164 
FOREIGN’ AGRICULTURAL NEWS. 
FOREIGN AGRICULTURAL NEWS. 
By the steam-ship Caledonia we are in receipt of 
our foreign journals up to April 4th. 
Markets. — Ashes had declined and were in limited 
demand. Coiton was more firm and had recovered the 
fall of Jd. per lb., which took place early in the 
month. Stock on hand at Liverpool on the 1st of 
April, 788,000 bales, against 809,000 same time last 
year. Flour quite stagnant, in consequence of the agi¬ 
tation of the Corn laws in Parliament. Beef in fair re¬ 
quest. Pork very dull. Lard and Cheese the same. Bice 
little doing. Tobacco slow of sale. Wool in good re¬ 
quest, with a slight fall in the lower qualities. 
Money is tight and difficult to be had, except on the 
first class paper. 
Indian Corn in Great Britain. —This article continues 
to arrive in great quantities in the principal ports of 
this country, and is already becoming one of great 
consumption. In Liverpool we have several flour 
dealers and bakers who put forth Indian corn, Indian 
flour, and bread made of Indian flour, as the prominent 
article of sale ; and amongst the higher classes of so¬ 
ciety it is used with English or American flour in 
making bread. At a meeting of the Horticultural So¬ 
ciety, held in London, last week, there were distribut¬ 
ed to the members a large quantity of packets of seeds 
of the early sort of Indian corn, the earliest and most 
prolific variety, and the most suitable for cultivationin 
this country, which had been sent over from New 
York to ascertain whether its growth would not in¬ 
troduce a fresh article of food here. 
Potato Murrain . —This disease has now appeared in 
carrots and onions in England, and it is feared it may 
ultimately pervade all the root crop-'. 
A Startling Anticipation. —Unless a succession of bad 
harvests intervene to check prosperity, the year 1850 
will behold the extinction of horses as a moving 
pow’er in England, for the purposes of pecuniary gain, 
in the public transportation of passengers and goods. 
Every new street, every village, every farm w’ill have 
its railway. 
Cotton in India.—At a recent meeting of the Royal 
Asiatic Society, a communication was read from Pro¬ 
fessor Royle, the botanist of the East India Company, 
detailing "some further results of the experimental 
trials for the culture of cotton in India. Since the 
last report of Dr. White, 30,000 acres had been put 
into cultivation ; from one acre alone the produce w-as 
700 pounds, and more w’as to be expected. All now’ 
required to make East India Cotton a most valuable 
export, commodity, he said, is the employment of Eu¬ 
ropean agents in the India markets, to select the best 
qualities. 
Number of Horned Cattle in Europe :— 
Russia. 19,000,000 
Great Britain. 10,500,000 
Austria.. 9,942,000 
France. 6,684,900 
Prussia.. 4,275,700 
Italian States.. • • • • 3,500,000 
Spain... 2,500,000 
Netherlands.. 2,500,000 
Sweden. 2,647,000 
Bavaria. 1,895,<!00 
Denmark. 1,607,000 
All other States. 5.258,000 
Total in Europe. 
■70,270,974 
The number of Horned Cattle in the United States 
in 1840, were 14,971,586. 
Guano at the Cape of Good Hope .—Several farmers 
and gardeners at the Cape have used considerable 
quantities of guano this year, with marked success in 
all kinds of crops. It is the best and most manageable 
manure yet discovered.— Simmond's Mag. 
Deep Drains. —We notice that several writers in the 
late volume of the English Agricultural Society 
Journal, contend strongly that drains in a very stiff 
soil are much more effectual from three to four feet 
deep from the surface, than w’hen made more shallow’. 
Another advantage is, that they may be placed twice 
as far apart as the shallow drains. Thus the expense 
of deep draining is very little more than that of shallow 
draining. 
Benefits of Irrigation. —The same journal above as¬ 
serts that the water meadows at Audley End yield 
from 6 to 8 tons of hay per acre, at three to four cut¬ 
tings during the season. We will add for ourselves 
that such hay cannot be as sw'eet and nutritious as 
that grown on dry meadows. The Italian rye-grass 
is considered especially suitable for irrigation. 
Value of Burnt Clay. —Experiments with burnt clay 
as a top-dressing to wheat lands, last year, added 25 
per cent, to the crop. 
Culture of Italian Rye Grass. —I am quite satisfied 
of its being the most valuable plant I know of, especi¬ 
ally for early spring feed ; it comes to perfection for 
feed quite as early as rye, and the comparison between 
the two for feeding qualities is as 10 to 1 in favor of 
the Italian rye-grass.— English Ag. Soc. Journal. 
Analysis of Indian Corn. —Dr. Playfair has recently 
analyzed specimens of American growth in London, 
and finds its composition as follows : 
Protein,. 7j 
Fatty matter,. 5 1Anv%0 „ fc , 
Starch,.!. 76 l 10 °P arts - 
Water, ••••.. . 12 j 
One pound of Indian meal will absorb five pints of 
w’ater in making it into mush or pudding, and W’hen 
i sufficiently boiled the mush will w’eigh 4 1-2 lbs. 
I It will be seen from this analysis that it contains 
I less protein, or nutritive matter, than wheat, oats, or 
I barley, but more than either rice or potatoes. It con¬ 
tains, in fact, three and a halftimes the quantity of 
j nutritive matter that is found in potatoes, and a very 
much lar-er quantity of starch, and less water. It 
also possesses more fatty matter than any of those, 
which is an important consideration where the mere 
fattening of animals is considered. It will be thus 
! found, as an article of diet, both for man and beast, su- 
i perior to potatoes and rice, but inferior to wheat, oats, 
j and barley.— Gar. Chron. 
| A Mode of Illustrating the Injury done to Manure by 
[being repeatedly Flooded with Rain Water. —Suppose 
that any of the married men in this company was to 
get hold of his wife’s teapot, after she had done with 
it, and was to dry up the leaves carefully, and bring 
: them to her for her tea the next morning, I would just 
ask you, whether she would be likely to find out the 
trick or not 1 I imagine she would not be long in dis¬ 
covering the cheat; and I might venture to guess he 
would find out to his cost that, if that was the way he 
was to keep her in tea , she would soon find a way to 
keep him in hot water. Now, if the wife would feel so 
indignant at being supplied with tea that had been wet 
two or three times, how ought the farmer to feel that 
was supplied with manure that had been wet two or 
three hundred times ? It is true the farm cannot 
fight its own battle as well as the mistress; but there 
is such a thing as passive resistance, and you may 
depend on it, that in the harvest, the farmer will be 
made to feel, that incheating his land, by giving it 
manure which has lost all its strength, he has been, in 
fact, cheating himself, and that this may have a worse 
result even than cheating his w’ife.— Speech of Mr. 
Blacker. 
