FOREIGN AGRICULTURAL NEWS. 
0 
FOREIGN AGRICULTURAL NEWS. 
By the arrival of the steamship Britannia, we have 
our files of European journals to November 4th. 
Markets. — jis.ies no change. Cotton has further de¬ 
clined |d per lb., and was extremely dull. Stock on 
hand at Liverpool, on the 1st of November, 923,000 
bales, against 858,000 same period last year. Beef still 
on the advance. Pork at old prices and in good de¬ 
mand. Xard scarce and much wanted. Cheese the 
same. Both of these articles will doubtless fall upon 
larger arrivals. Flour had advanced again, and specu¬ 
lation in it was very brisk. Turpentine, owing to spec¬ 
ulators, a great advance. Rice in good demand. Tal¬ 
low dull. Tobacco was firm, although a large stock on 
hand. Wool , considerable sales of United States 
growth at fair prices. 
Money is less easy, and the rate of interest is ad¬ 
vanced by the Bank of England to 3 per cent. 
The Weather for the last few days had been fine, and 
the residue of the oat and other late grain harvest in 
the north well secured. 
Amount of Inorganic Matter removed from the Soil by 
a Crop of Wheat. —This has been ascertained by Mr. 
W. Sharp, after a series of careful experiments, to be 
about one pound per acre. 
Potatoe Rot. —This alarming disease was still spread¬ 
ing, and proves most disastrous in Ireland; three- 
fourths of the crop is supposed to be destroyed in that 
country. In England and on the continent its ravages 
seem to be somewhat stayed. The British govern¬ 
ment, some little time since, appointed Professors 
Kane, Playfair, and Lindley, to proceed to Ireland on a 
commission of inquiry respecting the rot. The fol-i 
lowing is the substance of their first report on this im¬ 
portant subject :•— 
In the present communication we avoid entering 
into any account of the origin or nature of the disease ; 
but we would particularly direct attention to the as¬ 
certained facts, that moisture hastens its progress, and 
that it is capable of being communicated to healthy 
potatoes when they are in contact with such as are 
already tainted. A knowledge of these facts deter¬ 
mined, as they have been, by experiment, and agreeing 
with the scientific information obtained as to the 
causes and nature of the disease, leads us to propose 
the adoption of the following plan lor diminishing the 
evils arising from the destructive malady:— 
In the event of a continuance of dry weather, and in 
soils tolerabty dry, we recommend that the potatoes 
should be allowed, for the present, to remain in the 
land; but if wet weather intervene, or if the soil be 
naturally wet, we consider that they should be re¬ 
moved from the ground without delay. 
When the potatoes are dug out of the ground, we 
are decidedly of opinion that they should not be pitted 
in the usual way, as the circumstances under w hich 
potatoes are placed in ordinary pits are precisely those 
w r hich tend to hasten their decay. 
We recommend that potatoes when dug should be 
spread over the field, and not collected into heaps, and 
if the weather continue dry and free from frost., that 
they should be allowed to lie upon the field for a period 
of time not exceeding ten days. 
The potatoes, after being thus dried and improved 
in their power of resisting disease by the means pro¬ 
posed, should then be sorted, by carefully separating 
those which show any tendency to decay. Those po¬ 
tatoes w r hich appear to be sound should then be placed 
about 2 inches apart in a layer, and over each layer of 
potatoes should be placed a layer of turf ashes, or dry 
turf mould, or dry sand, or burned clay, to the depth 
of a few inches. Thus will be formed a bed of pota¬ 
toes, each potatoe being completely separated from 
the ether by a dry absorptive material; upon this bed, 
another layer of potatoes should be spread in lik • 
manner, and be also covered with the dry materials 
employed; as many as four layers may thus be placed 
one above the other, and when the heap is completed, 
it should be covered with dry clay, straw, heath, oi 
any other material adapted to protect it from rain. 
In the event of the weather becoming wet thestf 
recommendations are not applicable. In that case we 
would advise the potatoes to be packed in small heaps, 
with either straw or heath interposed, and well cov¬ 
ered ; in such a situation they would become as w 7 ell 
dried as seems practicable under the circumstances. 
Where outbuildings exist, it w 7 ould be advisable that 
this mode of temporary packing should be carried on 
in those places. If there be no outhouses the heaps 
may be left in the open field. We, however, particu¬ 
larly recommend that potatoes should not be removed 
into inhabited rooms. 
With regard to the treatment of potatoes already 
attacked wfith the disease, we have to state that in 
this early stage of our investigation we do not feel 
justified in proposing any mode of positive treatment 
—this subject we reserve for a future report; but we 
may remark that exposure to light and dryness in all 
cases retards the progress of alterations, such as the 
disease in question, and we therefore suggest that all 
such potatoes should, as far as possible, be so treated. 
We do not mean to represent that these recom¬ 
mendations, if carried into effect, will prevent the oc¬ 
currence of disease in potatoes, but we feel assured 
that the decay will extend less rapidly and less exten¬ 
sively under these circumstances than if the potatoes, 
when taken from the ground, be at once pitted in the 
'usual manner. Neithei do we offer these suggestions 
as a final means of securing the crop, but merely 
as a method of retarding the progress of an enemy 
whose history and habits are yet but imperfectly 
known, whilst we endeavor to ascertain the means 
of more completely counteracting its injurious effects, 
if any such can be discovered. 
Farming in China. —The horses that are used in this 
part of the world are a small hardy race; they are 
never shod, and the length of their hoofs may 7 , ir 
many instances which I have seen, almost vie with 
the finger-nails of their mandarin possessors ; in fact 
many of them are lame and almost useless from ne¬ 
glect, and, being generally overloaded with fat, they 
roll themselves about like so many Srnithfield bullocks. 
Although their agricultural affairs are carried on 
under the most simple and original system, they man¬ 
age to obtain from the land a most extraordinary 
quantity of provision of one sort or another, the usual 
number of crops which the ground produces being 
three in the course of the year. The only implemenl 
which I saw used was a small light plow, which 3 
man could carry about wfith him on his shoulder, and 
w hich is drawn by one cow or buffalo: the rest of the 
operations are performed by hand, such as sowfing. 
raking, and other minor employments. 
There are no public roads through any part of the 
country, excepting footpaths, the people usually travel¬ 
ling either according to that primitive method, or by 
the numerous canals which intersect the whole face 
of the empire; consequently there are no public con¬ 
veyances, excepting for despatches ; these are earned 
on horses, wfiiich perform, as you may have seen in 
the account of the Expedition, about six hundred le 
per day, which is equal to about a hundred and eighty 
miles. The horses are kept at stations, at intervals of 
about ten miles, where the courier, who usually per¬ 
forms the whole distance, is in the habit of changing 
his horse as required. The mandarins perform theii 
journeys in sedan-chairs, sending on relays of men for 
the purpose of carrying them by easy stages through 
the country from one place to another.— Sporting j }fag 
