FOREIGN AGRICULTURAL NEWS. 
129 
FOREIGN AGRICULTURAL NEWS. 
By the steam ship Hibernia, we are in receipt of 
our foreign journals up to March 4th. 
Markets. — Ashes were neglected. Cotton quite firm, 
with a speculative feeling; some fluctuations during 
February and March, but it had settled down to about 
the same rates as ruled per our last. Flour dull. Beef 
an improved demand. Pork in little request. Lard 
has fallen. Cheese little doing. Guano advancing and 
in good demand. Naval stores in moderate request. 
Bice much wanted. Seeds have advanced. Tobacco 
steady. Wool the same. 
Money. —The rate of interest had slightly declined 
@ihce our last, and the money market was considered 
easier. 
The Weather was very mild throughout February, so 
much so as to push the wheat forward and endanger 
its being injured by March frosts, should they fell 
heavily. 
The Corn Laws. —Sir Robert Peel will undoubtedly 
be able to get these odious laws repealed in due time. 
Cholera among Cattle. —A violent disease is raging 
among the cattle of Russia, similar in every respect 
to the cholera. 
Prices at which Grain can be grown in England .— 
Wheat, 4s. HRd. the bushel, or 69s. the quarter ; barley, 
2s. 10id., or 22s. lOd. per quarter; and oats 2s. 3£d. 
per bushel, or 18s. 4d. per quarter, including rent and 
all other charges. 
Indian Corn. —Father Matthew and other benevolent 
persons are making exertions to introduce the use of 
Indian corn in Ireland and Great Britain, in bread, 
cake, and pudding, as used in the United States. 
To Destroy Gooseberry Caterpillars. —I destroy these 
by shaking them from the trees, then by tying a piece 
of Cabbage-leaf around the stem of tree with a circle 
of gas tar upon it. This prevents the caterpillars 
from again ascending, and when without food they soon 
perish.— Far. Herald. 
To Preserve Potatoes .—I am happy to state that all 
which were packed in charred sawdust, charred old 
tan, and ether refuse, as well as those packed in dry 
turf-ashes, are as sound and free from disease as could 
be wished; they are dry, mealy, and fine flavored; 
but those that were pitted or packed in the usual way 
have rotted wholesale, and the elfluvia arising from 
them is very unpleasant.— lb. 
German Farming. —Agriculture is improving rapidly 
in some districts of this part of Germany, particularly 
in the neighborhood of those towns which have much 
trade with England in grain, and the consequence is 
that the land is now raising in value. I know of in¬ 
stances where, within the last twenty years, the value 
of land has been increased to more than double. But 
there is still great room for improvement. The land 
is farmed, for the most part, by proprietors whose pro¬ 
perties vary from three to thousands of acres, accord¬ 
ing to the districts in which they are situated. In 
some localities the farms are all small, in which case 
the farm buildings are all collected in villages. Some¬ 
times as many as seven or eight compose a village. 
Farms of this description are to be found near the 
towns, which they supply with milk. The farm¬ 
house and offices are generally connected and under 
the same roof. This building is oblong, with roofs at 
the gables as well as at the sides. One end is devot¬ 
ed to the dwelling-house, before which is a patch of 
ground very neatly laid out as a kitchen and flower 
garden. The kitchen fire is often on the outside of 
the wall, which divides the farmer’s rooms from the 
rest of the building, which is tenanted by the cows on 
the one side, and the horses on the other, and the carts 
and implements are placed between them; while at 
the end are large folding doors, which close in all the 
| farmer’s movable property. But the generality of the 
farms are large, and possessed and farmed by a most 
respectable class of men, many of whom are men of 
education ; and they are all distinguished for their grea* 
kindness and hospitality. The house on such farms 
is quite separate from the offices, and is surrounded 
generally by an extensive garden. The offices are in 
the form of a square, inclosing an area in the middle 
for the accumulation of the manure. They consist 
of byre, stable, and sheep-shed, grain-shed—for all the 
grain is kept in houses instead of stacks—and servants’ 
houses. The buildings are often erected according 
to the most approved principles for convenience and 
comfort to the animals. The sheep are always kept up 
in the winter, when they get potatoes and hay, and 
the greater part of the summer, when they got clover. 
Some of these sheds are very large, capable of contain 
ing 1500 sheep. There is a walk made along the side 
of one of the walls, and the area between it and the 
other wall is divided into compartments, by means of 
railings, designed to hold a certain number of sheep; 
each of these divisions is furnished with a rack for the 
hay and clover, and troughs for ground food : and a 
small gate leads from the side walk to each division, 
so the keeper can supply the different lots with food, 
and inspect them without much trouble or disturb¬ 
ance to the whole flock.— Journal of Jig. 
Advantages of Mixing Soils. —I may mention that in 
improving land I found that mixing of diffeicnt soils , 
and giving them a stimulus, is the most effectual mode 
of improvement. For example: after draining mossy 
soil, I found the ground too soft to bear the tread of 
horses; and a hillock of gravel being near at hand, I 
spread three or four inches of it over the moss, and 
after ploughing, gave the ground first dung, and the 
following year lime. The produce, was great, and the 
land has since produced superior grass.— Scot. F'ar. 
Double Culture. —There is nothing new in growing 
two crops together and at the same time; we have in 
our island followed that system with success, ever 
since I can remember, and that is upwards of thirty 
years. For instance, when we grow a parsnip crop, 
which we find advantageous as food for our milch 
cows, as it makes both milk and butter, sweet, rich, 
and good, we dibble beans in double rows, the beans 
four inches apart, with an interval of six or eight feet 
to the next rows, after which we sow the parsnip- 
seed, harrow it, &c., and we generally reap a good crop 
of each. The crop of beans does not seem to injure 
in the least the parsnip crop. We generally grow 
beans with our spring and late cabbage crops. In 
every third row of cabbages we dibble beans between 
each cabbage. We often follow the same system with 
our crop of potatoes—dibble beans between the sets 
in every third row of potatoes, leaving a distance of 
about two yards between each bean. The beans seem 
to thrive amazingly by this manner of planting, and 
the main crops are not in the least injured by it. By 
this system the farmer is greatly benefited, having at 
the same time an underground and top crop. 
To Ascertain the Value of Cows for the Production of 
Cream. —Provide a number of half-pint white glass 
phials, corresponding with the number of Cows in the 
dairy; label and number them consecutively, 1, 2, 3, 
&c., and the cows to correspond. Fill each phial with 
the first milk of the Cow bearing the same number; 
note down the quantity of milk each cow gives. After 
the milk has stood in the phials about 12 hours, the 
eye can readily discriminate the amount of cream that 
each produces, which mark down by sixteenths of 
inches. Pursue the same plan at the next milking 
about the middle of the time of milking, and again a 
third time at the latter end of milking. The quality 
may thus be easily ascertained.— F'ar. Herald. 
