252 
FOREIGN AGRICULTURAL NEWS. 
Deanston Farm. —We took the opportunity, while at 
Stirling, of visiting the farm of the celebrated Mr. 
Smith of Deanston. In the plantation adjoining the 
improved fields, the original state of the soil may be 
seen and compared with the same soil in its improved 
state. The contrast is very great. There are no open 
drains or ditches on the farm, nor open furrows or 
gaws of any kind. The plow used here has a move- 
able mould-board, which the plowman turns over at the 
land-end, then enters at the same place, the earth be¬ 
ing always thrown to the same side.* The fields are 
thus laid out quite level, no land lost with open fur¬ 
rows, and no time spent in going round ridges in turn¬ 
ing. This system answers well with Mr. Smith, who 
reaps his crops with a reaping-machine, and does not 
require ridges as a guide in harvest. At the entrance 
to each field the ground is paved about four feet within 
the gate, and to the road outside, to prevent the ground 
being poached with carts or cattle. The division fen¬ 
ces (thorn hedges) all run parallel. A pump-well is 
fixed at the corner of four fences, and supplies, by 
means of troughs in each adjoining corner, water to 
four fields at once. The drains have never, in a single 
instance, required to be opened and relaid. They are 
formed entirely of broken stones. This farm (we be¬ 
lieve about 150 acres iri extent) is an excellent example 
of the benefits of furrow-draining, combined with that 
part of the system which is Mr. Smith’s own—subsoil 
plowing. 
Large Rhubarb. —Mr. Digby exhibited six stalks at a 
late show weighing 17 lbs. 
Rooks Great Destroyers of Worms. —An old rook was 
recently killed having in its crop 19 large grub¬ 
worms and 17 wire-worms. However annoying these 
birds may be at times, this must be a convincing proof 
that they are decided friends to the farmers. 
Novel Incubation. —A few days since a sitting hen- 
pigeon belonging to Mr. Morriss, was killed by a cat. 
Mrs. Morriss, having been confined to her bed for some 
years past, had the eggs brought to her, and placed 
them carefully in bed with her. The eggs were hatch¬ 
ed on Tuesday last, and the young birds are living. 
To Destroy Caterpillars on Gooseberries. —Take six 
pounds of black-currant leaves and as many of elder- 
leaves, and boil them in 12 gallons of soft water, then 
take 14 pounds of hot lime and put it in 12 gallons of 
water; mix these altogether; wash the infected bush¬ 
es, and after that is done take a little hot lime and lay 
at the root of each bush which has been washed, and 
thus complete the operation. By these means the cat¬ 
erpillars will be destroyed without the foliage being in 
the least hurt. For a preventive, sprinkling the bushes 
with tar-water prevents the fly or moth from settling 
on the plant to lay its eggs, but this must be done early 
in the spring, for if done after the fruit is set it will 
taste of tar. 
Nature has furnished a remarkable insect which as¬ 
sists more in the destruction of the caterpillar, the 
Ichneumon Manifestator. They lay their eggs in the 
bodies of the caterpillars, or pupa, which are then 
hatched, and feed on the substance of the caterpillars. 
It behoves therefore every person who regards his gar¬ 
den, to preserve the above insect with care, which so 
materially protects its produce from one of its greatest 
and most pernicious enemies. Destruction by hand¬ 
picking should, if possible, commence with the parent 
insect, in this fly, or perfect state, before it has depos¬ 
ited its eggs, for the gathering of moths, butterflies, and 
large wasps, may save the gathering of thousands of 
caterpillars, and the droning of hundreds of wasps, pre¬ 
* This is like side-hill plowing.— Ed. 
cisely as preventing weeds from seeding a garden will 
soon eradicate them altogether. 
Test for Guano. —Put 500 grains of guano into a 
basin, pour half a pint of warm water on it, stir it well, 
let it stand to clear, and then pour off the clear liquor 
into another basin. Then add half a pint of warm 
water to the residuum, and repeat the same process. 
Add a third half pint of warm water; and, after pur¬ 
suing precisely the same course, filter the residuum 
through filtering-paper, and then dry and weigh it. If 
the guano be good, the residuum will weigh from 150 
to 200 grains, which quantity, deducted from 500 
grains (the quantity originally employed) will show 
the proportion soluble in warm water, which is con¬ 
sidered an index of its value, as the greater proportion 
of soluble matter it contains, the more valuable it is as 
a manure. 
Guano. —A cargo from Chincha or the Bug Islands, 
recently arrived at Berwick. The captain states that 
he loaded his vessel (about 420 tons) in 48 hours, the 
guano lying as thick as 300 feet; and that, had it not 
been for the trouble of stowing, it might have been 
done in four or five hours. The guano was conveyed 
to the hold of the vessel by means of canvass hose. 
The Bug Islands are three in number, about 15 miles 
off Pisco, in lat. 14 deg. 23 S,. long. 76 deg. 1'. There 
is a rock in the centre of the middle island, which is 
half a mile in diameter. The captain visited only two 
of the islands, and states that the air was very strongly 
impregnated with ammonia. The coast of Peru abounds 
with the article. He describes labor in general to be 
plentiful, and to be had at about 3s. a day English 
money; but he had to wait a month for his turn, as 
there were 30 vessels there. The population is prin¬ 
cipally a mixed race of Spaniards and Peruvians, speak¬ 
ing Spanish, and in the present undisturbed state of the 
country fond of plunder. 
Substitute for Guano and Bones. —Mr. Dinsdale ad¬ 
vises the collection of human urine, giving to it about 
fourteen pounds of sulphate of magnesia (Epsom 
salts) to every hundred gallons, and adding lime in the 
state of hydrate (that is, slaked.) Such a mixture con¬ 
tains all the elements of bones and guano; and although 
more than one private empiric and public company 
have adopted the process, for profit, it still remains 
comparatively unknown. I calculate more than one 
hundred gallons per month are thrown away in every 
minor farm-house, while in towns there is great waste 
in this way. 
Alpacas in Scotland. —We have seen a male and fe¬ 
male of the Alpaca species at Craigbarnet, Lennoxtown, 
Stirlingshire, which have been there for the last eight 
months, and they have stood the severe winter without 
injury, and we are assured are more hardy than our 
native sheep—they require less food, and could exist 
where sheep would die. There seems hardly to be any 
kind of food they will not eat—they eat turneps, hay, 
oats, and beans—they are more partial to meadow than 
rye-grass hay. These aiiimals are now in the highest 
order and in the most perfect health—they are jet black, 
and follow their keeper like a dog, and are very elegant 
and interesting. The weight of the fleeces of last year 
was 17| lbs. Their worthy owner is of opinion, when 
j,he navigation between us and South America is di¬ 
minished as to length of time, which steam will most 
assuredly accomplish, thousands of Alpacas will be 
brought over—our hills will be covered with them, and 
they will become a source of great wealth and profit to 
the proprietors and farmers of the highland districts, 
for these animals will thrive upon that kind of coarse 
bent , which neither horse nor cow nor sheep will look 
at or touch. 
