281 
FOREIGN AGRICULTURAL NEWS. 
Great Britain within a few months, in search of guano. 
It will soon be cheap enough there and here also, and 
must unquestionably sell at a loss within six months. 
We would advise our friends now to be cautious 
about embarking in the business to any great extent. 
Second No. of Mr. Colman’s European Agricultural 
Tour .—Mr. Colman writes us from London under date 
of 17th July, that the second and third Nos. of his 
Tour are nearly ready for the press, and adds : 
“ I could have completed near the half of my work 
had I been willing to give a mere journal of my tour; 
but that would neither satisfy myself nor my patrons. 
Requiring, as the work does, a pretty extensive obser¬ 
vation of the field before I undertake a map and des¬ 
cription of it, you are aware that it can not be done in 
a hurry. If my friends, however, will have patience 
with me, I will do everything in my power to evince 
my gratitude, and as far as I am able, satisfy their rea¬ 
sonable expectations. Of course in such a work, speak¬ 
ing as I do to a mixed audience, some miscellaneous 
matter will properly come in; but as I mean to give 
that mainly which is practical and useful, and that 
which may be applied in my own country, it is indis¬ 
pensable that I should proceed cautiously, and that my 
statements should be made up on sufficient grounds, 
and be well authenticated. My great error has been 
in promising my report too soon, an error which natu¬ 
rally arose out of very imperfect conceptions of the 
boldness of the undertaking, and the magnitude of my 
task. 55 
Bone Dust as Food. —Mr. Karkeek, in a recent lec¬ 
ture, says, that it has been suggested by Professor John¬ 
stone, of Durham, as in many cases grain is too 
expensive a food, and these kinds of grain do not ex¬ 
actly agree in other respects with horses, (we mean 
barley and wheat,) that bone-dust or bone-meal should 
be given as an article of general food for growing an¬ 
imals. There are many things which look well in 
theory that will not bear the test of practice; but, 
should this succeed, we might then hope to minister 
directly to the weak limbs of the young stock, and at 
pleasure provide the spare-boned colt with the mate¬ 
rials out of which limbs of greater strength might be 
built up. 
As a comment on the above, we have been in the 
habit, for years, of feeding more or less bone-dust to 
pigs; but could never see that beyond the gelatine con¬ 
tained therein, that the animals derived much nutri¬ 
ment from such food, whether given whole or ground, 
or that it caused them to thrive much faster than when 
fed on grain and vegetables without being mixed with 
bone-dust. 
To destroy Rats. —The following recipe for the des¬ 
truction of rats, has been communicated by Dr. Ure to 
the council of the English Agricultural Society, and is 
highly recommended as the best known means of get¬ 
ting rid of these most obnoxious and destructive ver¬ 
min. It has been tried by several intelligent persons, 
and found perfectly effectual. 
“Melt hog’s lard in a bottle plunged in water 
heated to about 150 g Fahrenheit; introduce into it 
half an ounce of phosphorus for every pound of lard, 
then add a pint of proof-spirit or whiskey; cork the 
bottle firmly after its contents have been heated to 150°, 
taking it at the same time out of the water-bath, and 
agitate smartly till the phosphorus becomes uniformly 
diffused, forming a milky-looking liquid. This mixture 
being cooled, with occasional agitation at first, will af¬ 
ford a white compound of phosphorus and lard, from 
which the spirit spontaneously separates, and may be 
poured off to be used again, for none of it enters into 
the combination, but it merely serves to comminute the 
phosphorus, and to diffuse it in very fine particles 
through the lard. This fatty compound, on being 
warmed very gently, may be poured out into a mixture 
of wheat flour and sugar incorporated therewith, and 
then flavored with oil of rhodium, or not, at pleasure. 
The flavor may be varied with oil of aniseed, &c. 
This dough being made into pellets, is to be laid in rat- 
lioles. By its luminousness in the dark, it attracts their 
notice, and being agreeable to their palates and noses, 
it is readily eaten, and proves certainly fatal. They 
soon are seen issuing from their lurking-places to seek 
for water to quench their burning thirst and bowels; 
and they commonly die near the water. They continue 
to eat it as long as it is offered to them, without being 
deterred by the fate of their fellows, as is known to be 
the case with arsenical doses. It may be an easy guide 
for those who are desirous of following Dr. Ure’s pre¬ 
scription, and may not have a thermometer at hand, to 
know that a temperature of 150° of Fahrenheit is 
equivalent to a degree of heat mkhvay between that at 
which white of egg coagulates and white wax melts.” 
An extraordinary Durham Milker. —Mr. Hewer, of 
Charlton, near Brackley, Northamptonshire, has a cow 
from which was made nineteen and three quarter pounds 
of butter last week; the cream skimmed but twice, 
without second butter. It is supposed by competent 
judges that this cow will produce twenty-four pounds 
of butter a week if second butter is churned. She is 
of the Durham breed, and a remarkably fine beast, six 
years old. Her feed is grass and a little hay only! 
She gives eight gallons of milk per, day.— Northampton 
Herald. 
Simple and effectual Remedy for Hove in Cattle .— 
Try the remedy of an egg-shell full of tar rather than 
attempt the barbarous practice of sticking. If two 
men hold the animal’s’head straight, a third its tongue 
to the right side, he can easily put down its throat an 
egg-shell full of tar, and in ten minutes relief will usual¬ 
ly take place; but a second dose has never failed with 
my cattle, which are always kept at a brisk walking 
pace through the yard until relieved.— Dublin Farmers’ 
Gazette. 
Lambing extraordinary. —A Scotch ewe, the property 
of Mr. Thomas Petty, farmer, Thorp, near Skipton, did 
on the 7th ult., lamb the extraordinary number of six 
lambs, two of xvhich, with the mother, are doing well. 
The above ewe was bred by Mr. Wm. Alexander, on 
the head of the water of Keir, Gallowayshire, and was 
sold to the above-named gentleman by Mr. D. Johnson 
in last October. 
Curious Duck. —Mr. James Hath way, near Wolton 
Bassett, has a most amusing natural curiosity. A few 
days since a duck hatched a brood, consisting of sixteen 
ducklings, one of which has two bills, four wings, four 
legs, two tails, and one body. It is living and thriving. 
Economy of Rees.—The most perfect illustration of 
the habits and domestic economy of the honey or gar¬ 
den bee, was afforded to us on Saturday last, in the 
grounds of Mr. Thomas Gilbert, of Lutterworth, and 
a more interesting sight we have never before witness¬ 
ed. Mr. G. had had a number of hives constructed upon 
dilferent principles, so as to enable the spectator to view 
the whole process of the manufacture of the comb, the 
secretion of the honey, and the larvae, from which 
springs the young bees. Some idea of the advantage 
derived from the management adopted by Mr. Gilbert, 
may be formed, when we state that a>> bell glass hive 9| 
inches by 8| inches, has produced in three weeks 14k 
pounds of honey ; and in an observatory hive, having 
four angles, 9| by 11 inches each, the bees have, in the 
course of four weeks, collected no less than 19 pounds 
of honey. —Leicestershire Mercury . 
