68 
FOREIGN AGRICULTURAL NEWS. 
jFomou Agricultural 3$cws. 
"We are in receipt of our foreign journals per steamer 
Canada, to 29th December. 
Markets. — Ashes dulL Cotton an advance of ^d. per 
lb. This makes an advance, altogether, for the past 
twelve months, of 2^d. — about equal to 4-J cts. of our 
money. Flour of the lower qualities of canal, in active 
demand. Rice, 40,000 bags were purchased in London 
on speculation, causing considerable excitement in the 
market. Wool, 26,000 bales were recently sold at an 
advance. This article is from 2 to 4 cts. per lb. higher 
than it was last September. 
Money very abundant at 2 to 3 per cent., with an 
increased amount of bullion in the Bank of England. 
Poultry Show at Birmingham. — A large show of 
all kinds of domestic fowls, recently took place at Bir- 
mingham. It was numerously attended, from many 
parts of the kingdom, and about $250 were distributed, 
in small amounts, as prizes. The long-lost " shackbags " 
are said to have been re-introduced from Asia. 
Ink for Zinc Labels. — The best ink for zinc labels is 
a rather weak solution of chloride of platinum or gold, 
mixed with a little gum Arabic, to prevent it running 
too freely in the pen. — Gar dene ri Chronicle. 
Farmers of Some Consideration in France. — "We 
notice that when General d'Hautpoul, chief of the new 
ministry lately installed in France, first addressed the 
Legislative Assembly in regard to the measures the 
government would pursue, he stated that they would 
place the improvement of agriculture, and the protec- 
tion of the interests of the farmer and labor in the first 
rank of their duties. 
Apple Waste, or Pomace. — We have no analysis, but 
believe it to be rich in mineral matter. It is very diffi- 
cult of decomposition. It rots very slowly, and there- 
fore is of but little use as manure. The decay of it 
might be hastened by using it in compost with some 
rapidly-decaying substance, as horse dung; and then 
it would no doubt exhibit whatever useful properties it 
has. — Ag. Gazette. 
A Prolific and Profitable Hen. — A hen of mine, of 
the half-bred game variety, has hatched off four clutches 
of chickens in the year, and brought up 51 of them. 
Thirty-six have been sold at Is. &d. each; three are now 
up fatting on barley meal and milk ; the remaining 
brood, twelve, are three fourths grown. The produce of 
this hen in the twelve months is worth £3 10s. She 
has laid eggs besides, almost sufficient to pay for her 
owii picking. — Farmer i Herald. 
Extraordinary Yield of Barley from Spade Culture. 
— One of my neighbors has a small piece of ground in 
tillage, one half of which is generally in potatoes, and 
the other in corn, which half has grown barley this 
year, and produced a crop equal to eighty-eight bushels 
the acre. The land was dug over last autumn, and then 
sown in April, very thin. I recollect it looked very thin 
after coming up, but tillered very much afterwards, and 
made a rank crop — of course, the land is first rate. — 
Farmers' Herald. 
Saltpetre Poisonous to Pigs. — It is well known that 
saltpetre has the valuable property of removing the 
taint of turnip taste from butter ; and a small quantity 
put into the churn with the cream renders the butter 
sweet and pleasant. In one case, the butter from one 
cow was made twice a-week ; and to this quantity about 
a teaspoonful of saltpetre was added, and the butter- 
milk given to the pigs. It was observed that the pigs, 
(about two months old,) after drinking the buttermilk, 
were very uncomfortable, and as little notice was taken 
of the affair, they got over it as best they might. How- 
ever, it was not so on the next day of churning ; for both 
pigs were taken violently ill, vomiting and purging ; and 
when all hopes of saving then - lives were gone, they 
were put out of pain by killing. — Farmer's Herald. 
Treatment of Fruit Trees Disposed to Canker. — Around 
all those trees which are manageable for size, and free 
from disease, a trench is taken out at such distance from 
the stem as may be judged by the branches sufficient to 
the preserving all the radicals, so deep as to get them 
undermined, and the soil carefully separated from the 
fibres, and thereby of no avail to the tree. The pit 
being again prepared, and made up to within nine or 
ten inches from the surface, fill with a layer of well- 
decomposed dung, mixed with the soil of the border, 
and next a layer of leaf soil, upon Avliich the roots 
should be laid out as in training the shoots upon a wall ; 
this being done, cover with another layer of rotton 
leaves, and above another layer of rotton dung, then 
water well, so as to fix the soil round the roots ; when 
settled, finish with the soil from the border — a mulch- 
ing of straw or dung in frosty weather will be requi- 
site, till the roots again take with the soil The process 
of transplanting should be repeated as the appearance 
of the tree would justify. — Ibid. 
Successful Transplanting a Large Cedar in 1386. — 
This operation took place when I was gardener at Dur- 
ham Park. The tree stood in front of a new conserva- 
tory that was being built ; it was 30 years old, 20 feet 
high, 2 feet in circumference, at one foot from the 
ground, and 48 feet round the extremities of the 
branches. I cut the roots all round to the very bottom, 
4 feet from the stem, in April, in order to cause it to 
produce young fibres to support the ball, as well as to 
secure the life of the tree. In the following November 
it had made roots 6 in. long ; but I am now of opinion 
that before large trees are moved, the whole of the 
large roots should be cut two years previous to lifting. 
The next point is to make a puddle for planting ; this 
ought to be so thick that the ball will make its way 
slowly to the bottom of it; then guard against high 
winds. The most effective way of doing this, perhaps, 
is to join cross pieces of wood, enclosing the stem, and 
to drive down a post at each end of such pieces, 3 or 4 
feet into the solid eartli, nailing their tops firmly to the 
cross pieces just mentioned. If this i3 properly done, 
no wind will overturn the tree. — Correspondent to 
Gard. Chron. 
Smithfield Sliov) of Fat Cattle. — This began on the 
1 1th of December, and continued four days. The ani- 
mals exhibited were not quite so great monstrosities 
of fat as heretofore, which is an improvement. An 
animal may be over as well as w»icfcrfatted ; and the 
English have heretofore, at such shows, greatly erred, 
in creating monstrous mountains of fat, instead of lean, 
tender, juicy, and well-marbled meat. The report of 
the London Agricultural Gazette says — Mr. Jones, from 
Huntingdonshire, took the first prize, on a four-year old 
Hereford ox. The bulk of the carcass formed the very 
proper size of containing the greatest weight in the 
least possible compass, and that without destroying 
the necessary symmetry, either by an overgrown coarse- 
ness, or a puny diminution. The girth measured 9 ft. 
4 in., and the length 5 ft. 4 in. Beyond all exception, 
the length of the body Avas uniformly covered with use- 
ful flesh, and not in lumpy fatness, but in a regular 
covering, from the shoulder to the tail. The only defect, 
and that not a large one, was the bareness of the 
upper fore point of the shoulder, which appeared more 
visible, -swing to the very great superiority of all other 
points. The ribs, fore and middle, were covered in the 
thickness of inches, and the hock bone was completely 
hidden. We think the show never at any time exlri- 
bited a better, and very seldom an equal, animal to the 
one now mentioned. 
