return to England he brought over with him some of the seed, and strongly recommended the practice which he had witnessed to the adoption of his own tenants, who occupied a soil similar to that of Hanover.  The experiment succeeded; the cultivation of field turnips gradually spread over the whole county of Norfolk; and in the course of time it has made its way into every other district of England.  The reputation of the county as an agricultural district dates from the vast improvements of heaths, wastes, sheepwalks, and warrens, by enclosure and manuring—­the fruit of the zealous exertions of Lord Townshend and a few neighbouring land-owners—­which were, ere long, happily imitated by others.  Since these improvements were effected, rents have risen in that county from one or two shillings to fifteen or twenty shillings per acre; a country of sheep-walks and rabbit-warrens has been rendered highly productive; and by dint of management, what was thus gained has been preserved and improved even to the present moment.  Some of the finest corn-crops in the world are now grown upon lands which, before the introduction of the turnip husbandry, produced a very scanty supply of grass for a few lean and half-starved rabbits.  Mr. Colquhoun, in his “Statistical Researches,” estimated the value of the turnip crop annually grown in this country at fourteen millions; but when we further recollect that it enables the agriculturist to reclaim and cultivate land which, without its aid, would remain in a hopeless state of natural barrenness; that it leaves the land so clean and in such fine condition, as almost to insure a good crop of barley and a kind plant of clover, and that this clover is found a most excellent preparative for wheat, it will appear that the subsequent advantages derived from a crop of turnips must infinitely exceed its estimated value as fodder for cattle.  If we were, therefore, asked to point out the individual who, in modern times, has proved the greatest benefactor to the community, we should not hesitate to fix upon the ingenious nobleman, whom the wits and courtiers of his own day were pleased to laugh at as “Turnip Townshend.”  In something less than one hundred years, the agricultural practice which he introduced from Hanover has spread itself throughout this country, and now yields an annual return which, probably, exceeds the interest of our national debt.—­Sir Walter Scott—­in the Quarterly Review.

Coals in the East.

The Dutch newspapers state, that extensive coal mines have been discovered in Sumatra and Bantam.

Naphtha

Has been found to burn much better than other oils in mines where bad air prevails, and is less injurious to the health of the workmen.  Oil of colza and tallow are extinguished, where naphtha, petroleum, and oil of bone, continue burning.

Fossils.

Plates of above 600 fossil bones, (remains of a former world) recently discovered in the neighbourhood of Issoire, in France, are preparing for publication.  They belong to more than 50 species of animals, now extinct; among which are elephants, horses, tapirs, rhinoceri, eleven or twelve kinds of stags, large cats, oxen, bears, dogs, otters, &c.