36 
FOREIGN AGRICULTURAL NEWS. 
Duty on Cotton. — A strong effort will be made at the 
next meeting of Parliament, to have this duty re¬ 
pealed. 
Death of Lord Western. —This celebrated agricul¬ 
turist died at his residence, at Felix Hall, on the 2d of 
November, in the 68th year of his age. His name will 
long rank with those of the greatest benefactors of 
agriculture in England 
Cure for Hydrophobia. —A gentleman of Saratoff has 
discovered that the most efficacious remedy for the 
bite of rabid animals, is the insect called tcntania aura- 
ta , reduced to powder, and given to the patient. Dr. 
Wagner has tested the remedy, and met with most satis¬ 
factory results. 
Potato Sugar. —It is stated that they are success¬ 
fully manufacturing sugar from potatoes in Great 
Britain. 
Growing Cotton in Cheshire. —Mr. Maury, son of our 
late Consul at Liverpool, exhibited, a few days since, 
a fine specimen of Sea Island cotton in the Exchange 
News-room. It was grown at his residence, in Lis- 
card, and the specimen shown consisted of two bulbs 
—one open, exhibiting beautiful cotton, the other 
closed. It is kept in a temperature of about 80. 
Test for Guano.— Genuine guano, when burned upon 
a red-hot shovel, leaves a white ash of phosphate of 
lime and magnesia. The specific gravity of good fresh 
guano is seldom more than 1.68, water being 1.00. 
A Heavy Hive. —A hive of bees recently taken up in 
England, that swarmed in June, weighed 88 lbs., of 
which 60 lbs. was pure honey. 
Rhododendron Campanulatum. —This shrub comes 
from Gosaingsthan, a mountainous region north of the 
valley of Nepal. It is said to be the most beautiful of 
its kind. The best manner of propagating it is by 
seeds. 
To Preserve Peas from Mice. —Previous to planting, 
saturate them in a strong solution of bitter aloes. 
Gardening in Italy is said to be improving rapidly, es¬ 
pecially in the Barromean Islands, Moriza and Padua. 
Chats worth Fountain. —Anew Fountain has been set 
in action by the Duke of Devonshire. It is a single 
jet, and throws a column of water 300 feet high. He 
is also forming a huge rockery, some of the masses of 
which weigh upward of 370 tons. 
Protection to Bark of Trees. —-Twisted hay or straw- 
bands bound round the stems of fruit-trees, and slightly 
coated with gas-tar, will prevent sheep or cattle injuring 
them. Painting the bark with any kind of mixture 
may close up the pores of the outer skin, and thus re¬ 
tard the growth of the tree. By the above plan, the 
air has free access to the boll. 
To Keep Plants and Trees on a long Voyage —A cor¬ 
respondent of the Gardener’s Chronicle writing from 
New Zealand says, “ I was led to recommend the pack¬ 
ing of fruit and other trees in zinc cases, through an 
inadvertence it is needless to explain; and I regret this 
the more, as it may be productive of injurious conse¬ 
quences. The trees—-apple and pear—to which I al¬ 
luded in my former letter, and which, after being nine 
months out of ground (the vessel not sailing until five 
months after the time stipulated in the advertisement), 
are now flourishing in my garden, some of them hav¬ 
ing borne fruit this season, were packed in a deal case, 
in moss only, and without straw. At Valparaiso I 
witnessed another successful instance of this way of 
packing. A Frenchman arrived there, after a voyage 
of nearly four months, with several cases of flowering 
shrubs and trees from France, in the very best order. 
They had each a small ball of earth to the roots, 
which were afterwards wrapped in moss, and the 
plants were packed in the same material to prevent 
their being disturbed. I am anxious to correct any 
error, because a case of plants was sent to us by the 
London Horticultural Society, packed air-tight, and 
they all perished. In the warm latitudes these air¬ 
tight cases prevent evaporation, and this causes fer¬ 
mentation, especially if straw be used, as in the in¬ 
stance of a case I received, with the other alluded to 
above, containing peach, plum, gooseberry, and cur¬ 
rant-trees, all of which died.” 
A Monster Cabbage. —This week a cabbage, of extra¬ 
ordinary dimensions, has been exhibited at the shop of 
Mr. Ridgway. This vegetable curiosity, the Daniel 
Lambert of the vegetable world, was produced on the 
allotment of James Wincup: it weighs 56 lbs ; its 
circumference is two yards and eleven inches; and 
one of the leaves measures two yards and nine inches 
round. It was grown from seed from Stockholm, and 
had been manured with guano mixed with refuse of 
hops. 
Extraordinarily quick Growth of Wheat. —On the first 
instant, a field of wheat, which had been previously 
pickled with diluted sulphuric acid (containing 8 lbs. 
concentrated acid to the acre), was sown at Mr. Mus- 
pratt’s farm in Newton, the land having previously 
been manured with soda waste (16 tons to the acre) 
In two days the wheat sprang half an inch, and has 
since progressed in equal proportion. 
Animals injurious to Clover. —It is a remarkable phe 
nomenon connected with hoar-frost, that the passage 
of a floek of sheep across a clover-field covered with 
it, particularly young spring clover, is certainly fol¬ 
lowed by the destruction of every leaf over which the 
animals have passed. Pigs and other animals are 
equally destructive. 
Remedy for Disordered Bowels in Young Calves. —Mix 
2 di ms, rhubarb, 2 oz. castor oil, £ drm. ginger with a 
little warm milk or gruel. The dose may be repeated 
in a day or two if required. 
The Deodar. —This magnificent coniferous tree ol 
the Himalays, usually attains the height of 150 feet, 
and has a trunk of thirty feet in circumference. The 
wood is very compact, resinous and fragrant, and capa 
ble of receiving so very high a polish that it has been 
found perfectly sound in the roofs of temples in India 
which could not have stood less than 200 years. 
Australian Wheat. —We observe that this wheat has 
been introduced into England with great success. Can 
any of our readers inform us whether it has ever been 
tried in the United States; if so, where it can be had 1 
Guano. —This manure has been particularly tried in 
France the past season. It is found to attract the 
humidity of the air, and that no other manure is equal 
to it in dry sandy soils 5 it is particularly favorable to 
the growth of white clover; it destroys several of the 
vilest weeds of the field; and it kills wireworms and 
other insects. 
Bones necessary to manure Pastures. —It is calculated 
that a milking cow is exhausted in its milk of 20 to 
30 lbs. of the substance of dry bone each year, which 
is necessarily drawn from the soil on which she is 
pastured. Of course this must be returned in some 
shape, or the land would eventually become poor in the 
material of bones. 
French. Mode of Propagating Tulips. —Tulips are ob¬ 
tained in two different ways—by seeds and by offsets. 
It is ascertained by experience, that any given variety 
of tulip will not reproduce itself by its seeds; but, on 
the contrary, many will be originated, differing wholly 
from each other, thus giving amateurs an opportunity 
of raising new and improved sorts, which they term 
“ breeders.” 
To accomplish this Avith a greater degree of cer¬ 
tainty, they increase their chances of success by only 
sowing seed of first-rate varieties, and especially those 
the bottom of whose petal is of unsullied purity; as I 
find that “ breeders” thus originated sooner develope 
their proper colors than those which are the produce 
of inferior sorts. 
