In the year of the South Sea bubble, a wit of the day epigrammatised the proposal to insure horses and cattle, little thinking it would ever be carried out. Yet that some such institution was necessary may be gathered from the number of local clubs of this character established all over the country. These will probably merge in some agricultural insurance company like the above; and did this institution not take human life into its business, it might be more successful. The laws relating to life and to farming stock are very different, and a company devoted to the latter would be wiser than one which blends the assurance of agricultural property against disease, accident, fire, lightning, and the hailstorm, with ordinary life assurance. THE RENT GUARANTEE SOCIETY. This is another instance of the extension of insurance to a purpose which at one time would have been pronounced Utopian; and which, addressing itself exclusively to landed proprietors, promises to collect their income without trouble and without loss. When a tenant knows that his rent will be rigorously demanded, he feels that he must provide the money or pay the penalty. There are no qualms of conscience in companies; and though a man might try to play upon the easy good nature of his landlord, such tricks would be vain against them. Determined habits of thrift are thus engendered, property becomes more valuable, the landlord receives his rents regularly, and business proceeds like a machine. It may be said that the kindly feeling between landlord and tenant disappears beneath the iron sway of a public company; but however this may be regretted, it is only an inevitable consequence of the changes of capital and the consequent transfer of estates. RAILWAY PASSENGERS ASSURANCE COMPANY. We owe to Mr. Glyn, when chairman of the London and Birmingham Railway, the first light on the subject of railway accidents. He proved that they were far less by the iron road than by the coaching system, and that the loss of life, in proportion to the number which travelled, was incomparably less. When the yearly railway reports were published, it was at once seen that a society like the above would have a fair chance of success. Some of the railway companies have refused their aid, thinking it would cause a decrease in railway travelling. Others, again, have assisted, on the broader principle that such an institution was sound. This company has been severely tried; but it has been productive of an incalculable amount of good, and the character of the directors gives a perfect solidity to the concern. In many cases it has been very effective in mitigating the distress which sudden death so often entails on survivors. ACCIDENTAL DEATH INSURANCE COMPANY.