FOREIGN AGRICULTURAL NEWS. 
191 
FOREIGN AGRICULTURAL NEWS, 
By the arrival of the steam-packet Britannia, we 
have our European journals to the 4th of May. 
Markets.— Ashes neglected and consumption fall¬ 
ing off. Cotton has advanced | to |d. per lb., and a 
large business was done in it. It is considered, how¬ 
ever, a mere speculative movement, in consequence 
of the Oregon question, and that prices will recede 
again. Stock on hand 860,000 bales, against 656,000 
same time last year. Flour was depressed and as 
dull as ever. In American Provisions large transac¬ 
tions were daily taking place. Beef and Pork have 
both advanced. Cheese and Lard brisk, and a limited 
supply on hand. Butter has declined. Flax was 
rising. Hides little inquiry. Tallow the same. Seeds 
had fallen. Tobacco unchanged. Turpentine a small 
advance. 
Money was more in demand, though unaccompanied 
by any advance in the rate of interest. 
American Stocks , no transactions, on account of the 
Oregon war bubble, which deserves to be laughed at 
by every sensible man on both sides of the water. 
Business Generally very good. 
The Weather had changed from very dry to show¬ 
ery, and was highly favorable to the spring crops 
when the Britannia sailed. 
Prince Albert is expected to lay the foundation- 
stone of the agricultural college at Cirencester. 
Extraordinary Large Sheep .—The Exeter Flying 
Post says, on Thursday last, in the presence of several 
persons, the living weight of Mr. Thos. Kingdon’s ex¬ 
traordinary wether sheep, Goliath, of the New Devon 
breed, was taken at Chapel St. Martin, Thorverton, 
when it weighed 405 lbs! It is a beautiful sheep [we 
doubt it; all animals of so large a size are universally 
coarse], and surpasses in size even those of last year, 
the living weight of the heaviest of which was 392 
lbs. ! This sheep has excited much attention with 
the agricultural public in this neighborhood. 
On the Use of Soap Suds as a Manure .—About twelve 
months ago I had at my command a tank that received 
nothing but the suds that came from the laundry : I 
thought I would try its effects. The first thing I 
tried it on was hyacinths in pots, and the result was 
most astonishing. I tried some of Potter’s liquid guano 
at the same time, as an experiment, but found the 
suds most beneficial. Many persons who saw the 
hyacinths, said they never saw finer. I used it alter¬ 
nately with pure water. I also tried it with straw¬ 
berries that were forcing, and though the plants were 
previously very bad ones, the result was very satisfac¬ 
tory. French beans in pots were also a great deal 
improved by its use, and I think if it were extensively 
employed it would be found very beneficial to a great 
many plants. It must be remembered that it was not 
used fresh from the wash-house, but was allowed to 
run into the tank, which was always nearly full; by 
this means it may be used without the least injury to 
any growing plant requiring such stimulus .—United 
Gardeners' Journal. 
Agricultural Congress in Paris .—An agricultural con¬ 
gress, after the fashion of the scientific associations, 
which meet yearly in England, and in various king¬ 
doms of the continent, is to assemble in Paris, for the 
first time, on the 8th of May, under the presidence of 
the Due Decazes. The meeting is intended to be a 
yearly one. The present session will last for six 
weeks ; and the grand referendaire will open to the con¬ 
gress the grand conservatory of the Luxembourg.— 
New Farmers' Journal. 
Artificial Manures .—Professor Liebig has an excel¬ 
lent article on this subject in the last number of the 
Agricultural Magazine. We wish we had room for 
the whole of it, but can merely give the closing para¬ 
graph. “ Intelligent farmers must strive to give to the 
soil the manuring substances in such a state, as to 
render possible their acting favorably on the plants 
during the whole time of their growth. Art must find 
out the means of reducing the solubility of the manur¬ 
ing substances to a certain limit 5 in a word, of bring¬ 
ing them into the same state, in which they exist in a 
most fertile virgin soil, and in which they can be best 
assimilated by the plants. The whole attention of 
chemists should be directed to the attainment of this 
end. I am myself occupied with a series of experi¬ 
ments which lead me to hope, that this problem can 
and will be solved. If it succeed, as I have no doubt 
it will, in combining the efficacious elements of ma¬ 
nure in such a way as that they will not be washed 
away—their efficacy will be doubled; if in this man¬ 
ner the injurious consequences of the present system 
of draining be removed, agriculture will be based upon 
as certain principles as well-arranged manufactories. 
Manufactories of manure will be established, in which 
the farmer can obtain the most efficacious manure for 
all varieties of soils and plants. Then no artificial 
manure will be sold, whose exact amount of effica¬ 
cious elements is not known, and this amount will be 
the scale for determining its value. In the application 
of such rationally compounded manures, the good-will 
of the farmers must help to bring them to perfection 
If, then, by the united efforts of the manufacturer and 
the farmer the best proportions are ascertained, a new 
era will arrive in practical farming. Instead of the 
uncertainty of mere empiricism, all the operations of 
agriculture will be carried on with certainty ; and, in¬ 
stead of waiting the results of our labors with anxiety 
and doubt, our minds will be filled with patience and 
confidence.” 
Culture of Cabbages by Slips .—Take healthy sprouts: 
cut them off close to the stalk of the cabbage ; let them 
lie in a dry, cold place two or three days. The cau¬ 
terizing of the wounds is much assisted by applying a 
little wood-ashes to them. Plant the cabbages, and 
they require no farther trouble. Valuable sorts may 
thus be preserved unchanged, and a regular succession 
obtained throughout the year. Cabbages, I am told, 
are improved by having lime-rubbish incorporated with 
the soil in which they are grown.— Gar. Chron. 
To make a Ewe own her Lamb .—A friend of mine, the 
other day in my hearing, told a party who was com¬ 
plaining of his ewes deserting their lambs, that once, 
when such a circumstance occurred to him, he tried 
many ways to make the dam take to its offspring; 
amongst others, by holding the ewe by the head, while 
the lamb attempted to suck; that one morning, being 
so engaged in a barn, a little dog happened to run iny 
he barked vigorously at the strugglers, and frightened 
away the lamb, but the natural instinct of affection in 
the mother for its offspring was by the circumstance 
aroused; she immediately freed herself from restraint, 
and interposed her protection by attacking the intruder. 
Her alarm was suffered to continue for a minute or 
two, when the dog was turned out. The sequel to 
the anecdote was, that the ewe took to the lamb from 
that time, and that whenever my friend found a simi¬ 
lar case he always adopted a similar remedy, and in¬ 
variably found it succeed.— lb. 
Manure for Onions .— I have always succeeded in the 
following way, being the surest and most economical: 
Take off about 4 inches of the earth on the surface, 
the length and width of your bed, so that the ground 
under be solid. Spread stable-dung well over, about 
4 inches in thickness, and then cover the same over 
with the earth taken from the surface. Sow your 
seeds rough, and you are almost sure of an abundant 
crop; and the land is the best for Parsnips and Car¬ 
rots the following year.— lb. 
