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About The Washington gazette. (Washington, Ga.) 1866-1904 | View Entire Issue (Dec. 10, 1869)
BY JAS. A. WRIGHT AND HUGH WILSON. T3BJ] WASHINGTON GAZETTE TERMS.—Three Dollars a yeariu adraoee. No Subscriptions takeu* for a shorter t Tie than six months. Mark Twain's Idea of a Good Letter. Tho most useful and interesting Tot ters we get here from home are from children seven or eight years, old. This is; petrified truth. Happily have got nothing else to talk about but home, and neighbors, and family—things their betters think.un worthy of t Wnsmfa do a thousands of miles. They write simply and natu rally, and without strain for effect. They tell all they know, and ,then stop. They seldom deal in abstrac tions or homilies. Consequently their epistles aro brief, but, treating as t’uay do familiar scenes and persons, always entertaining. Now, therefore, if you should learn the art of letter wriQjjjleta child teach you. I have preserved a Tetter from a little girl eight years of age—preserved it as a curiosity, bectuise it was the only let ter I ever got from the States that had -any information' in it. It ran thus : ■ •> <• “St. Lotus, lSt>s “Undo Mark, if yon was here I could tell yon about Moses in the bul rushes again. I know it better now. Mr. Sowcrbyjjaa gat Uis leg (broke off a horse. lle^d i ad"Vidt(Tglt on’Sunday. Margaret, that’s the maid. Margaret has taken all the spittoons and slop buckets and o'd -jugs out of yOhr r,K>m, bocauso she ( (s:rys aha don’t think you aro coming Jutok any more, you been gone so long.-. Sissy McEl roy,s mother has got another little baby. .She has them alf-the time, it has got little blue eyes, Mike Mr. Swinlov that boards there, and Iqoks just like him. I bavo got anew doll, hut Jolmy Anderson pulled one oPits legs out. Miss Doosenbury was here to day ; I give her your picture, but sbe did’nt want it. My eat has got more kittens—oh! vou cauT think— twice as many as Lotlio Boldens’. And there’s one, such a sweet little buff one with a short tail, and I nam ed it for you. “AH of them’s got names now— General Grant,' und llulleck, and and Mitrgare*, nod B*aterren omy, and Captain Sorames, and Exo dns, and Leviticus, and Horace Gree ley—all named but one. and I am sav ing it, because the one I named for you’s been sick all the time since, and I reckon it'll die. [lt appears to have been mighty rough on the shori-tuil cl kitten, naming it for me. I won d r how tho reserved victim will stand it.] Uncle Mark, Ido believe Hat tie Caldwell likes yon, and Iknow she thinks you are pretty, because I heard her say nothing could hurt your good looks—nothing at ali. •She said even if you were to have the small-pox ever go bad'you would he just as good looking as you were be fore. Arid my ran says she’s ever so smart. [Very.] So no more this time, because General Grant and Moses is fighting. Annie.” This child treads on my toes 5n evo ry (Tt'fler sentence with perfect loose ness; but in the simplicity of her time of life she doesn't know it I consider that a model letter—an eminently readable and entertaining letter—and, as I said before, it con tains more matter of interest and in formation than any letter I ever re ceived from tho East. I had father hear about eats at home, and their truly remarkable names than listen to a lot of stuff about people I am licit acquainted with, or read “The Evil Effects of the Intoxicating Bowl,” il lustrated on the back with the pic t ire of a ragged scalawag getting away right and loft in the midst of his family circle with a junk bottle. Sleep for Sale. —Co Quince- says that when he first purchased opium, it was like discovering that pleasure could be bought by the battle and ob livion by the rqles of liquid measure. The < New Yhrk Medicle Society is making known the fact that some thing very like this has beet done in the discovey of the antesthetic known as chloral-hydrate. When the prop er quantity is judiciously injected, a sound, refreshing sleep ensues, from which the patient awakes with the appetite and resilient spirits which follow the sleep of health. It is said' to be superior to either, chloroform a id morphine, and may betaken with W .ter, mucilage or orange-peel. It is due tt) the experiments of Dr. Lie bright, of Berlin, who first brought it to light last July, and was introduced into this country three weeks ago by Dr. Jacoby. With the exception of the small quantity brought by Dr. Jacob}', there is none in the United States, to that its success among sleep less Americans remains to be tried. THE ' WASHINGTON GAZETTE. Private Peop.erty in Law Books —A good story is told of John W. Crockett and Jim Gibson, both of ' them qblo lawyers, and in fill! prac tice, in the early days of Jackson’s I purchase.' They both resided in' Ful -1 ded iu Fulton, in Ilickmarf county.— On one occasion they were employed on opposite sides, iuan ejectment case, before a magistrate. The Court was held in a school house. Crocket was reading the law to thtf court, and when he got through. Gibson asked him for his book, saying that the ;statote just read was new to him. Crocket refused to give it to him on th< ground that it was his own pri vate property, and if Mr. Gibson wanted the benefit of law boqks there were seme for sale. The court ruled •that the book was private property, and that Gibson had no right to sec it except with Mr. Crockett’s cOnsent- Gibsou eyas now puzzled, but, being a man of resources, he 101 l upon a plan which completely- upset Crockett’s calculations- He stepped back and found under a desk an old copy of Noah Webster’s spelling book, and in addressing tho Court lie read from the ‘speller: “Be it enacted by the Goner, a! Assembly of the CbnfiriOiiAvchlth of Kentucky, that laws heretofore passed (here fitting Crocket’s law) be and the same are hereby repeal ed.” Crocket sprang to his feet with, “Lot me see that book.” “No. you don't,” says Gibson, “this book, sir, is private property, and I am not in the ■habit of packing law books around for the benefit of others.” It is need less to say Crockett lost his case, Gib son having the last say on him.—Pa ducah Kentuckian. A Canary’s Antipathy. —lt may interest some of your readers to note the extraordinary antipathy for cer tain colors of a pot canary-bird of ours. Any shade of violet or blue appears to drive him mad. llu not only flutters, but beats himself against tho wires or tho bottom of the cage, and I really believe would kill him self if the objectionable color was not removed. The least bit of either of theso colors is detected.by him in a moment. One day, while my wife was feeding her pels, the cook eamo to speak to her, and hud some ribbon of a vi.ib t -hade foe beiqc.’p. Peer little Dickey was off in a'moment, violently beating and fluttering till the cap strings disappeared. Wo liavo tried him with almost every other color, and lie takes 110 notice. I may add that he was brought up by the hand, and is so tamo that he is constantly hopping about us as we get up in the morning; any stranger can take him on their finger. 1 11 a moment, however, at the sight of a dress or ribbon of the colors nained, he immediately commences trying to knock his brains out, or to do himself Mime other “grievous bodily harm.” Can any one account for the strange fear of these particular colors ? A Country Choir. —The singing of a country choir is thus described in a volume called “Homespun, or Five-and-Twenty Years Agy.” “As I look at such matters, nothing sweeter or pwrer, or more delicious to a simple soul/ can be conceived than tho unaffected singing of a country choir. There is so little scientific fuss and professional palaver about it. Arid the melodies come out so full and clear—a creation each by itself, rising and falling in its cadence like the steady swell of the sea ! I know few things, for myself, more true and hearty. There stands the choral row, male and female, heads erect and. mouths Opened wide, letting out souls and voices together ; the fiddle squeak ing with excitement to get the lead, and the hard-working chorister, with quick eye thrown to one side and the other, actually singing down the whole! As to the melody itself—so simple and direct, so plaintive, so stir ring, filling the house as with a flood from floor to ceiling, and drifting out j through the open doors and windows ; intO'the echoing street—it is enough j to move the most worldly heart that | ever tried to mint itself into money. One hardly thinks he catches such se raphic strains again, though he goes all the way from Now England to Rome." A man recently breakfasted at the Phoenix Hotel, in Concord. A dish jof beefsteak and a plate of fishballs | were set before him, and he immedi | ately took one of the nicely browned j fishballs on his fork, and undertook |to peel it. Two or three of course unsuccessful attempts in this direc tion were made, and finally the fish ball broke into fragments and fell around his piato. In perfect disgust S with the unmanageable article, our | count ymrn threw down knife and j fork, exclaiming: —“Blame these Con or! potatoes!’’ WASHINGTON, WILKE,f COI'.NTV, GA., FRIDAY, DECEMBER 10, 1809. The Labor Convention in Columbia. During tho past week tho much talked of Labor Convention met in Columbia, and after a few days’ ses sion, adjourned without being able to do anything to realize tho anticipa ; tiens of its projectors- It is not the first tlifio in human affairs that the vigor and success of tho performance has fallen short of tho “loud and sounding phrase .of tho manifesto.” 1 Called for partizan purposes, and to in ! augurato a War of labor upon capital J in tho interests of lladiealisiu, there was, as a matter of course, the usual number of inflammatory harangues, and denunciations of white employ ers, but tho Convention very wisely abstained from tho attempt to fix tho rates of labor. A member from Orangeburg offered a resolution—which was laid on tho table, after much discussion—that the following rates of wages be given to laborers for cultivating cotton and corn : First class. fWS ; second, sl2 ; third, #9'per month, and tin laborers shall receive in addition to the above 3 pounds bacon per week, peek corn, quart molasses, pint salt, for his board; and if working for a share-of tlie crop, they shall receive one-half of all the provision crop, aud one third of the cotton raised upon tho farm. The planters to furnish all the farming utensils aud sufficient horse power to carry on the farm. Tho Convention- contented itself with adopting a memorial to be pre sented to tho Legislature, praying that body to provide by statute, 1 that tho claim of the agricultural laherer for wages due shall operate as a preferred li en upon the land, that ilse planter or owner of said land shall not sed or alienate the same, until such claim is satisfied. 2 That the Governor shall appoint a dis creet and proper person in each county who shall he designated as “Commiesisher of con- Iract*,” Such persons shall be charged with the duty of examining and attesting all con tracts between the planter and laborer, and shall act as adviumy counsel of the laborer upon all question* that may arise under hie contract, all of which shall be laid before the General Asseroblv, at the commencement of each eea son thereof, aud shall be published fur geuerul information. 8. That the suits of all classes of iaboreis : and employ#?-* for wages due them shall buve j precedence on the calenders of the c rts, over | nil other civil suits, amfgsli ill he heard etotlie first Urea of, the court alter tile 4<.r!ara!i‘<>a die p ftintrfP'io the same rhu'lT'liae^stm-trW'tl 4. That the Governor shall tie authoiized to appoint, iu each comity, an officer whose duty it shall be to make out the list of jnrois, and j superintend the drawing of the same, in order i dial the laboring clast es may have a fair repre \ <o,it. 1 ion on the juries, r. piivil.ge which is | practically denied them in the rural districts, under the opetuliou of ibe present system. B, That whin lauds arc sold unftorexecu lion, the eherilf shall divide them as nearly ns practicable, into tracts not exceeding fifty acres each, in order that the small capitalist may lie enabled to purchase. Wo believe that this measure will grtally fa cilitate the acquisition of land by the landless am) that it can he rendered legally practicable by providing that Ibe decree ot sile, In each esse, shall d-.eiuie that only so much of the deli'or’s land, or the subdivisions thereof shall he sold as may he necessary to satisfy- the judgment. and That all due bills given by planters to • laborers shall specify in term* the special con \ sijernfion for which the same shall have b -en given, H-.d eha’l he tiai.sfoaoh*, at the option of tho holder, and shall operate as a lien upon ills crop and land whenever such due hill is jven, in lieu of payment for agricultural labor. 7. That nine hours shell be a day’s work for all mechanics and laborer* engaged i-r manu factures or in any business requiring skilled la bor. 8 Abolish all taxes on sales of cotton and rice, by either State or municipal authorities. Your memorialists arc satisfied that the cn actmeni of the laws herein prayed for will be | of vast benefit to the agricultural laborer, and j will greatly tend to advance the industrial re- I construction of the entire State. The above requirements aro com paratively harmless, and we suppose that to them no serious objection can be urged. The planter will likely not object to giving his employee a lien upon the land and crop for the pay ment of his wages, or making his suit for the recovery of the same a pre ferred claim upon the Docket. The appointment of a County Com missioner to approve contracts be tween employer and employee, can do no harm, and may be productive of good, inasmuch as it will relieve the planter of the odium of driving a bad bargain with the laborer. The objection to multiplying offices, and thus increasing the taxation, is the most serious one that can be urged, and applies with even greater force to the appointment of a county officer to make up the jury lists. This is now in the hands of officers chosen by she people, and is so restricted by law as to secure the interests of the black race, so that the appointment of another officer is worse than useless, even if it be not made the instrument of packing juries in the interests of the Radical party. The provision as to the division of iand for sale, we think, is well enough. If the blacks are able to buy, we sup pose they will be ablo to cultivate. Again as to the hours of labor, 'the planter will likely Alfcfoptcnt with nine hours of tborofl(jE|,njid fuithfui labor. The taxes and cot ton should iiiidouhtedSMbe s&Plished. ' —Abbeville Press und Wmjker. For the Abbeville ft ,nrer The way Arrests arftijfSe' in Abbe- 4 Tiu^r Mr. Epitor.—iTflni a point at which forbearance eSflfea to be a vir tue? Yesterday evJWlig one Tom Williamson and anqfip|r rngro rode into our villagj?/ at the residence of one of MMttifnost quiet, aud inoffensive citiiJPf. Dr. Newton Sims, and asserting he was his prisoner, attempted JK lay hands on his person. The Jk'Bf walked into his house and shut ]Ht, door, when Williamson aetualiySPy.fst open the door and seized (a very feeble man) and hewfiim fast until the cries of his dan jitters, who sup posed him to be ianhe hands ol' a murderer, and frightened almost out of their minds, alarm|d'some gentle men near. On thepfljtoproacli Wil liamson released the; ifepctor, left the house and retired lo"»h<Eßtreet. Upon being asked by a gentleman upon what authority ho cojptiiftod such an outrage, he produced!* 'Warrant, unci assorted that ho hadtiffed according to law and to mslruutioiM; from head quarters. The warrAiA #as not pro duced or spoken oijf <:!iln after tho outrage was committed. ' Now let us recapitulate: A few days ago, a quietf gentleman, one whoso social position is- second to none in our community/;, was torn from his buggy by violence, his life threatened, kept iu jail for hours aud at last released undgp bonds, and for what offence? Because he asked Mr. Iloge what he supposed were fair wa ges for an able bodlMsriegvo fellow. The Representative i.nTjfo Xegiilature threatens to murder us*.and burn our houses over tho lieatwcH-our families, and now tho constabulary, without exhibiting authority*' hf.rst, open our houses anil violate our persons iu the presence of our families. White men of Abbeville, is there a point ut which forboaraueo ceases to boa virtue ? I’EACEABLESSITIZENS. The New York Herald has the fol lowing, dated London, November 30: ‘ The Cabinet and GuWenimyat hero are in a state of exefuaneut aud «m --baiTessinent, not to ,-eaf alarm. The .secret agents the Execu tive iu Ireland littvf reported to the officers of Hi • belief that a very • • ''■‘djjM.ol?''*tw:oli*tk*««rv I/; 1 .j..-- 1>- *»<•■"• at*- y•• . J cil (in ... . . -Jiu., , I pension of tho Act of habeas corpus iu Ireland has been debited. No (feci sion has been arrived at, but it is con sidered certain that extreme measures oppression, and for tho sustainment of tho Queen’s authority iu Ireland, will bo adopted shortly,” Washington, November 22. The New York Herald says: Chol era, yellow fever and small pox are raging fearfully at Santiago de Cu ba, three hundred deaths having oc curred from cholera!alone within thirty days. It waslfouud impos sible to give tho dead bodies proper sepulcher, the bodies being covered only with a feiv inches of earth. Asa consequence the stench from the cemetery has almost become a pestilence- The Gnbaus in the in terior profess to ha confident of success, and give tho Spanish troops much trouble. Last week tho foundation of the first house at Mr. Stewart’s Hemp stead Homestead city of refuge for the overcrowded population of New York was laid. The whole Hemp stead tract has been laid out, and the site for parks, squares and several building lots located, aud several ave nues graded. Hon. Zadoc Pratt, who represented one of the interior districts of New York in Congress some thirty years ago, and who is set down as worth #5,000.000, was married a few days ago, on his seventy-ninth birthday, to Miss Grimm, a young girl who has been employed as a wrapper writer in ono of tho New York newspaper offices. Trouble in Mibsippi —Memphis, November 30.—The whites and blacks are fighting in West Mississippi.— Thirteen negrees aro reported killed in Sunflower County. Trouble is iin incut at Grenada, Water Valley and Wenona. Memphis, December I.—Mississipi election returns are meagre. To-mor row will probably, increase Dent’s (Democrat) majority to 700. 8«L The President has refused to countenance the movement of the Virginia Radicals to defeat tho ad mission of the Stale into tho Union. J’resident Grant informed Governor Walker that he should recommend to Congress the immediate admission of Virginia. Eighteen ladies are announced as public lecturers this year; but nobody has dared to state, the number of those who will give private lectures. Extracts from Gov. Scott’s Message, of South Carolina. The agriculture of the Stato in the ■ fundamental basis of its prosperity, and yet not one-fourth of its soil has ! been brought under cultivation, and ( so little of labor and skill have been j devoted to it, that were it not among 1 the most favored regions of the earth, i tho noedless and careless system of' tillage to which it lias been subjected. I would long since have exhausted it. I And yet iu uo department of human ! industry can skilled labor be made j more available, or •; larger or move ' varied circle of scientific acquirements ] bo more thoroughly and profitably] utilized, than in agriculture ; and iu I no locality is there a more extensive j or a more inviting field for their oxer- j vise than in South Carolina. The loss ' resulting annually to the Stale from the praotiee of an unskilled and care less system of husbandry, instead of one that is intelligent and energetic, is hardly to bo estimated. Os the nineteen or twenty millions of acres comprised within our limits, about one-fourth aro devoted to eultivatioiw the rest is in.wbods of valuable tiufP her, and. in unreclaimed swamp, easi ly drained, and of inexhaustible fer tility. In 1867 there were devoted to farm products 716,0-11 acres to corn, 245. 654 acres to wheat, 70,900, acres’to oats. 77,000 acres to hay, 9,835 to rye, 1,166 to barley, 1,890 to Irish potatoes, and 200 to tobacco. Os tho balance, the greater portion was devoted to tho great commercial staples of cot ton and rice. The average yield per aero was officially reported as nine and sixtonths bushels of corn wheat six bushels and four-tenths ; oats, elev en bushel and one-tenth; rye, five bushels and seven-tonlhs; barley, elev en bushels aud one-tenth ; Irish pota toes, eighty bushels and four-tenths; tobacco, fivo hundred pounds; and of hay, one ton. When it is recollected that it has been demonstrated by actual experi ment and measurement, in tho vicini ty of tho city of Columbia, that with high culture, and under favorable qjfCumstancoß, it is practicable to pro duce two hundred bushels and twelve quarts of corn from a single acre of land; and that with ordinary intelli gence and industry, of wheat rye or oats ; thirty-five Os barley, and one hundred bushels of Irish potatoes, are readily produced to the acre, the contvaHt between what is, and what ought to be, the agricul tural products of this State, is alike surprising and.mortifying, and dem .l.B I/,via emphatically tho nci ''Ka.iw.-WjHß'xd u» this rw*. are still further impelled by the inexorable logic of events, —in the changed condition of circumstances by which wc aro surrounded ; in tho thorough aud sweeping revolution in our system of labor, enforcing tho Divine edict, as beneficent as it is just, that man shall eat bread by the sweat of his own face, and not by that of his fellow-man, and by the resistless tide of intellectual activity and effort every where surrounding us, to take our placo in the march of material progress, and by calling science to the aid of labor, blending brain and muscle in harmonious co-operation, build up the fallen fortunes of our be loved State, make her waste places to bloom and blossom as tlio rose, and facilitate and hasten her attainment of a prosperity and happiness, more exalted, more general, and moro per manent, than has over been witnessed within her borders. That the Legis lature will cheerfully co-operato in all legitimate efforts to bring about this desirable result—lho improve ment of our agriculture—l cannot permit myself to doubt. The forma tion of societies of practical farmers, meeting together periodically to com municate and contrast tho results of their experience aud experiments, adds the additional stimulus of emu lation to efforts of improvement and excellence. I would suggest that an appropriation be made, to bo appor tioned among the different Counties which may raise an equivalent sum, to be distributed as premiums to those who may excel in the different branch es of their profession, but particular ly in tho deep and thorough breaking up and pulverization of the soil, which is of primary- importance, and to tho neglect of which must of our waste of labor and of land may be attribu ted. The substitution of thorough tillage for the superficial scraping and scratching of the soil now so general ly practiced, is the first step to im provement and success, and this truth cannot be too forcibly impress ed upon the minds of the farmers, and especially of those who have but recently become proprietors or oecu pantsof land on their own account. This will makemanyan aero not thrown out as “old fields” productive and valua ble, aud enable the thrifty and indus trious farmer to procure homes at a comparatively small expense, the pro ducts of which will contribute mate rially to the support of their families. Some legislation seems to be necessa ry for the prevention of the burning of the woods, a practice not only dan gerous in itself, and injurious to tim ber. fencing and the soil, but largely responsible for notioeffblo changes in our climate, for the increased lateness and severity of our seasons, and for tho long and exhausting droughts, which aro yearly becoming more dis astrous. History, both ancient and modern, contains many examples of tho pornieious results of denuding a country of its timber; and by men of intelligence it has been deemed that the too general felling of tho woods is the most destructive among the many causes of tho physical deterio ration of tho earth. It mischievous effects in our own section nro already observable, not only in our protrac ted droughts and Into spring frosts, and in the washing out of tho soluble portj(ji Qf oqt' Sotj but in the drying up and rivulets, and the dcstKfcftdn of our upland pastures, many of which during the summer months afford neither water nor herb age for cattle. In the Stato of lowa tho planting of trees is encouraged (by a law of which tho farmer is re-* leased from taxation for ten years on one hundred dollars valuation for every acre of forest trees planted, from a taxation of fifty dollars valuation for five years) and a similar provis ion for tho fjaiit trees and hedges along the highways. Sheep husbandry is an important source of wealth to the farmer, for which wo have many facilities and advantages. The principal obstacle to its successful pursuit is the multi tude of dogs by which many neigh borhoods are infested. It may bo well to inquire whether the numbers of these, pestilent curs may not be advantageously diminished by hold ing their owners to a strict accounta bility for tho offences and depreda tions committed by them ; and, as tliero is seldom necessity for moro than one about a dwelling, a salntary iuflucnct! may be exercised by impos ing a discriminating tax on all above that number, increasing tho ratio of taxation with each additional animal; thus, for a dog in a family, two dollars; for a third, three dollars ; and so proportionately. This would have a tendency to reduce tho num ber of dogs, and to economize the amount of food now wasted on them, while it would enable the breeders of sheep to increase the numbers of that valuable animal, and thus to substi tute producers of foq»i and clothing for consumers and destroyers of both. THE RIVER FISHERIES. Asa. valuable adjunct to agriculture in tho pxo(fiction of food, l deem it my duty to call vciur attention to fhc ot adopting, tacasares for the restoration of our -riv?J- fisheries. It is within tho recoFleetion of many when the Havannah, tho Santee, and the Pee Dee, und their numerous trib utaries, yielded annually a generous tribute of savory and nutritious food from the swarming fisheries along their shores, and when shad were sold in Columbia market at twenty for a dollar. Now they aro seldom seen unless brought from a distance, and arc sold at ten times the former prices, placing them beyond the means of the poor, to whom they wore an every day article of cheap and wholesome food, and limiting them, as a luxury, to the rich. From the greater num ber of our rivers they are completely banished. Os the truth of this state ment, and of the cause of it, I quote the following testimony of a highly intelligent and influential gentleman, who has creditably served tho coun try both in our Stato and National Councils. In reply to a circular I had caused to bo issued, he remarks: “I cannot say when tho shad '•were stopped from coming up the Saluda, but I think it may be dated when the factory dam was built across the river near its mouth. Previous to that time, and as far back as my memory goes, sbad were caught in great num bers in that river. I remember well when I was a lad, my father who lived in Laurens District, some ten miles distant from Island Ford, yearly in tho habit of sending a wagon to that place for shad, and always re turned with a full supply to last tho family until even the children no lon ger considered them a rarity. Many other families did the .same from both sides of the river, and this was ouly one of many such shad fisheries on that river. Now, for thirty-one years back, which I can particularly re member, not a single shad has been caught from the Saluda: they have been totally shut out by that selfish dam.” Many similar communieatians have been received front other sources, demonstrating, conclusively that the banishment of tho shad and other migratory fishes from the upper waters of the State, and the conse quent deprivation of tho people of a large amount of nutritious and palata ble food, is altogether attributable to the mynerous dams that have been constructed in the rivers and streams, by which they are completely barri caded against the passage of fish, and this in violation of law, which requires that all dams, shall be furnished with fish ways at least sixty feet wide to enable fish to pass up to their spawn ing ground. Below the dam an un ceasing warfare is waged against them by the owners of weirs, traps, nets and seines, during breeding season, as if their extirpation had been a mat ter of solicitude, and was determined on. The cause suggests the remedy, which can be secured by the appoint ment of Commissioners, with ample powers to enforce existing la'ws in relation to the dams in rivers .and streams, and other illegal obstructions to the passage of fish; arid the 'cgu lation of seins, nets and fish traps, by which their destretive operations will be restrained' and limited; and to VOL. IV-N 0 SO recommend such other measures as they may deem necessary for the accomplishment of the object of. their appointment. From the well established fact that shad and other migratory fishes al ways return to their bleeding placer,’ and that they have been excluded for so many years from the upper por tions of our rivers, it may be neces sary to restock them by artificial moans. This can bo effected with great facility and at a comparatively trifling expense. The process of re stocking the -rivers.of New England, New York and Pennsylvania is now in full title successful operation, aud miiliiQßßOf eggs of the salmon, white fish, trout and shad aro • hatched and set looso every season, gradually to find‘their way to the ocean, whence, fitter many days, with unerring in stinct. they will, return- to their qreeding places for purposes of (repro duction. Between thirty and forty millions of shad have been hatched and set loose in Connecticut River; and during the past breeding season, they were hatched at the lqto of ono million per day in the upper, waters of the Hudson River. The roe of a full grown shad contains one hundred “thousand eggs, and theso being readi ly fecundated by the milt of the male fish, aro placed in properly prepared boxes, and deposited in running wa ter, to bo hatched in from three to four days; ’and so successful have experts become in the process, that ninety-eight thousand live fish have been produced from one hundred thousand eggs. The young fish aro then set loose, and immediately Seek the middle of. the stream, to avoid their numerous enemies who infost its margin, and gradually float with the current to the ocean. The boxes are then ready for another hatch. r The cost of the boxes is above two dollars each. Two handled boxes will hatch seven million oi* v -4iad daily, or in twenty-fiveiStys about fifteen ruiilii in, and would require tho attention of about twenty-five men for less than one month. Thus it. will be seen that in a comparatively short period Our rivers may bo restocked not only with shad, but with other valuable species that may be and our people in a few years will gather full harvests of rich subsis tence from our rivers, and “suck an abundance from the waters of tho sea.” By those who have attentive ly studied tho subject, it is estimated that an acre of water will produce, with more certainty and loss labor, as much food as an aero of land, and when diligently attended to, ip well conducted fish ponds, it has been as certained that it will realize five times as much. If this be so, the absurdity of jpyir past policy in permitting the fish to lie. excluded from our rivers, may be illustrated by supposing that turTaii(is.iiow .raising eea-a, aid cot-, ion, should beaded to be neglected so as to fail in givmg ttoTt yearly supply of food and comfort. But this is more absurd than in having per mitted for so many years our rivers and smaller streams, once teem ed with an annua! supply of grateftil and generous sustenance to the com munity, to bocomo barren aud unpro ductive ? magistrates’ courts. I have heretofore directed your at tention so the subjoct of Magistrates’ Courts, and would urgently renew my recommendations on the subject. The wide latitude heretofore givon to the discretion of Magistrates and Courts has had tho effect to crowd our jailswitli potty offenders, at a hea vy expense to tho State, much of which could bo avoided by giving fi nal jurisdiction to Magistrates’ Courts 1 with right of appeal, of all minor of fences, such as petit larceny, simple assault and battery, and other misde meanors of similar grade, with power to determine tho quostTbn of guilt, and its extent, and to inflict penalties by fine. This would obviate tho ne cessity of a good deal af Sessions bus iness, and the cost of witnesses' fees and expenses. A fair and reasonable fee bill should bo established, as there is much complaint that Magistrates and Constables are guilty of making extortionate exactions from tho poor and ignorant. Many cases have been | so manipulated as to involve the larg est amount of cqsts, and others again i havo been instituted for malicious pur poses, frequently from political mo tives or political objects. When such eases have been substantiated, I have promptly removed the offenders, and many of them, in my opinion, deserv ed a more rigorous punishment. I I havo been apprised of cases where . Magistrates have attempted to inter fere with the State Constables while in tho discharge of their duty, and re commend that adequate punishments be provided for such offences. Severe penalties should also be provided for carrying concealed deadly weapons, a cowardly practice, which has become entirely too prevalent, PIIBLIO PROPERTY. There is a consideralle amount of public property in this city, Charles ton, and other portions of the State which has been for a long time ex empt from taxation, and productive of no revenue. I recommend that investigation be made of the location, extent, and probable value of this property with a view to the sale of ! such portions of it as may be deemed | advisable, so that it may be placed on I the tax list, and contribute its share to the public revenue.
