290 
FOREIGN AGRICULTURAL NEWS. 
Wages of Agricultural Laborers in France . —The 
wages of laborers seem to be lower in France, even in 
proportion to the low price of provisions, than in 
England. The General Council of the different de¬ 
partments fix tariffs for regulating the price at which 
different services shall be convertible into money. By 
these the price of a day’s work of a laboring man is 
rated generally at 10d., never higher than 12|d., and 
sometimes as low as 7id.; that of a horse or mule 
from lOd. to 12|d ; and the hire of a two-wheeled cart, 
from lOd. to 15d. These low rates of payment render 
the waste of labor of men and horses, so much re¬ 
proached by the Scotch to their neighbors, less aston¬ 
ishing in France than in England, where it is some¬ 
times carried to a greater extent. In plowing, a man 
usually works three horses in Normandy, and only two 
men accompany the largest merchant waggons, one 
driving and the other sometimes asleep in front, or in 
the hammock below. Frequently, however, one sees 
strong men employed at such work as a woman, or 
even a child, might quite as well perform, such as 
weeding corn with the wooden pincers used for that 
purpose, or herding a few geese or sheep at the road 
sides.— Journal of Agriculture. 
An Extraordinary Prolific Sow. —Our respected 
townsman, Mr. Chas. Minshull, of Highgate, has a 
sow which has produced him 61 pigs in one year, viz., 
on the 13th of May, 1844, 21 ; 5th of November, 18; 
1st of May, 1845, 22; total 61. Of this valuable breed 
Mr. Minshull has brawn of the November litter.— 
Birmingham Advertiser. 
Industry of German Women. —In my way from Spa, 
I saw a woman threshing in a barn with a man; she 
beat her time well, and laid it on as hard as her part¬ 
ner. This, I think, nearly makes up the list of female 
accomplishments. Brick-making, stone-breaking, 
wheat-sowing, reaping, mowing, threshing, and carry¬ 
ing heavy loads, are pretty little additions to the bur¬ 
dens that nature lays upon the sex. 1 have not yet 
seen any female postillions, or top-sawyers, but I live 
in hopes. In the evening band at the Brunnen, at 
Aix, a woman plays the violoncello.— Journal of a Pa¬ 
tient under the Hot Water Cure. 
WaAtr in a Sheep's Head.—Strange but Time. —Mr. 
John Scurr, farmer, of Greenside Trimdon, near Sedge- 
field, a short time ago had a sheep, which, for a fort¬ 
night, had been ill. Three days it was unable to get 
upon its feet. Mr. Scurr happened to have a friend, 
who called upon him on business, and they together 
went to see the sheep. Has friend pronounced the 
animal all but dead, it being ill of the “ sturdy,” or 
water in the head, which he said was incurable. They 
consequently left the sheep to die. A servant boy, 
named Gilpin, who lived with Mr. Scurr, overheard 
their discourse, and immediately went to his master’s 
house, and procured a gimblet,When he returned to 
the field where the sheep was,, and, without practice, 
or skill in the art, began cautiously to operate upon 
the head of the animal, by boring a hole exactly upon 
the top of the scalp, which done, the water streamed 
out of the head, and, strange to say, in a very few 
minutes the sheep got upon its feet and started to eat 
grass, and is now doing as well as any of its fellow 
grass-eaters.— New Farmer's Journal. 
Remedies for the Prevalent Distemper amongst Cattle .— 
An old farmer says he lost several cattle before adopt¬ 
ing the following method, but since, every one recovers 
that is attacked As soon as the distemper appears, 
separate the sound cattle from those affected; neither 
let hay, litter, nor vessels used by the sick, come near 
the sound cattle ; also keep them away from the dung 
of the sick; give the sick cows warm water to drink, 
with a very little ammonia, and a handful or two of 
salt in it; let them have plenty of air and exercise, 
but don’t allow them to stand in a draught or current of 
air ; it will be all the better if tar is putin their trough ; 
they must have no gruel or soft hay ; good wiry hay 
is best as food for them, and an occasional mash ; they 
must have no clothes on. If the hoofs are bad, dress 
them with rectified spirits of tar. By timely atten¬ 
tion to the above plan of treatment, no cattle need be 
lost.— Ross-shire Advertiser. 
Prepared Timber. —The Liverpool Standard says, 
that Mr. Raye, a practical chemist, has discovered a 
process that renders timber impervious to dry rot, an 
object of the greatest importance to ship-builders.— 
Unlike previous inventions of the kind, it does not 
destroy the edges of the tools used in forming it to any 
required shape; and what is more peculiar, it in a 
great measure resists combustion, and even when 
withdrawn from a fierce fire will become instantly 
black, and not moulder as ordinary timber would, 
proving its applicability for the flooring of fire-proof 
warehouses. 
Large Gooseberry. —A day or two ago, a gooseberry 
was pulled in the garden of Mr. William Stirling, Kir¬ 
kintilloch, which measured 4£ by 4| inches. This 
gigantic berry belongs to the class of Lancashire ber¬ 
ries, known by the name of the “ companion,” and is 
not likely to be matched even in Dumfriesshire.— 
Glasgow Argus. 
Cattle in Great Britain and Ireland. —There are, ac¬ 
cording to Parliamentary returns, 2,250,000 horses, 
worth about £67,000,000; about 15,000,000 of black 
cattle, worth about £215,000,000 ; 50 000,000 of sheep, 
worth about £67,000,000 ; and 18,000,000 swine, worth 
about £18,270.000. — New Farmer's Journal. 
Extraordinary Pig. —An extraordinary pig was lit¬ 
tered at Haxey, on Saturday week. It has eight legs, 
four ears, four eyes, and what appear to be two heads 
amalgamated in one. This extraordinary animal, 
which was littered with thirteen others at the Duke 
William Inn, Haxey, died soon after its birth.— lb. 
Garlic a Cure for Epidemic in Swine .— It was stated at 
a late meeting of a farming society, that garlic was an 
effectual cure for the epidemic among pigs; that a 
few cloves (two or three), bruised and boiled in a little 
milk, and given when the disease had set in, would 
immediately counteract it. The following was brought 
forward, with many others, as a proof of this : A man, 
who bred pigs extensively, was prevailed upon by a 
neighboring farmer, to give a few cloves of garlic" in 
the manner I have stated, to six pigs which had been 
attacked with the disease. This was done in the 
evening, and on the following morning they were per¬ 
fectly recovered; whilst two others that had been 
attacked by the disease at the same time, in the same 
piggery, but to which the garlic had not been adminis¬ 
tered, were found dead. If garlic be such a remedy 
as the foregoing, which many other cases prove it to 
be, I think every person should avail himself of this, 
by planting in his garden a few cloves of this simple 
cure for a malignant distemper— lb. 
To Diminish the Draught of Plows. —We may consider 
that upon an average, 35 per cent, of the labor of 
plowing is attributable to the weight of the imple¬ 
ment, 55 per cent, to the operation of cutting the fur¬ 
row-slice, and only ten to the action of the mould 
board. This conclusion, ifit be correct, reverses most 
of our pre-conceived opinions on the subject: the at¬ 
tempts which have been made to diminish the draught 
of plows have been mostly directed to the alteration 
of the form of the mould board ; let our plow-makers 
diiect their efforts more to facilitate the action of the 
sock and coulter, and to diminish, within safe limits, 
the weight of the implement, and they will, probably, 
be more successful in lessening its draught.— Gar. 
Chron, 
