FOREIGN AGRICULTURAL NEWS. 
67 
FOREIGN AGRICULTURAL NEWS. 
By the arrival of the steamer Hibernia, we are in 
receipt of our foreign journals up to January 5th. 
Markets. — Ashes quiet with moderate sales. Colton 
has advanced altogether the past month from f to IjcL 
per lb. Stock on hand in Liverpool on the 1st of Jan¬ 
uary, 438,970 bales, against 885,480 at same period 
last year. Flour has -advanced 5s. 6 d. to 6 s. per bbl.; 
Wheat Is. 6 d. per bushel; Corn 12s. to 14s. per quarter 5 
Corn Meal 4s. per bbl. Beef and Pork, a slight im¬ 
provement. Lard , a decline. Cheese , firm. Hemp, an 
advance of £2 per ton. Naval stores , little doing. 
Rice an increased demand at a slight advance. Tobacco 
a decline of £d. per lb. Wool in fair request, at 
lower prices than last year at this time. 
Money continues abundant without any change since 
our last. 
Smithfield Cattle Show. —This great annnal show of 
fat cattle, &c., came off as usual, in December last. It 
is said there were 50 more entries than the previous 
year. We notice Prince Albert and several distin¬ 
guished noblemen among the exhibitors. They carried 
off a fair proportion of the prizes. The Prince is said 
to excel particularly as a breeder of swine. We ob¬ 
serve that the Herefords obtained the best and greatest 
number of prizes of any other breed. Whether this is 
to be attributed to their superior numbers, and the pains 
taken in selecting them for the exhibition, we are un¬ 
able to say. This is certain, however, that Short Horns 
still continue too valuable to make fat beasts of. 
American Wool.— Notwithstanding the discouraging 
results to a few enterprising shippers, this article pro¬ 
mises at no distant date to become of first rate import¬ 
ance. It is important to notice the great weight of the 
fleece, which is nearly double that of any other country 
producing the same qualities. Receipts last year were 
below the previous one. 
Beet-root as a Substitute for Flour. —A Belgian gen¬ 
tleman has made numerous trials of the process in¬ 
vented in Germany for making cheap bread, by mixing 
wheat flour and roasted beet-root, and these trials have 
perfectly succeeded. The poor families to whom some 
of the bread has been distributed, have declared that 
they like it quite as well as the ordinary second bread. 
Products of the Sand-wich Islands.— Samples of sugar, 
cotton, and wool of excellent quality, grown in the 
Sandwich Islands, have been forwarded to Liverpool, 
and they formed objects of considerable attraction at 
the underwriters’ rooms last week. 
Culture of Cotton in Turkey. —The Turkish Govern¬ 
ment has had several varieties of cotton seeds, and men 
competent to superintend their culture, recently brought 
from America, for the purpose of trying the experiment 
of cultivating the American varieties of cotton in the 
different provinces of the empire, in which every kind 
of climate exists. 
Advance in Spanish Wool. —The latest accounts from 
Spain fully confirm the previous statements of great 
losses in the flocks fronvsevere drought, and there is 
every prospect of a serious deficiency in the next clip 
of wool, which has already led to an advance in prices. 
Exportation of Beet-root Sugar from France —The 
Minister of Commerce has just issued a royal ordinance 
authorizing the exportation of beet-root sugar to foreign 
places. This measure will have the effect of enabling 
the French sugar-makers in France to send their goods 
to England. In the third month of the present sugar¬ 
making season, the production of beet-root sugar in 
France amounted to 10| million kilogrammes, being 
an increase of 65 millions over the corresponding pe¬ 
riod of last year. 
Reduction of Duty on Grain in Denmark. —In Den¬ 
mark, the import duty on corn, oats, and flour has" 
been considerably reduced by a royal ordinance of the 1 
9th of December. " ' 
Sulphur in Food. —According to M. Dumas, of the 
Paris Academy of Sciences, sulphur may travel through 
the air, from the sulphates which contain it, in large 
bodies of water, to lands which require it for vegetation 
or for the production of the animals which live on the 
plants produced by these lands. It is worthy of remark, 
that yellow sulphur performs an important part in the 
production of all azotized substances of plants and an¬ 
imals. They contain, on an average, a 1000th part of 
their entire weight. Thus, 10 kilogrammes of dry 
azotized matter, which is about the quantity in a man 
of ordinary size, contain 100 grammes of sulphur.— 
Athenaeum. 
Geese. —Where there js water, or a common for them 
to feed on, geese may be profitably rear'ed, and with 
very little trouble, and the feathers are always valuable. 
When first hatched, do not let them -wander far, but 
the old goose must not be shut up. A yard or empty 
barn is the best place for the goslings for the first week, 
letting them out two or three hours each day to feed on 
grass. It has been often remarked that cattle are rarely 
unhealthy where any considerable number of geese are 
kept, for the geese will eat and thrive upon certain 
weeds and grasses which are more or less unwholesome 
for cattle, and which are mingled with the herbage in 
most pastures. Most farmers are aware of this, and a 
sickly cow or bullock is not unfrequently turned into a 
field where geese have been allowed to range, with the 
view of its deriving benefit from the change. The 
grass on commons, on which geese are kept, is always 
fine and sweet.— The Farmer. 
Culture of Rice in the Papal States. —Accounts from 
Italy inform us that the papal government has just 
taken a measure of great importance to the agriculture 
of the Roman states. The rice fields in some parts of 
the country are the blessing of the people, but in many 
districts the crop has often failed, A distinguished 
economist has proved that this is owing to the faulty 
method of its cultivation, and has made experiments in 
the district of Cervetri, near Rome, which have been 
attended with the happiest results. The Pope, fully ap¬ 
preciating the value of a proceeding which tends to an 
extension of this article of food, has nobly rewarded 
the experimentalist; and, by a recent decree, has or¬ 
dained that the whole of the valley between Ostia and 
Porto d’Anzo, about 300 kilometres in extent, and the 
property of the state, is to be appropriated to the culture 
of rice on an extensive scale. One half of the crop is 
to be sold for the state, and the other half to be given 
to the poor. This decree has had a wonderful effect, 
and the works were commenced immediately for con¬ 
veying the waters of the Nemi, which are to irrigate 
the plantations established in the valley. 
Hen-Dung as Manure. —The dung of fowls kept dry 
is excellent, and may be applied for all the purposes for 
which other manure is applied; but, being of a hot 
nature, like pigeon-dung, it must be applied in‘ small 
quantities and mixed with the soil, or some other ma¬ 
terial, so as in some measure to counteract its burning 
effects.— Gardeners’ Chronicle. 
The Production of Wool in Germany has taken such 
a remarkable developement, that Germany now takes 
the lead of all nations in the production of that article. 
In the states of the Customs’ Union alone there are 
21,961,554 sheep, yielding at the lowest calculation 48$ 
million lbs. of wool per annum. Austria produces 
700,000 quintals per annum, two .thirds of which come 
from Hungary, Transylvania, and Bohemia. 
Culture of Hips. —An order has been received to ship 
50,000 sets of Kentish hop plants for Hobart Town, 
where the soil and the climate are said to be most con¬ 
genial. An inferior sort has been tried- there experi- 
| mentality and fo n 1 to turn out more than eon;;! to the 
1 planter’s expectations. • 
