FOREIGN AGRICULTURAL NEWS. 
381 
FOREIGN AGRICULTURAL NEWS. 
By the arrival of the steamer Acadia, we are in 
receipt of our foreign journals up to November 4th. 
Markets.— Ashes steady. Apples , the best New¬ 
town Pippins command from 30s. to 35s. per barrel, 
equal to $7,50 to $S,75. Cotton had fallen |d. per 
lb. The high price of provisions has an injurious 
effect upon the article, and many of the manufacturers 
have resolved to work short time during the winter, 
which it was anticipated would reduce the consump¬ 
tion of this great staple fully one-fourth. Stock on 
hand at Liverpool on the 1st of November, 570,000 
bales, against 922,000 same time last year. Flour had 
fallen Is. per bbl. Indian Meal continued on the ad¬ 
vance, and was in great demand. It was considered 
cheaper food for the poor than flour, and. therefore 
preferred. Beef \ a slight improvement. Pork dull, 
at a decline. Lard , Is. to 2s. above last quotations. 
Cheese has fallen 4s. per cwt. The sales in this 
article were large. Naval Stores without change. 
Rice in fair request. Talloiv an advance. Tobacco no 
change. Wool the same. 
Money continues easy and abundant. 
r Provisions of all kinds were finding their way into 
Great Britain, France and Germany, in large quanti¬ 
ties. This has quieted the fears of any want on the 
part of the people of these countries, and put an end 
to further speculations. The markets were gradually 
coming to a settled state, and although the demand 
for American produce promises to be large, it will not 
be greater than we can easily supply ; we need, there¬ 
fore, expect no further advance in our products, but 
rather a slight depression in their prices during the 
winter months. 
Paulownia Imperialis. —This is a highly ornamental 
tree, which has not been fully estimated in this country. 
It appears that for the first year or two, when planted 
in congenial soil, it grows most vigorously, and con¬ 
tinues its growth late in autumn. The shoots, from 
their extraordinary grossness, are not properly ripened, 
and consequently get killed back to the harder parts in 
winter. I have plants at this moment with leaves 20 
inches across, and shoots of the current year’s growth 
6 feet long. I was informed that when first planted in 
the Garden of Plants at Paris, it grew away in the 
same robust manner. This is not, however, now the 
case ; the original tree which first flowered there is 30 
feet high, the branches are about 20 feet in diameter, 
with a clean stem 3 feet in circumference. The leaves 
now upon this tree are about the size of those of the 
Catalpa, and the shoots scarcely exceeding a foot in 
length, which of course ripen perfectly. This is 
(October) covered with a complete mass of incipient 
blossoms, which do not expand until next spring, 
when the tree exhibits an inconceivable picture of 
beauty. It is a remarkable fact that this tree only 
flowers in alternate years, when it ripens an abun¬ 
dance of seed. What an admirable subject this is for 
shrubberies and general ornamental planting, both as 
regards its foliage and flowers, and may well be point¬ 
ed out as an object deserving the attention of planters. 
— Gardener's Chronicle. [This splendid tree is per¬ 
fectly hardy in the neighborhood of New York, and it 
is said that there is a specimen somewhere on the 
Hudson that has made shoots the present year eighteen 
feet in length!! This species was first introduced 
into the United States in 1842, by Messrs. Parsons & 
Co., of Flushing, who have a tree containing flower- 
buds in an incipient state, which may be expected to 
put forth some time next May ] 
Influence of the Moon on Vegetation in Columbia. —In 
this country trees and plants during the increase of 
the moon are full of sap, at the decrease the sap de¬ 
scends. This is so well established a fact, that timber 
felled at the increase is useless, rotting immediately. 
I have myself seen in the Cauca the great bamboo, 
called Guadua, whose joints supply the purest water 
in the first quarter of the moon, perfectly dry after the 
full moon. l)oes this singular fact lead us to suppose 
that Nature intends it as a sort of repose for the 
vegetating process where winters are unknown ? 
— Ibid. 
To Hatch Eggs. —It has been generally supposed that 
heat is all that is necessary to incubation, and that 
placing eggs in an oven which could be kept heated at 
a moderate and even temperature, eggs might be 
hatched to any extent. This was the plan adopted at 
the Eccaleobion, exhibited in London some few years 
since, but which, from the uncertainty of its opera¬ 
tions, and the small per centage of chickens hatched 
to the number of eggs destroyed, rendered the machine 
useless, except as a mere exhibition. Many men of 
science and writers of books have also stated, for 
years past, that they have succeeded in hatching by 
artificial means ; but when the system is examined, 
it will be found that all their attempts for practical 
purposes have been useless, and therefore aban¬ 
doned.— lb. 
Bones Dissolved in Sulphuric Acid .— I applied them as 
manure to strawberry plants in pots for forcing, and 
from the appearance of the plants I am satisfied it is 
one of the very best manures for this fruit, and worthy 
of extensive trial. I have tried the effect of various 
manures on the strawberry, but never had plants near 
so good as I have them this season. 
Salt a Manure for Potatoes. —I have heard of several 
instances of sound potatoes being grown where the 
land was previously dressed with salt, and one very 
striking instance has come within my own knowledge. 
I am satisfied that all light soils that have borne dis¬ 
eased potatoes this year, or that are intended for plant¬ 
ing potatoes next spring, should be dressed with from 
10 to 15 cwt. to the acre, applied half now, and half in 
the spring. This application is simple and cheap, and, 
at all events, can do no harm.— lb. 
Salt a Preventive of the Potato Disease. —A very in¬ 
telligent laboring man, who cultivates about 4 acres 
of land, informs me that he this year tried the effect of 
soot and of salt on small portions of his potato crop. 
The potatoes were planted in drills, and manure from 
the pigsties was laid over the sets. In two of'the rows 
soot was sprinkled, in small quantities, over the sets, 
before the manure was laid on. In three other rows 
salt was similarly applied. When the potatoes were 
got up, a short time since, only two or three were 
found diseased where the soot had been applied, and 
none at ail where the salt had been used. Those to 
which nothing had been applied, except the manure, 
contained a large proportion of diseased potatoes. The 
soil on which this experiment was tried was light and 
gravelly.— lb. 
Professor Schonbein’s Gun Cotton. —A short time 
since, an experimental trial took place in the proof 
square of the Royal Arsenal, Woolwich, with the 
newly-invented gun cotton of Professor Schonbein, of 
Basle. The result of the experiment was highly satis 
factory, and has led to an order for the Professor to 
manufacture a larger quantity, with which experi¬ 
ments will take place with heavy ordnance, in the 
presence of the select committee. Those who wit¬ 
nessed the firing of a rifle in the proof square, which 
was fired with a minimum charge of the cotton by 
Lieut-Colonel Dundas, state that there was no report, 
no smoke, no recoil, and scarcely any residuum in the 
breech of the gun ; in fact they were not aware of the 
gun having been fired till the effects of the ball were 
seen.—16, 
