380 
FOREIGN AGRICULTURAL NEWS. 
FOREIGN AGRICULTURAL NEWS. 
We are in receipt of our foreign journals to 3d of 
November. 
Markets. — Cotton has fallen \d per lb. ; transac- 
tions the past week quite limited. Flour, Corn, Beef, 
and Pork in steady demand. Cheese scarce at an ad- 
vance. Tobacco, very large sales with an upward 
tendency. Wool, firmer with active sales. 
Money abundant at 2i to 3 per cent. 
Destruction of Weeds. — Mr. George W. Fowler, of 
Prince Hall, Dartmore, England, since the 24th of 
May last, has destroyed 115,989 docks and thistles, 
and not less than 500,000 other weeds. 
Charring Timber. — The best method of charring 
the surface of wood, is to wet it with the most highly 
concentrated oil of vitriol. By this means, you car- 
bonize not only the outer surface, but the surface of 
all the cracks and holes. — London Chemical Times. 
\. Gas Tar, or Asphalte Floor. — Dig sifted gravel such 
as is used for topping walks, and use coal-gas tar ; level 
the ground perfectly, mix gravel and tar, two quarts 
of the latter to each bushel of the former, till every 
particle of gravel is saturated with tar. This is best 
done on a boarded or stone floor; spread evenly, about 
one inch thick ; roll till hard with a heavy garden 
roller. When dry, add from two to five inches more, 
according to the purpose for which the floor is re 
quired. Roll as soon as laid, and frequently, until it 
is quite solid. — Gardeners' Chronicle. 
Mortality of Cattle in England. — It is estimated 
that the annual loss of cattle in England, from disease 
and various causes is five per cent, on the total amount. 
This is confirmed by the calculations of the British 
" Farmers' and Graziers' Mutual Cattle Insurance As- 
sociation." 
A Cheap Filter for Water. — A very simple means 
exists, by which any poor family may filter all the 
water required, viz ; — by using a large pan or tub as the 
tank, and filtering the water, (by ascension,) through 
a sponge stuffed into the hole in the bottom of flower- 
pots, using two pots, the lower one being half rilled 
with charcoal, and loosely covered with thin flannel, 
the upper one placed in it so as to sink the flannel 
with it, and then secured by a string; nothing can be 
more simple nor more easily cleansed. — The Builder. 
importation of Banish Cattle into England. — The 
steamship Neptune, arrived from Bremen, has brought 
17i oxen and cows, in addition to a general cargo of 
provisions ; the steamship Wilberforce, from Tonnin- 
gen 201 oxen and cows, forming the entire cargo ; the 
Free Trade, from Tonningen, 161 oxen and cows, and 
43 sheep ; the Eider, from Tonningen, 175 oxen and 
cows, 25 sheep, and 20 lambs ; and the large steamship 
Trident, arrived from Tonningen, has brought 234 
head of horned cattle, comprised the entire cargo, 
consigned to order; the whole, with the exception of 
one arrived from Bremen, being the produce of Den- 
mark. — Agricultural Gazette. 
Security of Corn in Harvesting. — There are two 
modes of practice in harvesting wheat. Formerly it 
was deemed of the utmost consequence that the corn 
should remain uncut till it became dead ripe, and 
every ear of wheat had assumed the bend or curve, 
which was styled the " swan neck." After a time — 
and considerably within the present century — it was 
discovered, that if wheat were cut or reaped while it 
retained some moisture in the grain, and even in the 
straw, the quantity and quality of the flour would be 
increased and improved, while the bran would be les- 
sened. In proof of the fact, if two perfect grains of 
wheat, one left untouched till quite ripe, the other 
left to ripen a-field in the sheaf, after having been 
reaped in a certain state of immaturity, be cut across 
the middle with a very sharp knife, the coating integ- 
ument of the former will be hard and horny, show- 
ing a reduced bulk of soft white flour, while that of 
the latter will be comparatively soft and tender, the 
bran thin, and simply membranaceous, and full of del- 
icate flour. To the baker and public consumer, these 
latter conditions are of great consequence, hence the 
philanthropic grower has sanctioned the practice of 
early cutting, and strongly advocated it in the best 
agricultural publications. — Farmer's Herald. 
A J\'eu< Feed for Sheep. — Distillers' Grain, or " daff," 
which cattle feeders have hitherto found so far from 
realizing their expectations in laying on fat, has, of 
late, been used, we understand, by Mr. Finnie of 
Swanston, in feeding sheep with singular success. So 
satisfied is Mr. Finnie of the advantage of the appli- 
cation of distillers' grain, both in respect of economy 
and improvement, that he is fully determined to feed 
his sheep stock in this way throughout the ensuing 
winter. Those whose farms are in the neighborhood 
of distilleries might, for their own satisfaction, test 
the desirableness of this mode of feeding on a small 
scale, and should they come to the same result, we 
shall have pleasure in receiving a communication from 
them on the subject. — Farmers' Herald. 
Mr. Tombelle Lomba's Plan of Saving Potatoes. — 
On the 10th of August, four days after the disease had 
first showed itself in the field, a correspondent to the 
London Agricultural Gazette had the tops cut off and 
the ridges earthed up on a fair spot of ground, mea- 
suring about four land yards, the potatoes being just 
off the bloom. The crop has just been dug;, and the 
produce of the spot treated according to Mr. T. L.'s 
plan has been carefully weighed against two equal 
spots, one just above, and the other just below it. 
Here is the result : — 
1, Above, 
2, Cut down, 
3, Below, 
Market Potatoes. Seed Potatoes. 
lbs. 
413 
425 
464 
lbs. 
67 
84 
85 
Small. 
lbs. 
46 
53 
67 
The tubers were alike sound, so this proves nothing 
in that respect, but it is satisfactory, (No. 2 being the 
Tombelles), as showing that growth certainly does go 
on in the tuber after the haulm is removed. 
Soot as a Manure for Potatoes. — We saw a few 
days ago, a few miles from this city, one of the finest 
fields of potatoes that we have met with since the 
rot appeared some years since, and we are told by the 
intelligent occupier of the farm that the manure used 
was soot, and that he has tried it both with early and 
late potatoes with great success, the crop being large 
and very healthy. From another field, which had 
been manured with soot, one root alone produced 87 
potatoes, and the most of them good sized and per- 
fectly sound, as all the rest of the crop were, some 
being 40, others 50 to each root. — Gloucester Chron. 
Wheat Ear with an Oat in it. — A quick-sighted 
correspondent to the editor of the London Gardeners' 
Chronicle lately sent an ear of wheat with an oat 
flower growing out of it. On pulling the ear to pieces, 
chaff after chaff, the wheat came away and the origin 
of the oat was laid bare : but its stalk had turned 
round the central axis of the ear; more chaff was 
pulled away, another turn was discovered. At last, 
after destroying the chaff both above and below, off 
dropped the oat. Its stalk had twisted itself round 
the ear of wheat when both were very young; they 
had grown up together linked in strict embrace ; the 
chaff of the wheat had completely hidden the stalk 
of the oat, which at last, by some accident or violence, 
was snapped from its parent, and left clinging to its 
supporter, all trace of its origin being hidden. Have 
not such accidents as this led to the positive assertions 
that one kind of grain will change into another ? Cer- 
tainly : and this is one way in which wheat turns to 
chess. 
