f six-inch pots 'with a compost of two-thirds loam, and one-third
rotten dung, as follows: three stout pieces of broken pots were placed
in the bottom, and a full handful of the compost put in; a stout
wooden pestle was then used with all the force of a man's arm to pound
it, then another handful and a pounding, and another, till the pot was
brimful, and the compressed mould as hard as a barn-floor. The pots
were then taken to the strawberry-bed, and a runner placed in the
centre of each, with a small stone to keep it steady. They were
watered in dry weather, and have had no other care or culture. For two
or three years, I have had the very finest crops from plants after
this method, and those under notice promise well. If the pots are
lifted, it will be apparent that a large quantity of food is in a
small space. I may add, that from some recent experiments with
compressed earth to potted fruit-trees, I have a high opinion of its
effect, and I fully believe that we have yet much to learn on the
subject.'

There is a committee sitting at the Admiralty, to devise a method for
the uniform lighting of ships and steamers at night, the object being
to diminish the chances of accident or error to vessels at sea. And
apropos of this, Mr Babbage has published a plan which will
effectually prevent one lighthouse being mistaken for another: it is,
that every lighthouse, wherever situated, shall have a number--the
numbers not to run consecutively--and no two adjoining lights to have
the same numeral digits in the same place of figures. There would then
be no need for revolving or flashing lights, as the only thing to be
done would be to make each lighthouse repeat its own number all night
long, or whenever it was illuminated. This is to be 'accomplished by
enclosing the upper part of the glass cylinders of the argand burner
by a thin tube of tin or brass, which, when made to descend slowly
before the flame, and then allowed suddenly to start back, will cause
an occultation and reappearance of the light.' The number of
occultations denotes the number of the lighthouse. For instance,
suppose the Eddystone to be 243, the two is denoted by two hidings of
the light in quick succession; a short pause, and four hidings;
another short pause, and three hidings, followed by a longer pause;
after which the same process is repeated. It would not be easy to make
a mistake, for the numbers of the lighthouses nearest to the Eddystone
would be ve