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FOREIGN AGRICULTURAL NEWS. 
FOREIGN AGRICULTURAL NEWS. 
By the arrival of the steamer Cambria, we are in re¬ 
ceipt of our foreign journals, up to December 4th. 
Markets. —Ashes were dull. Cotton had been taken 
hold of extensively by speculators, and in consequence 
of it had advanced §d per lb. The manufacturers 
were uniting to put down the price, and will doubtless 
succeed by working short time, as the prices of, cotton 
yarns and goods do not justify this advance. More¬ 
over, from the best calculations’which can be made, there 
will be a stock of cotton on hand in Liverpool, on the 
1st of November next, of 413,100 bales, which is con¬ 
sidered amply sufficient to put down speculation, as the 
crop in the United States for ’47, may prove a large one. 
Cotton has now advanced altogether, 1 id. (3 cts.) per 
lb. from the lowest point. This is a great rise, and 
quite as much as could be expected under the circum¬ 
stances of the case. Stock on hand, in Liverpool, on 
the 1st December, 504,000 bales, against 914,000, same 
period last year. Guano, in active demand. Hemp , 
firm at an advance. Flour, an advance of Is. per bbl. 
Indian Corn has fallen 2s. to 3s. per quarter. The sales 
in both continue large. Naval Stores , flat. Provisions 
of all kinds, steady. Lard, Rice, and Tallow, at a de¬ 
cline.' Sugar , an advance. Tobacco, no change. Wool, 
the same. 
Money continues abundant at 3 per cent. The very 
best paper is done at 2 per cent. • 
The Wheat Harvest in the Polish Provinces, and New 
Russia, which supply Odessa on the Black Sea, and 
the ports of the Sea of Azof, proves very abundant the 
past season, and large supplies for England and 
France may be expected from these quarters. The rice 
and maize harvests, also, have been good. 
East India Cotton. —Renewed exertions are being 
made to better clean and fit this article for the European 
market. 
Hops. —A large quantity of American hops, recently 
arrived in London, and excited a good deal of attention 
on the part of the trade. Since the reduction of duties 
on this article, considerable exports will doubtless be 
made from the United States. 
The Potato Disease.-^ Baron Liebig imagines the es¬ 
sence of the potato disease to consist in the conversion 
of the albumen, a usual constituent of healthy potatoes, 
into caseine, a principle which, by its great instability 
of composition, is supposed to cause the potato to pu- 
trify rapidly. The Rev. F. Dauvenoy states, in the 
Taunton Courier, that he has discovered by the micro¬ 
scope a minute insect, crystal-like, and transparent, re¬ 
sembling a spider, in the midst of potato mildew, evi¬ 
dently feeding on it, and making its nest among the 
thread-beds of fungi. From observations made, there 
must be more than 100 in a single tuber. 
Hoio to Decoy and Destroy Ants in Dwelling-houses .— 
When practicable, place as near the end or passage on 
a level, a basin or bowl filled with dry mould ; then put 
a bone or bones of fresh meat in the bottom (such as 
are discarded from the dining-room). You will soon 
find your tormentors congregate thousands strong; for 
I assure you they are first-rate bone-polishers. Forty 
years ago, when a boy, whenever I wanted a particular 
bone of a duck or goose polished, I always found the 
ant-hill the best manufactory. Have in readiness a 
strong solution of boiling salt and water, and when you 
perceive your enemies begin to retreat, cover them with 
it. Salt and water cold will destroy them poured into 
their haunts; but the better way is to decoy them out of 
their strongholds. It will be good policy to wash out 
the basin or bowl, and fill it with fresh mould previous 
to a second decoy, as it will be perceived salt is not a 
favorite.— Gardener's Chronicle. 
Diseases of Poultry. —Much unintentional cruelty is 
inflicted by hands the most delicate, and great suffering 
endured by all our domestic animals, owing to deficiency 
of knowledge possessed by man. Books vary greatly; 
are too often manufactured, and errors are copied from 
one into another without any regard to experience. 
This arises from the fact of few men in the medical 
profession, in this country, haying deemed it worth their 
while to make this branch of comparative anatomy a 
study,.or to send to the journals the results of their phy¬ 
siological or pathological observations or experience, 
confirmed by the wonderful improvements of late years 
in modern science. We must, however, make an ex¬ 
ception when alluding to those on the Continent, who 
have done so much ■ as Reaumur, Fleurens in his sur¬ 
prising experiments on Phthisis in Man and Fowls, 
Beckstein and so many others—-not forgett'ing'the stu¬ 
dies of Sir C. Bell, or recently, Mr. Todd, of London, 
in his beautiful and elaborate papers on “ The Egg” 
{Lancet, 4th April, 1846). Clater also has, in his book 
“ On Cattle,” published a chapter on this head, worth 
all that has ever been written, except that he does not 
give the reason for the effect produced by a medicine, 
which would afford great assistance to other inquirers. 
If a few in the medical profession would keep poultry 
for the purpose, as well as for use and profit, and send 
from time to time to the journals the numberless curi¬ 
ous observations which must fall under their notice, as 
incidents for comparative anatomy, not only would all 
old errors be soon corrected, much animal suffering be 
spared, but many useful and valuable data, be collected 
applicable to the treatment of diseases incident to the 
human frame, and the sufferings of humanity conside¬ 
rably lessened.— Ibid. 
Production and Consumption of Eggs in France .— 
The following statement by M. Legrand, a member of 
the French Statistical Society, on the production and 
consumption of eggs in France, may not prove uninter¬ 
esting, as it tends considerably to aid me in my endea¬ 
vors to prove that, however insignificant in themselves 
individual eggs may appear, in the aggregate they are 
of no small importance:—“In 1813, the number of 
eggs exported from France was 1,754,140. Between 
1816 and 1822, the number exported rose rapidly from 
8,733,000 to 55,717,500; and in 1834, the number had 
increased to 90,441,600. In 1835, 76,190,120 were ex¬ 
ported for England; 60,800 for Belgium; 49,696 for the 
United States; 42,960 for Switzerland; 34,800 for Spain; 
and 306,304 to other parts of the world. The total 
amount of the exportations for that year was 3,829,284 
francs. The consumption in Paris is calculated at 175 j 
eggs per head, or 101,012,400. The consumption in 
other parts of France may be reckoned at double this 
rate, as in many parts of the country, dishes composed 
of eggs and milk, are the principal items in all the 
meals. The consumption of eggs for the whole king¬ 
dom including the capital, is estimated at 7,231,160,000; 
add to this number those exported, and those necessary 
for reproduction, and it will result that 7,380,925,000 
eggs were laid in France during the year 1835.— Rich¬ 
ardson on Domestic Foivls. 
The Ostrich or Cochin-China Fowl. —This variety of 
fowl so far surpasses both in size and power all that we 
have ever yet seen in the shape of poultry, as to lead 
many who have been permitted to inspect them, to refer 
them to the family of bustards. They are, however, 
genuine poultry. Their general color is a rich, brown 
deep-bay ; on the breast is a marking of a blackish color, 
and of the shape of a horseshoe; the comb is of a me¬ 
dium size, serrated, but not deeply so, and the wattles are 
double. Besides their gigantic size, however, these fowl 
possess other distinctive characteristics, among which 
I may enumerate the following:—the disposition of the 
feathers on the back of the cock’s neck is reversed , these 
being turned upwards; the wing is jointed, so that the 
posterior half can, at pleasure, be doubled up, and 
brought forward between the anterior half of the body. 
— Ibid. 
