FOREIGN AGRICULTURAL NEWS. 
29 
FOREIGN AGRICULTURAL NEWS. 
By the arrival of the steamship Hibernia, we have 
received our European journals up to the 5th Decem¬ 
ber. 
Markets. — Ashes have receded a trifle, and are 
dull of sale. Cotton of ordinary to fair qualities, has 
risen £d. per lb., and a good business had been done in 
it. The import into Liverpool from the first of the year 
to the first of December, was 1,488,000 bales, against 
1,133,000 in the first eleven months of last season,— 
the supply from the United States was 1,237,000—be¬ 
ing an increase of 371,000 bales. The stock in this 
port 1st inst., was 657,000 bales, against 425,000 at 
the same period last season; the stock of American 
was about 450,000, being an increase of 223,000 bales. 
Flour continued in little demand, but old prices fully 
maintained. Lead firm, and none from Missouri on 
hand. Naval Stores in fair demand. Provisions. 
The new Beef, which had arrived from the United 
States, appeared better than any heretofore shipped— 
not much has been sold as yet—holders firm. Pork 
and Hams , in good demand. Lard has fallen a trifle, 
with large sales. Cheese of the finer qualities, much 
sought after—that which is poor, very dull, and dif¬ 
ficult to get rid of. Rice and Tobacco quiet. 
Money is rather more in demand, the rates of dis¬ 
count the same as at our last. 
American Stocks. —A very considerable increase of 
business has taken place in these, and the market was 
quite animated. 
Business generally in England wears a favorable as¬ 
pect, and the people at present tolerably well employ¬ 
ed. 
Gardeners ’ 1 Chronicle. — Errors of Liebig. —“ How 
different are the evergreen plants, the oleaginous plants, 
the mosses, the ferns, and the pines, from our annual 
grasses, the ceralia and leguminous vegetables! The 
former, at every time of the day during winter and sum¬ 
mer, obtain carbon through their leaves by absorbing 
carbonic acid which is not furnished by the barren soil on 
which they grow; water is also absorbed and retained by 
their coriaceous or fleshy leaves with great force. They 
lose very little by evaporation compared with other plants. 
On the other hand, how very small is the quantity of 
mineral substances which they withdraw from the soil 
during their almost constant growth in one year, in 
comparison with the quantity which one crop of wheat 
of an equal weight receives in three months !” 
Here we have almost as many errors as sentences. 
There is not a shadow of evidence that what we call 
evergreens are acted on by soil in a manner different 
from ordinary plants ; or if there be, it is in favor of 
their requiring a larger amount of carbon in the soil 
than other plants—witness all those races of ever¬ 
greens that flourish only in peat. In the next place, 
to say that mosses receive no carbon from the soil 
which sustains them, is an assertion in the very teeth 
of facts ; we do not find these plants thriving on white 
and pure sand, but on the surface of the ground, in 
bogs, on housetops, and other places where carbon 
must necessarily abound, as is shown indeed by the 
dark color of the soil that bears them. Then ferns, we 
are told, retain water by their coriaceous leaves with 
great force; which is true of one or two species only. 
On the contrary, they are plants whose evaporating 
powers are (as is well known) so great, that they can 
in general exist only in very damp situations. What 
oleaginous plants may be, we do not know. As to 
cereal plants (ceralia, as it is always spelt in this 
book !)—it is true that they withdraw a large quantity 
of mineral matter from the soil on which they grow ; 
but we Can not comprehend why that circumstance 
should prove that their functions of respiration are at 
all different from those of other plants. 
Keeping Apples and Pears. —The best mode of keep¬ 
ing apples and pears is to place them in close drawers 
made of wood that does not contain turpentine; these 
being in a room so constructed as to resist as much as 
possible all sudden changes of the weather, and in a 
cool but dry situation. 
To destroy Red Spiders.. —We are not aware of any 
other means of destroying the red spider, than by keep¬ 
ing up a damp, humid atmosphere, or by the application 
of the fumes of sulphur. 
To kill Dock, Couch-Grass, fyc., in Lawns or Gar¬ 
dens. —Cut off the tops by mowing, or with any sharp 
instrument, and while the wounds are fresh, water 
them with ammoniacal liquor from the gas-works. It 
is remarkable how soon the whole mass becomes not 
only dead, but rotten. 
Pear-Training superseding the necessity of Root- 
Pruning. —Going over the pear quarter at the royal 
gardens at Versailles, I found from the head-gardener 
that he considered the tying-down the branches a suf¬ 
ficient check to overgrowth, without the assistance of 
root-pruning, except as regards any very free-growing 
varieties. Nothing could, to my mind, exceed the 
neatness and good-bearing of the pear-trees; they 
were of a conical shape and all the branches tied 
down so as to present the appearance of a conical 
chandelier, and of course much more bearing-wood 
obtained than in the trees which were stunted by root- 
pruning. 
Manure for Melons.- —It is contended that hen-dung 
is equal to pigeon’s-dung, in producing a large quan¬ 
tity and fine quality of melons. 
Guano Manure for Turneps. —It has been found by 
experiment, that one cwt. of guano is equal to five 
yards of farm-yard manure, or six bushels of bones, in 
raising turneps. Four cwt. per acre of guano is con¬ 
sidered good manuring. 
Organic Matter in Water. —Prof. Connell has shown 
that a notable quantity of—apparently nitrogenous- 
organic matter is present in the purest water from ter¬ 
restrial sources. May not a part of the benefical ef¬ 
fects of irrigation be due to such dissolved organic 
matter ? Even as regards the animal economy, we 
can not suppose that it will not contribute, in propor¬ 
tion to its amount, to the nourishment of man and 
other animals partaking of such waters ; and this will 
more particularly be true, if it really be an azotised 
body. 
Mr. J. J. McCaughan. —The London Gardeners’ 
Chronicle of Dec. 2d, copies the article on the Pal¬ 
metto-Root, which appeared in our 2d vol., page 21, 
from the valuable communication of our correspondent 
above; 
Liebig's Chemistry. —A third edition of this valuable 
work is published, which is pronounced far superior 
to the others. The Chronicle contains an excellent 
review of it, which we shall copy at length in our 
next, if we can spare the space for it. 
Pawlovnia Imperialis —This beautiful tree grows in 
Japan to the height of 30 feet. In the Garden of 
Plants in Paris, it has already produced ripe seeds. 
Ancient Oaks. —In the court-yard of a modern farm¬ 
house, which stands a league and a half southwest of 
Saintes, in the department of the lower Charente, 
grows an oak which is estimated to be from 1,800 to 
2,000 years old, and is thought likely to stand some 
hundred years longer. The diameter at the ground is 
