_Agricultural Anecdote._----Furius Cresinus, as mentioned by Pliny, the Roman historian, was originally a slave. Having been made a freedman, he purchased a small spot of ground, from which he obtained, through his unwearied industry, much finer crops than many of the neighbours, who had larger farms. This excited general envy, which his enemies carried to such a length as to accuse him of employing magic charms to render his own grounds fertile and to impoverish heirs. The _Edile_ caused him to be summoned to appear and answer the charge before the people of Rome. Crecinus obeyed the mandate, accompanied by his daughter, a fresh and healthy coloured girl--charms which appeared to greater advantage from the symplicity of her dress. The accused also brought with him the tools and instruments of his profession. They were in excellent condition. His mattocks were remarkably heavy, his plough was of an enormous size, and his cattle were all sound and fat. "Behold!" said this truly dignified and indignant farmer, "behold my whole magical equipage! behold the charms which I have recourse to! There are others, indeed, which I am not capable of producing before you; I mean the sweat of my brow, and incessant toils both by day and night." This native eloquence decided the matter; he was honourably acquitted by the unanimous voice of a numerous and applauding assembly. A mechanic in the North has invented a machine for seminaries, which, by means of steam, not only warms the room, but _flogs all the boys_ "on a graduated scale," according to their offences. _Dr. Line._--This noted Irish physician, who died of the small pox at the age of 85, built a house in a peculiar manner, so as to have the full benefit of the circulation of the air. Every window had another opposite to it, none of which he ever suffered to be shut or glazed. The room in which he slept had four open windows, two on each side of his bed. It was remarked that, for fifty years together nobody died in his house. He carried this doctrine to such an excess, as to contend that no house could be wholesome, where a dog could not get in under the door and a bird at the window. Upon his death, his son had all the windows glazed; soon after which, several persons were _buried out of the house_. The late king of England concurred a little in this practice of Dr. Line. In the rooms where he and his family resided, he never suffered a carpet to be laid; and in the chimney places allowed but a very scanty portion of fire--barely enough to aid the circulation of the air and prevent damps.