FOREIGN AGRICULTURAL NEWS. 
131 
FOREIGN AGRICULTURAL NEWS, 
By the steam packet Cambria we have our Euro 
pean journals to the 4th of March. 
Ma rkets. — Ashes —no change in prices. Cotton has 
advanced from £ to § l. per lb., and a large and active 
business has been done in it, speculators alone taking 
during the past four weeks 67,000 bags. The stock on 
hand at Liverpool, on the 1st of March, was 790,000 
bales, against 625,000 same period last year. Flour 
and Indian Corn dull, and had declined. Provisions .— 
Beef continues in good demand ; the stock on hand is 
considerably less than last year. Pork has fallen a 
trifle. Cheese firm, and the trade greatly on the in¬ 
crease. Butter remains without change. Lard has 
advanced; the stock on hand is quite light. Tallow 
has improved. Tobacco same as per our last. 
Money is plenty, and the rates of interest 2 to 3 per 
cent. The Bank of England has £15,453,303 of bul¬ 
lion in its vaults, equal to about $75,000,000 of our 
money. An extraordinary amount, and yet it is but 
a pittance of the enormous wealth of Great Britain, 
and a small item of the accumulated means of her 
powerful empire. 
American Stocks have improved since the reception 
of the news of the resumption of payment of the 
Pennsylvania interest; and as other states follow this 
praiseworthy and honest example, confidence will be 
restored. Americans can now beg'n to hold up their 
heads abroad, and consider themselves honorable men. 
Business Generally is very good, and all branches of 
trade are well employed. 
Iron has Advanced 20s. per ton, in consequence of the 
large contracts for railroads. 
Duties to be Repealed on American Products. —Sir Ro¬ 
bert Peel proposes the following important reduction 
of duties on our exports: 
Ashes, pearl or pot, - - - 6d. per cwt. 
Bark for drying or tanning, - - 3d. do. 
Beeswax,.2s. do. 
Cotton, .2s. lid. do. 
Hides, dry.6d. do. 
do. wet,.3d. do. 
do. tanned, not otherwise dressed, 2s. per lb. 
Lard,.2s. per cwt. 
Lard oil,.20 per cent. 
Rosin,.2s. per cwt. 
Staves, not over 72 inches in length, 
7 do. breadth, £ 28s. pr 50 cub. ft. 
31 do. thickness 
Tar,.2s. 6d. pr 12 bbls. 
Turpentine, raw, - Id. per cwt. 
Turtle shell, - - - - Is. per lb. 
We shall now be able to export lard oil in con¬ 
siderable quantities, the high duty heretofore prevent¬ 
ing this to any extent. 
Remedy for Blight and Insects on Fruit Trees. —Dis¬ 
solve 1 lb. of soda in a gallon of rain-water; shake 
this up in a bottle with a pint of spirits of turpentine, 
when they will amalgamate; then, by adding more 
water, make up the quantity to 10 gallons. It should 
be applied with an engine having a fine rose. 
Jerusalem Artichokes in Orchards .—Good crops of 
these may be obtained by planting them in rows 2 or 3 
feet apart. They do not exhaust the soil like potatoes, 
and rather like the shade. Poor land suits them very 
well, as they have the power of drawing a larger por¬ 
tion of nitrogen from the atmosphere than any other 
cultivated plant. They pulverise the soil without ex¬ 
hausting it, leaving it in good condition for growing 
trees. 
Growing Cabbages and Beans together .—The beans 
are set in close double rows, with wide intervals be¬ 
tween each pair of rows, in which the cabbages are 
planted in May, and afford a most luxuriant crop of 
gmn food jpon heavy land. 
To prevent Mildew in Wheat .—Mix 50 lbs. silic ate of 
soda with 80 lbs. sulphate magnesia, and spread, upon 
the wheat in the month of March or April. If lime 
does not exist in sufficient quantity in the land, add 
15 to 30 bushels to the acre, newly slacked, and spread 
broadcast on the growing wheat. 
Pickling Meat .—Professor Refiensque denounces the 
use of saltpetre in brine, intended for the preserva¬ 
tion of flesh to be kept for food. That part of the salt- 
petre which is absorbed by the meat, he says, is nitric 
acid or aquafortis—a deadly poison. Animal flesh, pre¬ 
vious to the addition of pickle, consists of gelatinous 
and fibrous substances, the former only possessing a 
nutritious virtue ; this gelatine is destroyed by the 
chemical action of salt and saltpetre, and, as the Pro¬ 
fessor remarks, the meat becomes as different a sub¬ 
stance from what it should be, as leather is from the 
raw hide before it is subjected to the process of tan¬ 
ning. He ascribed to the pernicious effects of the 
chemical change all the diseases which are common to 
mariners and others who subsist principally upon 
salted meat, such as scurvy, sore gums, decayed teeth, 
ulcers, &c., and advises a total abandonment of the use 
of saltpetre in the making of pickle for beef, pork, See., 
the best substitute for which is, he says, sugar, a small 
quantity rendering the meat sweeter, more whole¬ 
some, and equally as durable. 
Clipping Extraordinary .—The clipping of horses 
having become almost a mania, a few days ago a per¬ 
son residing at Southwell actually clipped and singed 
a feeding cow, his property, in the same manner that 
horses are clipped, and which he considers to be an 
improvement to the cow. Pigs are also talked of as 
likely to undergo a similar operation ; indeed, it is said 
that one man has already clipped his grunter, and is 
proud of his appearance .—Stamford Mercury. 
Cirencester Agricultural College .—The Committee of 
the proposed New College have selected the design of 
Messrs. Daukes and Hamilton, architects of Glouces¬ 
ter and Cheltenham, from a large number, among 
which, we understand, were some from architects of 
great eminence in London. The College will occupy 
the .delightful site in Lord Bathurst’s grounds, known 
as Port-farm, near the railway station, at the junction 
of the Stroud and Tetbury roads, thus presenting a 
perspective of two bold fronts; the farm itself being 
attached to the end of the main building, altered to 
meet the domestic requirements of the Institution, and 
decorated sufficiently to be in character with the new 
structure, which, with this addition, will form an en¬ 
tire frontage of nearly 250 feet. The design is in the 
Tudor style, of three stories high; the upper story 
being lit by picturesque old-fasjiioned dormar windows, 
of the style so prevalent among the collegiate build¬ 
ings of Oxford. The centre is occupied by a bold 
tower, the upper part of which is intended to form an 
observatory for meteorological and other scientific pur¬ 
poses. We understand that the committee intend to 
complete only the main portion of the building at pre¬ 
sent, and that the works are to be speedily commenc¬ 
ed .—New Farmer's Journal. 
Agncultural Statistics of France and England .—There 
are about 4,800,000 hectares pasture land in France, 
and 25,000,000 of arable land. The result is a scarcity 
of cattle, forage, horses, and manure. France annually 
imports horses and cattle to the value of 100,000,000 
francs. The following is a comparison of the statis¬ 
tics between France and England : 
Fiance. England. France. England. 
Horses, 40,000 170,000 
Cattle, 800,000 1,250,000 
Sheep. 5,200,000 10,200,000 
For each million hectares. 
Horses, 1,000 13,077 
Cattle, 20,000 96,154 
Sheep, 130,000 770,000 
For each million of inhabit 
Horses, 1,667 ‘ 32,692 
Cattle, 33,333 221,154 
Sheep, 216,067 1,961,523 
