods and other business folks, have likewise made good profits during the past summer, if we may judge from the number of people going in and coming out of the stores. Money has been abundant. The banks have been considerate and accommodating, wherever the securities have answered. The city is in a perfect state of solvency. It never was more so. More buildings have been erected this year than during any year before, while some of them would do credit to any city in the world-for example, those brick edifices in King Street." The accounts from Nova Scotia state that Mr. Howe has been successful in his English mission, and that he can obtain any amount of money for railroad purposes, at 6 per cent., on Provincial security. Also, that the Government were willing to re-open negociations for affording the Imperial guarantee to build the Northern line, which Mr. Hincks so contemptuously rejected. We learn from the Niagara Chronicle that the result of the recent Municipal Elections in the County of Welland is another tie upon the question of separation from Lincoln-five of the constituencies having elected Councillors in favor of, and five against such separation. The colonial-built (St. Johns, N. B.) ship Marco Polo, 1625 tons, Captain Forbes, has made the unrivalled passage from Liverpool, 3rd July, to Melbourne, Australia, in 68 days, and back in 75 days! She sailed from Melbourne 11th October, and arrived at Liverpool on the 26th of December. THE MAJOR.-And now, Doctor, for your contributions. THE DOCTOR.-Science and Art, have I none, for the selections that I would fain make, are long and unsuitable for our purpose, besides, I really think that Silliman's and our own Canadian Journal, are such valuable works, that it is something like presumption in us to attempt more than a bare record of any startling discovery,-referring the reader interested in those matters to these journals, for particular information. My Music is here. The song is, as usual, from our talented friend, the Mus. Bac. My remarks, if somewhat severe, are yet, I think, better than unmeaning and unqualified praise. Now, Laird. THE LAIRD.-Here are my "Facts," and I hope they will do some guid to the rising generation, for I hae waled them with muckle care for their especial behoof. (Laird reads) : PROFESSIONAL EDUCATION OF FARMERS. I have the highest grade of the human family in private upon Now this must be reformed entirely. Farmers must be ambitious of becoming great farmers, instead of great lawyers and doctors; and farmers' sons and daughters must be enabled to see in their father's profession, a station and standing sufficiently exalted to satisfy the highest ambition. But how can this be accomplished? By a proper system of education. At present the great end and aim of education is what is called professional that is, the student is being educated for a lawyer, &c. Take the catalogue of our colleges, and where you will find one student preparing for an agricultural life, you will find five hundred preparing for other professions. If a farmer has two sons, and the one exhibits a modicum of intellectual "smartness," and the other the same amount of dullness, the former is forthwith sent to the law-school, the latter to the barn-yard. of education of farmers' sons, I have not seen Among all that has been written on the subject what I consider the proper idea inculcated. It is true, we are continually furnished with essays recommending the establishment of agricultural schools, colleges, farm schools, &c., but they do not contain the germ from which the future tree must grow. Legislatures must not be looked to to establish schools. Farmers must establish vines establish their own schools, and why not them themselves. Lawyers, and doctors, and difarmers? These professions would fare poorly, just as the farmers do, if they were to depend upon the legislatures to establish medical schools, &c., for them. No: they first put their shoulders to the wheel, and then call upon Hercules. the great idea, so universally overlooked, is, that the farmers must first appreciate the respectabi. But lity, the gentility of their own profession, before that they themselves select. If the members of they can be induced to take the proper measures to insure a thorough professional education for their sons. They must cultivate a spirit of respect for themselves and their profession; and consider no other class of men, no other profession superior or more respectable than their own. They should do as other professions do, associate and consult together upon their own professional affairs; establish schools and colleges for the education of the young; and, in fact, do as all other professions do to advance their own interest. Let us sketch a plan of education, and as a model we will take the medical profession. What does a man do who has a son that he wishes to make a doctor of? He selects some good physician, and puts his son with him to study, two or three years. This is to give him a theoretical knowledge of the rudiments. The physician will instruct him as to the books he must read, make him acquainted with the minor practical duties of the profession, and give him opportunities for such practice as may be considered proper. This is an apprenticeship. After a proper length of study in the office, he is sent to the medical college, where he completes his theoretical studies, and has the advantage of the clinical practice in the infirmary or hospital, and at a proper time, after sufficient examination, he receives his diploma. Now, farmers should do the same with those of their sons they intend for farmers. They should instruct them in the principles as well as the practice of their art; they should put books into their hands to be studied; they should, in fact, be carried through a regular apprenticeship. When they have gone through with this preliminary study of theoretical and practical farming, such as can be given them at home, or with some respectable farmer, they are prepared for the higher school studies. Every county should have at least one high Agricultural School, established and supported by the farmers, both in the science or theory, and practice of agriculture. Until the farmer adopt a system of this sort, it is impossible that they can ever attain to that high professional standing that is enjoyed by other professions. any profession, as a body, select a high grade of standing, and use the means for attaining it, they must and will occupy it. But if they merely look upon this high grade with an envious eye, and take no measures for securing it to themselves, they will most assuredly never attain it. There is a very prevalent idea among practical working people, that other people look upon them as a degraded class. In all may experience, I have found this idea to have originated with themselves, and that the other classes, without their suggestion, would never have thought of such a thing. Selfrespect should induce every man to put a proper estimate upon his own claims to the respect of others, and preclude the idea that any one else can, much less does, underrate them. FARM ECONOMY. "I am not rich enough to be economical,” said a young friend of ours, when we strongly recommended to him the profits of a certain improvement. "The want of means compels me to work constantly to a disadvantage, and I cannot enjoy the privileges and profits of my richer neighbors." This is a difficulty in which many intelligent farmers have found themselves placed, and from which they would most gladly be extricated. Innumerable instances are occurring in their daily practice, where they could secure golden results, had they only the lever of capital placed in their hands; but as they are now situated, they seem to themselves like the man who is digging the earth with his unassisted hands, or the one who is compelled to carry water in an egg-shell, while their more fortunate neighbors are turning up the deep soil with the most perfect instruments, or sending streams of refreshment and fertility through easy channels over their entire farms. Now, we are not about to plan a "royal road" of escape from this difficulty; it must be met and conquered. If the attack is rightly made, the conquest will be comparatively easy; if wrongly, it will be the discouraging and formidable task of a life-time. The eager inquiry is now made, What is the easiest mode of conquest? We answer, the first and great leading means, is a large fund of thorough and practical knowledge. The man who, by a close observation of results in his own practice and in the experience of others, in connection with the immense amount of useful suggestions (to say nothing of distinct practical directions) contained in the best publications of the day, advantage over the short-sighted, ignorant, and unobservant capitalist. He will turn to advantage, even with his very limited means, a thousand resources which others would allow to sleep unemployed for ever. What, let us ask, is the system at present in vogue? The boy grows up on the farm, and sees as little of the farm-work as he possibly can. No one explains to him the why and because of any operation. If his parents are able, he is sent to some neighboring school, where he learns to read and write, and possibly to " cypher" some; but he learns to envy the condition of the school-possesses, even with a very short purse, a vast master, the clerk in the store, the doctor's students, and the lawyer's young men, and to hate the idea of returning to the work of a plain farmer. Here is the root of the evil, and I do not see how it is to be eradicated, except by a radical change in the school system, and in the minds of the farmers themselves, as to the standing and character of a farmer's profession. If the young be induced to consider the profession of a farmer as dignified and genteel as that of any other class, they would not so readily imbibe a dislike for it. This can be accomplished by a proper systematic course of instruction at home, and by schools properly in stituted and managed. As a general rule, every class of people enjoy precisely the character and standing in society We once had occasion to observe the contrast in the condition of two young farmers, one of whom had a four-hundred acre farm "left" to him; the other had but fifty acres, which he had paid for in part, by previously laboring on a farm for some years by the month in summer, and teaching a district school in winter. The one had the capital of money which his own hands had never earned; the other possessed the more valuable capital of knowledge and indomitable perseverance. The young heir was more interested in riding about, in parties, balls, &c., than in the details of farming, and knew the contents of every newspaper much better than of any agricultural journal. His farm became an exact reflection of its owner's character. Fences were soon obscured by belts of alders, blackberries, and burdocks; and buildings showed marks of premature age, and became dilapidated. There was a thirty-acre marsh, which might have been drained, but it never was. And there was a patch of Canada thistles which filled one twelve-acre field, and part of another, which he could have destroyed in one season, had he known how others had done. One hundred and eighty loads of manure, as estimated at one time by a neighbor, were allowed to lie a whole year about his barn, without application. His cattle were of the long-horned, big-headed, sharp backed breed. His swine were the Longbristled Racers. His profits in farming may be easily guessed. There was a general complaint among his neighbors, that his debts were never met within six months after the appointed payday, and that he endured a sharp.dun with extraordinary patience. It is true, necessity drove him to retrench his expenses, and the improved examples about him induced him to amend his practice, but not until his farm was reduced to less than half its original size, by portions sold off at three different times to satisfy mortgages. Well, what became of the young fifty-acre farmer, we are asked. He has ceased to be a "fiftyacre farmer." He began by examining closely what improvements could be made, of whatever character and kind, whether cheap or expensive. Among these he was compelled to select first, the cheap improvements, or those which promised the largest profits for the smallest outlay. One of the first of these was the draining of a threeacre alder swamp, a large portion of which he did with his own hands in autumn, between seeding and threshing. He had read of success with brush drains; he constructed all the side or secondary channels by filling them at the bottom with the bushes cut from the ground, which enabled him to accomplish the work at less than half the usual price. These brush drains have now stood many years, and the brush being wholly excluded from the external air, has not decayed, and they carry off the little water required, being numerous, and at regular intervals. Now, observe the result: The alder swamp would not have sold originally for five dollars an acre; it now brings crops of wheat, broom-corn, and meadow grass, more than paying the interest on a hundred and fifty dollars per acre, besides all expenses. He doubled his manure by drawing from the most peaty portion of this drained swamp, large quantities of muck to his farm-yard, where it was kept comparatively dry till wanted, under a cheap slab and straw shed. By paying a small sum yearly, he was enabled to improve immensely the breed of his cattle, sheep, and swine, which he thinks has returned the money thus expended at least twenty fold. The same keen attention to his business in other points, enabled him to effect many additional improvements, among which we may briefly mention a cheap and simple horse-power of his own construction, consisting of a rope running on the ends of radiating arms, which enabled him, by means of one or two horses, as necessity required, to thrash his grain, saw his wood, drive his churn, SOWING CLOVER WITH CORN. ex Mr. Editor,-Some person may inquire about sowing clover among corn, and as it is a common practice here, and our manner of doing it appears to be somewhat different from others, I thought I would give you a brief account of it. As our oat crop here brings but a poor price, and is generally considered an exhausting one to our soil, a number of our farmers have ceased raising it, and instead of following our corn crops with an oat crop, as was our usual rotation here, we now always sow our corn fields with clover seed. We always sow it just after the double-shovel plough runs through our corn the last time. I sowed my seed this summer, in the first week of July, and the corn-field now looks fine and green, with a good coat of clover on it. A neighbour of mine has now one of the finest-looking clover fields, done in the same way, that I have ever seen. I did the same thing last year, and the year before. It affords early pasture in the spring following; and then the cattle are kept off until after harvest, when it has grown up considerably, and is then turned under for wheat. I never turned under better clover than I did this fall, that was sowed in among my corn last summer a year. Of course we do not sow it as thick as if we would want to keep it for mowing or permanent pasture. We consider that it pays us much better in the way of pasture, and then in a manure for wheat, than the ordinary oat crop would after our corn. seldom fail here in getting it to catch, unless the season is unusually dry, and then it partially fails. We We always sow it immediately after a rain, or directly after the plough, while the ground is fresh and mellow, and it will then start at once, and if the drouth does not kill it, you will have a fine crop of clover. HILLING CORN.-At a late meeting of the New Hampshire Legislative Agricultural Society, all the speakers objected to hilling corn. One farmer, who had experimented by hilling and leaving the earth level, found no apparent difference in the product, but found the hilled portions more likely The other stood to be broken down by storms. more firmly; or if bent, sooner recovered itself. Was not this owing to the better maturing and hardening of the roots? |