356 
FOREIGN AGRICULTURAL NEWS. 
FOREIGN AGRICULTURAL NEWS. 
By the arrival of the steamship Hibernia, we have 
our file of European journals up to October 4th. 
Markets.—- Ashes were brisk at an advance. Cotton 
had fallen |d per lb., and was dull. The stock on hand 
at Liverpool, on the 1st of October, was 947,000 bales, 
against 901,000 same period last year. Beef in good 
demand at an advance. Pork the same. Lard as per 
our last. Cheese on the rise, and a light stock of all 
kinds of provisions on hand in England. Flour had 
fallen a trifle, but was in good demand. Hemp lower. 
Rice dull. Tobacco a fair inquiry. Wool brisk. The 
introduction of the wools of the United States into 
England is a new feature in this branch of business; 
and the success which has hitherto attended the specu¬ 
lation must lead to a more extensive import from this 
side of the Atlantic. 
Money is in considerable demand, and the rate of 
interest has advanced as high as 3 and 4 per cent. 
This is owing entirely to the insane spirit of railroad 
speculation. 
The Weather.—Just before the sailing of the packet 
the weather cleared up and was considered favorable. 
It is conceded, however, that the wheat crop is below 
an average. Potatoes are a poor yield in Great 
Britain and on the Continent, having suffered much 
from the rot. 
Death of Earl Spencer—formerly Lord Althorp .— 
This excellent nobleman, and distinguished farmer, 
and stock breeder, died at his favorite country-seat, 
Wiseton Hall, on the 1st of October. His disease was 
gout in the stomach. He was for some time the lead¬ 
er of the Whig party in the House of Commons, and 
Chancellor of the Exchequer during Earl Grey’s 
ministry. Latterly he had taken little interest in 
politics, save in the beneficent movements.for repeal¬ 
ing the corn laws, but had devoted himself to the 
rearing of stock, and the great interests of the im¬ 
provement of agriculture. He will be deeply lamented 
by the farmers of England, for few are able and at the 
same time willing to take his place. He was a wi¬ 
dower, and died without issue, in his 64th year. He 
was a man of fine personal appearance, and although so 
long in public life, he was diffident and retiring in his 
manners to a fault. We presume his brother, the 
Hon. Capt. Spencer of the Navy, succeeds to the title. 
Home Manures. —Is it generally Supposed that beds 
of rivers and brooks fill up or wear away, and become 
deeper by ago ? Or do they remain the same ? If they 
fill up as I am inclined to think, how much may be 
gained by deepening and spreading the finest alluvial 
soil on the adjoining meadows, as well as gaining a 
greater fall for inland draining. We read also of clear¬ 
ing away peat earth by running water and floating it 
out to sea—an entire waste—in order to uncover and 
bring into cultivation the soil below. Now, if we put 
ourselves to so much expense in guano and chemical 
preparations, is it not rather surprising that it should 
not have occurred to hundreds that this very peat would 
be the finest possible manure on sandy and clay soils ? 
and would be more durable than any animal manure 
whatever. The drifting and blowing sands on our sea- 
coasts, particularly about Liverpool, might be advan¬ 
tageously covered with peat, and the peat land again 
with this sand to the great advantage of both occupiers; 
so might also the sea beach about Lid lighthouse and 
Pevensea levels be covered and brought into use. And 
where lime has been used for ages the peat would be the 
very best manure that could be used, to restore that 
vegetable po ion of the soil that the lime has destroy¬ 
ed. This, it appears to me, would be a source of home 
trade more beneficial by far than the distant and dis¬ 
appointing guano trade where so many ships are 
unable to procure cargoes, and mix up their half ship 
loads with Sand and loam, to the injury and disap¬ 
pointment of us poor farmers.— Gar. Chron. 
Weeds on Gravel Walks. —Seeing in your columns 
receipts for eradicating weeds on gravel walks, and 
thinking “ prevention better than cure,” I beg to men¬ 
tion a plan which I have always found to answer. It 
is simply, when forming your gravel walks, and before 
laying on the gravel, to spread a layer of the dark- 
colored soapwaste, which may be got from any soap- 
ery, if in the neighborhood, and then putting the 
gravel on it and rolling both of them, after spreading, 
as firmly as possible. This will not only prevent weeds 
from growing, but will form a walk as hard and solid 
as cement —Ibid. 
New Clover. —Two new clovers have been attracting 
attention in France, concerning which we find some 
information by M. Vilmorin, in the Bon Jardinier ; one 
is the hybrid and the other the elegant. Elegant- 
clover was for some time considered identical with 
one called T. hybridum, cultivated in Sweden ; when, 
however, growing together, the differences are strik¬ 
ing: the latter is larger in all its parts than the former, 
and the color of its flowers is a brighter rose, shaded 
with white in the centre, while the elegant-trefoil has 
rather dull reddish rose blossoms, colored alike in 
every part of the flowerhead. The appearance of the 
herbage is different: the hybrid-clover has bright and 
dark foliage, and that of the elegant is pale and 
unequal; the leaflets of the latter are also marked 
with a brown band like common clover, which is not 
the case with the hybrid. Another character of the 
hybrid is that, in the summer, w’hen it begins to shed 
its blossoms, and during the autumn, the root throws 
out fresh foliage, arranged like a rosette; but in the 
elegant-trefoil this does not occur: it is the lateral 
branches which rest on the ground that supply the 
verdure. The hybrid-trefoil also flowers fifteen days 
earlier than the other, which, however, lasts the 
longest, and branches more; lastly the former is taller, 
more beautiful, and comes in earlier: but when the 
latter has arrived at perfection, having more numerous 
stems, well covered with branches, and more solid, it 
will, w T hen mown, yield as great a produce as the 
former. The hybrid-trefoil has been a great deal used 
by M. de Kruns in the formation of artificial fields at 
Orebro in Sweden, and it has .succeeded well; it has 
grown from three to four feet high, and has yielded, 
during about twenty years, often more than 100,000 
pounds per tunnland (about an acre and a quarter 
English), and always upwards of 5,000 for the first ten 
years. It is regarded as a plant equally suitable to 
cultivate for mowing and for pasturage ; strong moist 
soils, argillaceous or calcareous, suit it well; it fre¬ 
quently comes spontaneously on lands in Sweden that 
have been drained. The elegant-trefoil is found in 
abundance on poor clayey strong soils, where it grows 
thick and vigorous; it is wild in France in many 
places, not unfrequently in ferruginous sand. It seems 
very probable that the species will one day form 
valuable additions to our forage plants, as they appear 
as though they would succeed on land unsuitable for 
clover, lucerne, and sainfoin.- Edin. Journ of Ag. 
Application of Lime. —It seems clear, from all that has 
been said and done about lime, that it should be very 
cautiously used on light land, and that even on strong 
land great damage may be done, though it rnay not be 
perceived. Last summer I applied 120 bushels per 
acre to 24 acres, but lam convinced it was not economi¬ 
cal to do so. The land was strong clay, and not 
drained. I intend in future to drain first, and make 
more moderate applications and oftener. I am con¬ 
vinced that the great value of some limestones depends 
on the phosphoric acid they' contain, though I cer¬ 
tainly do not, like Liebig, estimate the value of turnips 
by the quantity of this substance they contain.- lb. 
