FOR IRON AGRICUl/flJ R A !. 
f' EWS 
190 
FOREIGN AGRICULTURAL NEWS. 
By the steamer Britannia we are in receipt of our 
foreign journals up to May 5th. 
Markets. — Ashes an improved demand. Cotton 
was firm, with an upward tendency. The stock on 
hand in Liverpool on the 1st of May, was 800,000 bales, 
against 860,000 same period last year Flour no 
change, nor can there be till the corn bill is passed, of 
which there is a speedy prospect. Indian Meal selling 
freely. Cheese had slightly advanced. Beef and Pork 
dull. Naval Stores sales large. Tallow a trifling re¬ 
duction. Tobacco little was doing. Wool an increased 
trade in foreign qualities. 
Money was much easier and readily obtained at 3| 
to 4 per cent. 
American Provisions of all kinds were arriving freely 
in the British ports, and a quick market was antici¬ 
pated for them, although prices may rate low. 
Early New Potatoes appeared in the Irish market on 
the ]8th of April. They were of the early cruffely 
kind, planted in January, and were nearly full-sized 
and perfectly free from disease of any kind. 
An Apple Tree with Blossom and Fruit. —We paid a 
visit to an old and esteemed friend, Mr. T. B. Black- 
burne, at his residence in Cheshire, and, in walking 
through his garden, saw an apple tree bearing bloom 
and fruit at the same time. The apples had remained 
on the tree all through the winter, and appeared likely 
to continue there to welcome the succeeding year’s 
fruit. We brought one of the apples away, which we 
send to a mutual friend at New York, as one of the 
latest novelties from England. 
Guano and the Potato Disease. —Professor Johnston 
delivered a lecture on agricultural chemistry to a con¬ 
siderable number of farmers and others interested in 
agricultural pursuits, in the town of Montrose. In 
the course of his observations the learned Professor 
referred to the application of manure to the potato 
crop, with a view of stopping the progress of the dis¬ 
ease. He recommended various applications, such as 
guano, pounded kelp, and pearl ash, and condemned 
the use of fermented dung. He stated, that where the 
dung was the richest the disease was the worst; and 
that there was least disease where guano was em¬ 
ployed. 
Introduction of South American Potatoes into England. 
—Potatoes from the Azores, New Granada, Oporto, 
and Naples, have been received in the garden of the 
London Horticultural Society, and are about to be 
planted for the purpose of ascertaining whether a crop 
of sound potatoes cannot be produced from them. 
Those from Oporto consist of a pink and white kind. 
The sample from New Granada was composed of 
small, but clean fine-looking tubers. All the above- 
mentioned are apparently quite free from the peculiar 
disease of last season. Plants of the Yellow Peruvian 
potato, growing in pots, appeared to be healthy. 
To Effect Great Agricultural Improvements. —Mr. Mechi 
says, in considering how these improvements can be 
most readily effected—it is quite clear that individuals 
generally have seldom the means, the ability, or the 
inclination to carry out a perfect system of Agricultu¬ 
ral Improvement; it must be done by companies of 
associated capitalists, the same as our railways and 
other great undertakings. I will venture to assert, 
from experience, that there is not, in agricultural un¬ 
dertakings, one-tithe of the difficulty or uncertainty that 
attended railway operations. If there had been such 
a company, I, for one, would have invested my spare 
capital in it; but there not being one, I have carried 
out individually, at no small personal trouble and 
thought, those improvements which I hope to see 
some day effected, as a matter of course, by a well-re¬ 
gulated charter, of associated capitalists, who will de¬ 
rive not only a good pecuniary benefit, but the more 
enviable gratification of having conferred a valuable 
boon on their fellow countrymen.— Farmers' Herald. 
Improved Method of Managing Farm-yard Manure .— 
At a late meeting of the Council of the English Agri¬ 
cultural Society, M. Encoutre submitted his plan of 
managing farm yard manure. He said that the great¬ 
er number of farmers left their manure-heaps exposed to 
the rain, while the smaller number covered them with 
earth, but imperfectly, and without entirely preserving 
them from injury and loss ; and he was led to conceive 
that this object would be most effectually attained by 
covering the whole of their surface with a layer of tar 
mixed with lime. This covering, he imagined, would 
not only be a complete protection against the rain, but 
would also tend to the attainment of the following ob¬ 
jects:—1. The retention of those exhalations which 
have nitrogen for their chief element, and, in a manur¬ 
ing point of view, are of the greatest value. 2. The 
.watering of the heap by different manuring liquids pro¬ 
duced on the farm, or furnished from other sources, 
should a deficiency exist. 3. The acceleration of the 
fermentation and decay of the heaps by passing 
through them different pipes heated by means of 
steam to a temperature ranging from 60 deg. to 
70 deg. F., and supplied by a boiler, of which the ori¬ 
ginal price would not be more than £2 or £3. M. 
Encoutre also stated that the grain, before being sown, 
was immersed in a solution of gelatine and starch di¬ 
luted with brine, and then sprinkled with the manure 
reduced to a dry and powdery state. Having given 
this account of his plan, he proceeded to detail the 
practical results which had been obtained in France- 
by its adoption; from which it appeared:—3. That 
only one-sixth of manure thus prepared would be re¬ 
quired in comparison with the quantity of common 
farm-yard manure usually applied for the same extent 
of surface. 2. That the produce of grain was found to 
be one-sixth greater where his manure had been used. 
3. That after two years the same land was found to 
require only one-half of the original manu rings to keep 
it in the same condition. 4. That the expense attend¬ 
ing the application of this manure was 8s. per acre. 
M. Encoutre, in conclusion, requested the Council to 
appoint one or more farms in different parts of the 
country where his experiments might be repeated, and 
the value of his plan brought to the test of practical 
trial, expressing his willingness to give his personal 
attendance to each of the places selected, and to in¬ 
struct the parties appointed to make the trial in the 
mode of proceeding.— Ibid. 
Howto Use Ammoniacal Liquor. —It should be diluted 
with four or five times its bulk of water, or till it is 
nearly tasteless, and used as a top-dressing for grass 
or young corn, could it be conveniently applied to the 
latter; or, there may be added to it, in this diluted 
state, a sufficient quantity of gypsum, or, more direct¬ 
ly, sulphuric acid, for the purpose of fixing the ammo¬ 
nia which it contains.— Ibid. 
Value of Bone Dust. —A farmer recently instituted 
privately some comparative experiments, the results 
of which proved that bone-dust acts in the cultivation 
of ground as compared with the best stable manure— 
1. In respect to the quality of grain, as seven to five. 
2. In respect to the quantity, as five to four.—3. In 
respect to the durability of the energy of the soil, as 
three to two. It produces several collateral advanta¬ 
ges :—1. It destroys weeds. 2. It diminishes the ne¬ 
cessity of suffering the land to lie fallow. 3. This 
concentrated manure, or substitute for manure, is 
more easy of conveyance, less laborious to spread, 
and can with facility be applied to the steepest vine 
yards or other wet lands, either in mountainousf 
countries or in wet meadow land. 4. It renders agri¬ 
culture practicable with cattle breeding or grazing.— 
Ibid. 
