FOREIGN AGRICULTURAL NEWS. 
67 
FOREIGN AGRICULTURAL NEWS-, 
By the Steamer Washington, we are in receipt of 
our foreign journals to the 19th December. 
Markets. — Ashes, no change. Cotton very active, 
with a steady advance in prices. Bread Stuffs, a 
slight decline, and with so abundant a supply that, it 
is thought there can be no improvement for the pre- 
sent. Provisions rather more in demand. Nothing 
of moment in other matters. 
Money still very abundant, and at a low rate of in- 
terest. American stocks continue to be sought for, to 
a moderate amount, for investment. 
How to Kill Worms on Lawns. — Two ounces of 
corrosive sublimate, dissolved in a large quantity of 
water, is efficacious, and will not kill the grass, but it 
will kill other things and injure the grass, although 
not permanently. [Why not use lime water, which 
does just as well, and does no harm ?] — Gard. Chron. 
Extraordinary Turnip. — In the shop of Mr. Ewer, 
corn factor and seedsman, Salisbury, Wilts, may be 
seen at the present time a turnip of the " green 
round" kind, the circumference of which is 42 inches, 
and which weighed, with the top, 36 lbs. ; the trim- 
med bulb now weighing 27 lbs. This immense root 
was grown by Mr. Richard Drew, of Durnford, near 
Salisbury. The ground on which it grew was manured 
with superphosphate of lime and bone dust. 
Smithfield Cattle Show. — This great 'event came 
oft' as usual in London, in the month of December last. 
The show, though not so large as is generally the 
case, was considered quite a fair one. The first prize 
was taken by a Hereford ox, fattened, and shown by 
Prince Albert. To give our readers an idea of the 
importance of this annual show of fat animals, we 
have only to add, that the value of the cattle, sheep, 
aad pigs, in the market, was estimated at £200,000 
sterling, about one million dollars of our money ! 
Milk as an Article of Diet. — It is common to re- 
gard milk as little else than mere drink. But this is 
an error. Milk is really an article of solid food, being 
coagulated soon after reaching the stomach. New 
milk contains 13 per cent, of digestible solids, and 
skimmed milk 10 per cent. ; that is, the former fully 
one half, and the latter above a third, of the nutri- 
Iruent contained in the lean part of beef and mutton. 
Curious Mode of Grafting the Grape Vine—A 
gentleman in the neighborhood of Oporto, split a vine 
i shoot (white grapes), very carefully down the middle, 
■ cutting the bud in half, and then split a corresponding 
i shoot on a black vine, and united them as in common 
{grafting, and, after many experiments, succeeded in 
i making the graft grow, and the produce of the vine 
was white and black fruit on the same bunch, and on 
others variegated fruit. 
! Clipping Horses. — Clipping, undoubtedly, enables 
a horse to perform his work with greater ease, in the 
same way that a man can work easier in his shirt 
•sleeves than in a great coat ; besides this, he can be 
dressed quicker and more readily. Extra clothing is 
Required, and the horse should not stand about in cold 
weather. Where, however, he is obliged to do so, 
singeing is better than clipping, as it does not remove 
jo much of the coat, but can be repeated during the 
winter. — Agricultural Gazette. 
Buried Alive Two Thousand Years. — Lord Lind- 
say, in his Travels, writes, that while wandering amid 
the pyramids of Egypt, he stumbled on a mummy, 
proved by its hieroglyphics to be at least 2,000 years 
1 if age. In examining the mummy after it was un- 
i fvrapped, he found in one of its closed hands a tuberous 
• )r bulbous root. He was interested in the question 
, low long vegetable life could last, and therefore 
i :ook that tuberous root from the mummy's hand, 
I planted it in a sunny soil, allowed the rains and dews 
J >f heaven to descend upon it, and in the course of a 
few weeks, to his astonishment and joy, the root burst 
forth, and bloomed in a beautiful dahlia. Thus is 
it written into a London newspaper ! We do not dis- 
pute the fact — very likely the root produced, a dahlia ; 
but as the dahlia comes from Mexico, and as Mexico 
has not been known to Europeans quite 2,000 years, 
we would humbly suggest that there may be some 
small doubt whether the dahlia was put' into the 
mummy's hand when it was embalmed, or when it 
was unpacked. — Ibid. 
Weeds in Gravel Walks. — For more than 10 years 
past, I have used salt (but not in solution), for de- 
stroying and keeping down weeds'in my gravel walks, 
with perfect success, and without perceiving that the 
application acted as a stimulant to reproduction. The 
contrary is the case. I sow the salt by hand in dry 
weather, and sweep it about thin, and as regularly as 
possible. I have seldom occasion to do this more 
than once in 12 months. — Ibid. 
The JVight-blowing Cereus. — By a series of experi- 
ments, I have discovered a method of preserving this 
interesting flower of a night, for days and nights to- 
gether. I cut the flowers close off, place them in a 
large dish of fine charcoal, covered with a hand glass, 
and keep them in a dark cave or vault. In this way, 
I have frequently preserved them perfect in shape and 
color for a week, bringing them out freely in the light 
of day, to gratify the many, and to satisfy the incredu- 
lous. This is the more remarkable, as this fine flower 
is known to exist but a night on the plant. It opens 
when the sun sets, and by the time he rises, on the 
following morning, it droops its head, closes, and dies 
— Ibid. 
A Washing Plant. — In California there grows a 
plant (Agave saponaria ?), which is said to be used 
for washing every description of clothing in cold run- 
ning water. In using it as soap, the women cut the 
roots from the bulbs, and rub them on the clothes, 
when a strong lather is formed. To propagate the 
plant, the bulbs are set in a rich moist soil, and grow 
most luxuriantly in the soft bottoms of valleys, or on 
the borders of running streams. — Ibid. 
Pruning. — When small branches die, or begin to 
die, it is better to remove them with the knife, so as 
to have a clean wound rather than a ragged one. We 
see no use in shortening larch branches, unless it is 
done very moderately, in order to keep them within 
compass ; then, and if done skilfully, it enables the 
trees to make timber quicker than they would if the 
branches were removed. It is true that roots must, to 
some extent, be injured in transplanting, unless they 
have been confined in a pot ; and it is also true that 
where they are extensively injured the head of a tree 
must be also reduced ; but it requires experience to 
know when this becomes necessary. When trees are 
young it never need be done, if they are carefully taken 
out of the ground. 
Small Holdings in France. — France contains 
92,000,000 cultivable atfres, of which 6 millions are 
under forests, leaving 86 millions divided thus : — 
3,000,000 families cultivating their estates 
of a little more than 6 acres, possessing 
altogether 20,000,00(3 
800,000 do. cultivating little more than 26 
acres each, say ... - 20,000,000 
1,000,000 do. cultivating their land, 
through tenants, on the conditions 
following: — 
By metayers, at half produce, about _ 30,000,000 
By general leases to middlemen, with 
privilege of sub-letting - - - 6,000,000 
By special do. to tenants, without pri- 
vilege of do 10,000,000 
86 ,000,000 
