132 
FOREIGN AGRICULTURAL NEWS. 
FOREIGN AGRICULTURAL NEWS, 
By the steamer America we are in receipt of our 
foreign journals to the 24th February. 
Markets. — ish.es, firm ; Cudon, an advance of id. 
per lb., with very large sales, upwards of 270,000 
bales having changed hands during the past four 
weeks ; Corn, Wheat, and most other American pro- 
ducts, with (he exception of Tobacco } are lower; 
Wool, sales large and more animated. 
Money is very abundant, and is loaned at short 
periods, at the rate of 2 to 3 per cent, per annum ; 
American Stocks continue in good demand. 
Fattening Pork on Oatmeal. — A prime Lancashire 
porker has been slaughtered at Garstrang, which 
weighed, when cut up, 671 lbs., and was valued at 
£15 Is. 6d. It was fed on oatmeal, and is stated to 
well repay the keeper. 
Expeditious and Economical Washing. — A dis- 
covery is stated to have been made in England, by 
which a family's six weeks' washing can be accom- 
plished before breakfast for less than sixpence ster- 
ling, and this, too, without a washerwoman. 
Trees and Shrubs for Cemeteries. — The following 
trees and shrubs are recommended for church yards 
and cemeteries, wherever they are adapted to the 
climate : — English yew, holly, weeping willow, phil- 
lyrea alaternus, junipers, arbor vita?, cypresses, and 
others not producing gay flowers, but possessing a 
deep evergreen foliage, with the exception of savin, 
which should not be used. — Gardeners' Chronicle. 
How to Keep Rabbits from Barking Trees. — Soot, 
mixed with milk, or buttermilk, till as thick as paint, 
and laid on the trunks of the trees with a brush, on a 
dry day, is stated to be a preventive of rabbits 
gnawing off the bark from trees. — Ibid. 
American Cheese in England. — Very excellent 
American cheese, quite equal to the finest dairies of 
Cheshire, have been imported and retailed at Sun- 
derland, at Qd. per pound. The cheeses were about 
56 lbs. weight each, and were quite sound, firm, and 
of good age for consumption. — Durham Adver- 
tiser. 
Extraordinary Canary Bird. — At the Brackley 
Union Workhouse, Northamptonshire, there is a 
pair of Canary birds, the female of which, since 
March, 1848, has built eight nests, laid 46 eggs, 
hatched 40 birds, and reared 36 birds, and is now 
building the ninth nest. — English Paper 
Melon Wine. — It was lately stated before the Aca- 
demy of Sciences, at Paris, by M. Boucharett, that 
the melon yields an excellent white wine, which will 
keep for several centuries, and, if properly cultivated, 
may be made to render a handsome profit. 
A JVew Freezing Mixture. — A mixture of equal 
weights of commercial hydrocloric acid and finely- 
powdered sulphate of zinc will produce a cold suffi- 
cient to sink the mercury in a thermometer from 50° 
to 20° F.—Joum. de Pharm. et de Chim. 
Manures. — Subjoined are the prices of several 
sorts of manure : — Bone dust, 18s. Qd. per 28 lbs. ; 
Half-inch bone, 17s. Qd. per 28 lbs. ; Compost, £3 
12s. Qd. per hhd., sufficient for three acres ; Guano, 
Peruvian, £9 9s.; Bolivian, £9 9s. ; African, £6 6s. 
to £7 10s per ton, according to analysis and quantity; 
Gypsum, 30s. per ton; Muriate of ammonia, 25s. per 
cwt.; Muriate of lime, 6s. per cwt.; Nitrate of potash, 
(saltpetre,) £26 to £28 per ton ; Nitrate of soda, 
£14 10s. to £10 per ton ; Rape dust, £6 6s. per ton ; 
Rape cake, £6 per ton; Sulphuric acid, lid. per 
lb. — Farmer's Herald. 
Indestructibility of Cork. — In taking down some 
portion of the ancient Chateau of the Rogue d'Oures, 
in France, it was found that the extremities of the 
oak girders, lodged in the walls, were perfectly pre- 
served, although these timbers were supposed to have 
b«en in their places for upwards of 600 years. The 
whole of these extremities, buried in the walls, were 
completely wrapped round with plates of cork, the 
impermeability of which is too well known to be 
named here. In a process so cheap and simple, 
the experiment deserves to be repeated, more parti- 
cularly for buildings we are more than usually anx- 
ious to preserve the timbers of. — From the French. 
Effect of Food and Climate on the Horse. — If a 
London dray horse be conveyed to Arabia, and sub- 
jected to the same influences to which the naiive 
horses of that country are exposed, it will, in the 
course of some generations, present the leading cha- 
racters of an Arabian horse. The head will gradu- 
ally diminish in size, the limbs will become fine and 
clear, the massive proportions of the whole body will 
disappear, and not only will the external form of the 
native horses be acquired, but, along with that, some- 
thing also of their chivalrous disposition. If the 
race, thus improved, be again conveyed to Europe, it 
will gradually deteriorate, and, in the course of some 
generations, will again acquire all its original pro- 
perties. 
This fact, which we state on the authority of Pro- 
fessor Pictet, of Geneva, seems to prove that the 
Arabian horse cannot exist in perfection in any of 
the western countries of Europe ; and there can be 
little doubt that the humidity of the climate, and the 
influences indirectly arising from that cause, are the 
principal reasons of this change. — Journal of Agri- 
culture. 
Lime Essential in Madder Dyeing. — A remark- 
able discovery has been made in regard to madder 
dyeing, in the fact that lime is very essential in this 
process. It has been ascertained that madder, if not 
grown on a calcareous soil, is incapable of producing 
fast colors ; but that, if in this case chalk be added to 
the madder, during dyeing, or if lime water be em- 
ployed, the desired effect is produced. This may be 
explained from the circumstance, that a slight excess 
of lime exists in the roots of the madder when grown 
in a calcareous soil. 
The Llama and Alpaca. — A communication has 
been received by the Paris Academy of Sciences, 
from M. Christian Bonafoux, giving an account of tin 
attempt made, by order of the king of Holland, to 
acclimatize the llamas and alpacas of Chili. Four 
years ago, thirty-four of these animals, males and fe- 
males, were imported into Holland, and put into the 
royal park, Scheviningen, near the Hague, where 
they have propagated freely. The climate does them 
no injury, and they merely seek the shelter prepared 
for them when the snow is on the ground. — Year 
Book. 
Artificial Stone. — A new process has been discov- 
ered by Mr. Frederic Ransome, of England, for mak- 
ing artificial stone, by subjecting broken pieces of 
silica, (common flint,) for a time, to the action oi 
caustic alkali boiling under pressure in a close vessel, 
forming a transparent silicated solution, which is 
evaporated to a specific gravity of 1,600, and is then 
intimately mixed with given proportions of well- 
washed sand, broken granite, or other materials of 
different degrees of hardness. The paste thus con- 
stituted, after being pressed into moulds, from which 
the most delicate impressions are readily received, is 
subjected to a red heat in a stove or kiln ; by which 
operation the free or uncombined silica of the raw 
materials unites with the excess of alkali existing in 
the solution, thus forming a semi-vitreous compound, 
and rendering the artificial stone perfectly insoluble. 
This production must evidently be adapted to a com- 
prehensive range of objects for decorative art and 
architectural purposes, — busts, vases flooring tiles, 
steps, balustrades, mouldings, capitals, shafts, and 
bases of columns, &c, &c. Even grindstones, anr! 
whetstones for scythes, have been made. — .'-^ 
