of granite I could obtain for the formation of the road over the bridge at 10s. 6d. per ton, the present pavement being worth a guinea per ton; but were the streets of London generally taken up, pavement would of course become of less value, and it might be broken for the formation of the roads. Is that pavement of a quality calculated to make good roads? The best material in the kingdom.

What proportion would the pavement now used in the streets of London, bear to the materials necessary to the formation of the roads?-There would be sufficient for the formation of a strong durable road in the first instance; and I estimate that a sup ply of materials for the future care of the road, for a considerable time, would be left.

Would that answer in all the small streets of the metropolis, as well as for the large and open streets?—I think not so well in the narrow streets, which are liable to water, and where, from the width of the street, the thoroughfare must necessarily be upon one given spot. I beg, however, to observe, that the thoroughfare in those streets is extremely small.

Would the dust be increased or diminished by this alteration ?—I consider, that upon a well-made stone road, with the same care of cleansing and watering that is given to the streets, the annoyance from dust would be infinitely less; and a road is more susceptible of retaining the water than pavement.

What would be the proportion of the annual expense between the paved street and the road?-Taking seven years, during which time I calculate that the pavement gets worn out, I should think that the annual expense of the road would not be one-fifth part, because in that seven years the whole value of the pavement is nearly lost.

What would be the effect produced

upon the necessity of raising the road, for the purpose of alteration of the pipes, and other works under the streets?-At present, when this operation is necessary, a pavier, whose wages are from five to six shillings aday, is required. Were the streets converted into stone roads, a labourer at eighteenpence a-day would perform the same service; and by due care in laying the materials on one side, and the earth on the other, the injury to the road would be extremely small, and the spot would very soon become obliterated; whereas, in raising a part of a paved street, it is quite impossible ever to unite the piece so raised with the rest of the pavement.

Supposing the pavement to be converted into a road, in that case would it be necessary, when any pipe was repairing, to stop up the way to prevent carriages and horses passing? Certainly not more so than at present, as that circumstance must always depend upon the width of the street. In very narrow streets, where the pipe lies in the centre, a large opening is necessary; it would follow as a matter, of course, that the street be stopped; but upon large streets, one side would be left free.

Would not a repair be more rapidly executed, supposing the way to be a road instead of a street?-Were the streets converted into roads, the repair of the roads would be almost unknown to the public, and no stoppage whatever take place; the repair of such roads would be limited to a one-inch coat at a time, which would scarcely be known to persons passing in carriages, and the great inconvenience at present constantly felt in every part of this large metropolis, by the necessity of repaving the streets, would cease.

You assume that the roads for the streets in London must be made with granite-Most assuredly, I should never recommend any other material

town.

EDINBURGH AND GLASGOW UNION CANAL.

A project is now in agitation, which, in course of time, may create a little town at the other end of this canal. The company, from the difficulty of getting a part of Glenfuir grounds, which lie at the junction of the Union Canal with the Forth and Clyde, were obliged to purchase the small estate altogether. That part which they have not occasion for being divided by the canal, and cut by several roads, lessens the inducement to any person to purchase it in a single lot. It is therefore proposed, after setting aside the necessary portion for wharfs, keys, officers' lodges, and inns for the ac commodation of passengers, to sell or feu the rest in lots for building. Works erected here would be in the immediate neighbourhood of inexhaustible mines of coal, lime, and iron stone, while the rich district of the Carse would afford them corn with very lit tle expense of carriage. Placed at the junction of three great lines of water communication, they could command the markets of Glasgow, Greenock, Edinburgh, Stirling, with all the towns on the Forth and the Clyde, and pro cure on the easiest terms all the pro. ducts of the Baltic, America, and the West Indies. A great impulse seems to have been given lately in building, both dwelling-houses and warehouses, in the vicinity of the canal basin. A fine large building for the luggageboat companies is now getting up at the basin, upon the projecting square used as a landing-place for passengers; and several offices for the coal companies have just been completed. The greatest activity is employed in raising houses of the usual height of five stories, in the adjoining streets and roads, the stone for which is brought from Redhall quarry, three miles to the

It may not be uninteresting to learn, that several boats from this quarry are constantly employed-each carrying between forty and fifty tons, and ma king generally three trips in a day. The stone is conveyed from the extre mity of the quarry in low carts, on a rail-way along a scaffold, erected close to the side of a perpendicular rock, and brought by machinery up a considerable acclivity to the wharf, where a boy or lad transfers the load into a boat. The cart being then allowed to go back, passes to one side, when it reaches the bottom of the descent, and thus makes way for another loaded cart, which is discharged in like manner. ner. A steam engine, of about four horse power, is employed in these admirable contrivances, to supersede the use of animal labour.

The traffic on the Kennett and Avon canal, from Bristol to London, has been greater the last month than has ever been known since that communication has been open; the tonnage for that time exceeding any former month, by upwards of 1000

tons.

An act has passed for the erection of a bridge over the river Severn, near the town of Tewksbury. The bridge will be composed of three iron arches of 65 feet span each, and the centre arch will be so high as to render the navigation at all times free from obstruction.

We have the satisfaction to state, that the concerns of the Regent's Canal continue to improve in a degree that must be highly gratifying to its proprietors; the tonnage for the past year amounting to upwards of 266,000 tons, being an increase of nearly 110,000 tons beyond the tonnage of the year preceding.

Property to the amount of 90,000l. is said to have been embarked by settlers in Van Diemen's Land, and this only including sums above 500.

November 17.-The weather this autumn seems to have been of the same general character in every part of the island, cold, wet, and unsteady in an unusual degree for the season, though its effects are different upon different crops, and vary according to the earliness or lateness of the several parts of the country. Yet all have suffered from it more or less; and in high situations, and among the hills in the norch, the failure of the crops, partial in other quarters, has been quite general.

Of the corn crops, wheat has certainly suffered the most, and must be below an average by 20 or 25 per cent., as far as it is yet possible to ascertain the deficiency. Barley approaches nearer a full crop, if it does not reach it, in respect to quantity; but the quality, with some exceptions, is not equal to that of ordinary seasons. Some difference of opinion prevailed on this point before the crop was cut; but that its quality is generally inferior, as was to be expected from the state of the weather, seems to be no longer doubtful. Oats exhibit every variety, both in produce and quality, from the abundant and wellripened grain of the lowlands, to the scanty and immature returns of the moors and other high grounds, where, in the worst cases, the crop will scarcely be worth the gathering, if it were not for the straw. As almost all this kind of grain in these last situations, and much of the barley or bear, were exposed to frosts while yet in a soft and milky state, and the straw quite

green, the failure is found to be greater when made into meal, than it appears to be on the barn floor; and for seed it is entirely ruined. Taking in all Scotland, however, the oats will not probably fall short of an average,

A good deal of injury has been sustained in many places, after the crops were cut, both on the field and in the stackyard, particularly in the latter. There are few complaints of growing in the sheaf, except in the south of England, the weather, at so late a period of the autumn, being too cold; nor has there been much loss by shaking; but a great deal having been put into the stack in a damp state, heated and had to be taken down, and, in some instances, carted out again to the field to dry. We do not recollect any season in which so much of this unpleasant work has been reported.

Of the other kinds of produce, the accounts are more various. Beans and pease, of which one would have prognosticated the total failure in such a season, have in some instances been found tolerably productive, or even full crops. But neither of them is likely to make a good return in general; in many parts there being very little corn, though plenty of straw. Turnips are good only upon good dry soils, and worth little or nothing upon soft and strong lands; and yet this is more than can be said of potatoes, of which, for every acre that yields an average produce, there are probably three acres deficient by a fourth or a third, and the quality by no means good.

It has been stated, that, in some of our lowland counties, the arable farmer will not have much more than half the produce to carry to market that he had last year. This, it is to be hoped, is too gloomy an anticipation. But it may not be far from the truth to estimate the deficiency at from a fourth to a fifth on all kinds of grain—that is to say, the deficiency in the disposable produce, seed, horse-corn, servants' meal, &c. first deducted. Yet there is too much old grain in the country for this to occasion any alarm of scarcity. Old wheat will be in good demand for some time, as it has been for a few weeks past, and at improved prices; but the medium rate of that and new, as far as yet appears, is not likely to exceed 50s. per quarter.

The markets for live-stock have fluctuated a good deal, and are, upon the whole, somewhat higher than they were at the same period last year. Hallow Fair, held at Edinburgh last week, has certainly been better than the Great Tryst at Falkirk in October, but not perhaps so good as the market at Doune in Perthshire, in the beginning of the present month. The low price of wool must have affected that of sheep, on some descriptions of which hardly any improvement can be noted, notwithstanding the loss among the flocks last winter, and the liberal profits obtained by the feeders in spring and the early part of summer.

If we take a general view of the agricultural classes at present, very little, if any, improvement, will be perceived in their condition. Those

who possess early rich soils may find their nett returns from the present crop somewhat greater than last year's ; but a considerable portion of farmers, holding land of an opposite description, must lose as much at least as the others will gain; and the general fund, out of which rents and wages should be paid, will not be materially in creased. A liberal conduct on the part of landlords is therefore as necessary as ever. The fall in the rate of interest should enable them to continue the late abatements without inconve nience to themselves, especially since a new money-lender, the Bank of Eng. land, has come to the resolution of employing a large capital, in loans at four per cent., to those landowners who can offer adequate security. Perhaps the late reduction in the duty on home-made spirits may also have a good effect in extending the consumption of barley; and there is reason to hope that other taxes on consumption may be reduced in the next session of Parliament, if we are fortunate enough to remain at peace.

The wetness of the summer, and the lateness of the harvest, have been unfavourable to the due and timely preparation of the lands intended for wheat next season; and much of what should have been put in after beans and potatoes, still remains to be sown in this country. It is not indeed to one year's crop that the bad effects of such wea ther are confined, but they are felt, more or less, throughout all the crops of the ensuing rotation.