FOREIGN AGRICULTURAL NEWS. 
155 
FOREIGN AGRICULTURAL NEWS. 
By the arrival of the steamship Acadia, we are in re¬ 
ceipt of our European journals to the 4th of April. 
Markets. —Ashes were in fair request. Beeswax, 
large sales. Cotton was much depressed, and it has 
fallen since our last full \d. to £ d. per lb. Flour has 
an upward tendency. Hides steady. Provisions .—In 
Beef ', Pork, Bacon, Lard, and Cheese, a fair business 
was doing. Rice, small sales. Seeds nominal. Tal¬ 
low in good demand. Naval Stores a regular in¬ 
quiry. Tobacco, the operations have been large, and 
yet the article was fiat in regard to prices. 
Money is still so abundant, that the project of a re¬ 
duction by the British government of the Three and a 
Half per Cents, meets with almost universal favor. 
American Stocks remain without change. 
Reduction of the Duties on Rice and Tobacco in Prus¬ 
sia .—Our minister at the court of Prussia, Mr. Whea¬ 
ton, has just concluded an important treaty with this 
government, reducing very considerably the duties on 
rice and tobacco. It is presumed that all the States of 
the Germanic Union of Customs will adopt it, and if so, 
it will have a very important bearing in favor of the 
interests of our southern and western planters, and cause 
an increased consumption abroad of these articles of 
American production. 
Increase of Duty on Lard in France .—A bill is in¬ 
troduced into the Chamber of Deputies in France, to 
increase the duty on lard imported from the United 
States. We hope so illiberal a measure will not pass, 
for it is high time that the reciprocal increase of duties 
was done away with on both sides of the Atlantic. 
Durham Cattle in Spain .—In an interesting article 
on the Agriculture of Spain, contributed by Capt. Wed- 
dington of the Navy, for the late number of the Royal 
Agricultural Society Journal of England, we find that 
the Vice Consul at Vigo, a wealthy and influential 
Spaniard, has introduced on to his estate a Durham 
bull and cow from the stock of Mr. Bates of England. 
His object in doing this is so to improve his herd, that he 
can export an improved race of live cattle to London, 
and thus secure remunerating prices for his animals in 
the Smithfield market. The estates of many of the 
Spanish noblemen are very large; from 100 to 800 yoke 
of working-cattle are frequently found upon them, be¬ 
sides a large number of mules. One farmer sowed last 
year 10,000 bushels of seed-wheat and 3,000 of barley, 
and during the civil war he was taxed at one contribu¬ 
tion alone, $16,000! 
Cidtivatmi of Onions by the Tartars .—Instead of 
raising them from seeds, in which they do not succeed, 
or which appears to them too long a process, they dry 
and smoke in a chimney those which they wish to pro¬ 
pagate, and in spring, when the time to plant them is 
arrived, they cut them diagonally into quarters, but so 
as not to separate the pieces entirely one from another. 
They set these onions in rows, when thus prepared, in 
good soil, well dug, but not freshly manured, at about 
10 inches from each other, and two inches deep. 
These onions increase extraordinarily, and grow large 
and strong. 
Improved Horses .—At the late annual meeting of the 
St. Austell Club, Mr. Karkeek stated his belief, that 
there are perhaps as many good horses now as there 
were 50 years ago; but the number of bad ones had 
greatly increased. M’Culloch had stated there were 
1| million of horses in Great Britain; and he believed 
he should not be far wrong in affirming that two out of 
every ten were not worth the food they consumed. He 
believed also that 8 good horses would do more work 
than 10 bad ones. (A member called out, “ more than 
20.”) If by an improved system of breeding, and the 
introduction of better horses, they could get rid of only 
one horse out of 10, there would be a saving to the 
country, in the rearing only, of more than 2,000,0 001. a 
year, reckoning the cost at 5 1, a year; and an equal 
amount would be saved annually after the rearing to 3 
years old, supposing the cost of keeping the horse to be 
151. per annum. In reply to Mr. Prater’s observations, 
Mr. Karkeek gave it as his opinion that a two-year old 
filly was too young to breed from. Her powers were 
not properly matured. He thought they ought not to 
breed from a mare under three years old. 
Coal Tar as Manure .—A communication was read 
at the Bath Agricultural Society on the subject of the 
value of coal tar as a manure. The writer stated that 
in 1.840 he published his experience on the subject; 
he had now used it as a manure for seven years, and 
had never found it to fail when properly applied. By 
means of a water-cart he distributed over his wheat- 
stubble 180 gallons to the acre, allowing it to remain 
there two or three months in the autumn before being 
plowed in. Its cost was a half-penny a gallon ; it was 
economical, and valuable for carrots, turneps, potatoes, 
and all roots. He had tried it on seeds, but not with 
equal advantage on wheat. It was very useful on a 
sandy loam, resting on a marl subsoil; next to that, a 
deep clay land was best; but its least beneficial effects 
had been upon soil resting on an oolite formation. 
Great Durability of Oak-Timber .—Beams of the oak 
have recently been taken from houses in England, re¬ 
spectively 527, 808, and 900 years old. The beams 
are said to have been cut in the winter, and the bark 
always kept on them, which added to their preserva¬ 
tion. Timber cut in the months of May and June, and 
the bark stripped off, has been found to be most dura¬ 
ble in the climate of America. 
Pheasants Destructive to Wire-worms .—No fewer 
than 1225 of these destructive worms were taken from 
the crop of a hen-pheasant m January last and this 
was only one day’s consumption. 
A good Rotation for Garden-Crops .—Celery gives a 
good preparation for carrots, turneps, parsneps, onions, 
and early cauliflowers, or for peas, with potatoes and 
winter-greens, or broccoli between the rows. Au¬ 
tumn-sown onions may be succeeded by spinach, let¬ 
tuce, &c., and early cauliflower by autumn-onions. 
Spring-sown onions will be advantageously succeeded 
by cabbages in beds, with scarlet runners between; 
and if the cabbages stand all summer and next winter, 
the ground will come in, in the spring, along with 
broccoli-ground, from celery, potatoes, and peas, the 
early potatoes being planted in the trenches, and the 
peas sown on the ridges. 
Wash for Fruit-Trees .—You constantly recommend 
that fruit-trees should be done over with lime as awash. 
Nothing can look more frightful than their glaring con¬ 
spicuous trunks on a hot summer’s day; and to obviate 
this dissight I use cow-dung, soot, or wood-ashes, mixed 
up with urine, the drainage of a dung-mix, or ammo- 
niacal-water from the gas-works, to the consistency of 
thin paint. This composition appears to me to possess 
all the advantages of the lime, and the trunks of the 
trees appear lessened, and altogether much more pleas¬ 
ing to the eye. 
Sawdust as Manure .—To a large tank connected 
with the drain from the cattle-yard, the sawdust is 
carted, and after being saturated in the tank with the 
drainings of the dunghill for several months, it is thrown 
out into a heap, and a quantity of lime-shells are mixed 
up with it—a layer of sawdust and a layer of lime- 
shells alternately. The wet sawdust slakes the lime, 
which acts as a stimulus to decompose the sawdust 
without greatly charring it. 
