FOREIGN AGRICULTURAL NEWS. 
99 
FOREIGN AGRICULTURAL NEWS. 
By the arrival of the steamer Cambria we are in re¬ 
ceipt of our foreign journals to February 4th. 
Markets. — Ashes an advance of 1 s. Cotton a decline 
of full § to gd. per lb. in consequence of the high price 
of provisions and limited sales for cotton yarns and 
goods. Stock on hand at Liverpool on the 1st of Feb¬ 
ruary, 455,440 bales, against 877,090 same time last 
year. Flour has fallen 4s. per bbl. Indian Corn 4s.. 
per quarter. There were large stocks on hand of Flour 
and Grain of all kinds. Beef and Pork were bringing 
extreme prices. Lard an advance of 6s. per cwt. 
Cheese an advance of Is. per cwt. Guano an improved 
demand and sales very extensive. Rice in good request. 
Sugar was in great request in consequence of govern¬ 
ment allowing it to be used in distilleries. Spirits Tur¬ 
pentine a trifling decline. Tar firm. Tallow the same. 
Tobacco a slight depression in the middling class of 
strips. Wool from the United States was in fair de¬ 
mand, and we are glad to notice that it is getting into 
more general use and gaining favor with British manu¬ 
facturers. 
Money. —The Bank of England has raised the rate 
of discount to 4 per cent., which has had a depressing 
effect in the market. This is one reason of the slight 
decline in flour and grain; men with small means 
being forced to sell. The market was gradually re¬ 
covering. 
Exportation of Specie to America. —The Cambria 
takes out over $2,000,000, chiefly in silver. Upwards 
of $3,000,000 were exported last month. 
Famine was prevailing to a great extent in Ireland, 
Scotland, France, and many parts of Germany and 
Hungary. Thousands of poor people were dying from 
this cause, and the diseases incident to it. 
Suspension of the British Corn and Navigation Laws. 
—An act recently passed by the British Parliament 
effects an abandonment of the duty of 4s. per quarter 
levied on corn, until the 1st of September of the present 
year. Another effects the partial abandonment of the 
navigation laws, which prevent the introduction into 
Great Britain of any produce but that of the country to 
which the ship that carries it belongs, by suspending 
their operation so far as regards corn, until the first of 
September next. 
The estimated value of the loss of the potatoe crop in 
Ireland is $100,000,000. 
Death of William Youatt. —We are pained to learn 
the death of this eminent man. He committed suicide 
in consequence of unfortunate speculations in railroad 
stocks. He was in his 70th year. He stood preemi¬ 
nently high as a veterinary surgeon, and was the author 
of that admirable series of works on the Horse, British 
Cattle, the Sheep, and the Dog, published by the Society 
for the Diffusion of Useful Knowledge. As an author 
and a surgeon his place will not be easily supplied. 
American Provisions. —The following is a table of 
tire importations of American provisions into Liverpool 
since the year 1843, when the trade was opened, to the 
end of the year 1846, just closed:— 
Imports from 1st Jan. to 31st Dec. 
BEEF. 
PORK. 
CHEESE. 
LARD. 
Tc’s. 
Brls. 
BrlSf 
Casks. 
Bxs. 
Brls. 
Kegs. 
1843... 
5005 
2956 
4500 
19093 
23550 
24706 
1844... 
...9300 
3354 
7939 
5287 
18245 
20027 
28795 
1845... 
3337 
7930 
5017 
44445 
9346 
56324 
1846... 
9218 
14871 
4049 
58742 
21635 
65531 
The supplies of American provisions in Liverpool, 
on the 3lst December, were smaller than usual. They 
amounted to 2750 tierces of beef; 5300 barrels of pork; 
440 tons of cheese, and 420 tons of lard. The quality 
of all these kinds of provisions has greatly improved 
since they began to be imported, and prices have risen 
in proportion. American beef has risen from 65s. to 
80s. a tierce, and from 75s. to 85s. a barrel since the im¬ 
portations of 1842-3 ; pork from 28s. and 36s. a barrel to 
62s. and 68s.; cheese from 48s. and 51s. to 50s. and 53s.; 
and lard from 41s. and 42s. to 45s. and 46s. 
Comparative Consumption of Food in England and 
France. —The actual consumption of butcher-meat in 
England for every person is as follows:— 
A rich family in London, consisting of 
husband, wife, six children, and ten lbs. 
servants, - 370.5 
A house of business in which there 
are 114 persons of both sexes, - 306.9 
A hospital, containing at least 290 chil¬ 
dren of both sexes, and where food is 
not given at discretion, - - 160 
Mean, - - 279.13 
In France, it has been ascertained that 
the mean annual consumption of a 
family in Paris, which, in 1789 was 
estimated at 1481bs., was no more 
from 1827 to 1837 than - - 107* 
Making the mean annual consumption 
of a London family exceed that of 
one in Paris by 171.88 
Pruning Forest and Ornamental Trees. —Pruning is 
an operation which by some is carried too far, and by 
others entirely neglected. When substituted in place 
of thinning, it is carried to an injurious and unprofita¬ 
ble extent, and when neglected altogether, many trees 
will only assume the habit of shrubs. It is not a little 
amusing to observe the expedients resorted to to remedy 
the evil of close planting, and to put off" till a more con¬ 
venient season, the very necessary operation of thinning, 
which, if done in time, is the only effectual remedy. 
One of these shifts, and a most absurd one it is, is cut¬ 
ting off the whole of the lower branches, leaving only 
a few of the upper ones to form a small top, as if nature 
had committed a great error in furnishing the plants 
with a superfluity of resources by which to draw to them 
that nourishment necessary for their existence. This 
is a very gross error when practised even on hard¬ 
wood trees, as it must of necessity retard their growth, 
and cause them to make unnecessary efforts to restore 
what they have lost by pushing out shoots from their 
stems near the parts where the branches were attached 
to. This of itself is sufficient to teach any reflecting 
person that the practice is wrong. But when adopted 
on resinous plants, such as the fir tribe, it is most de¬ 
structive, as they are deprived by nature of the means 
of restoration, and hence the wounds remain unhealed 
for years, and in many cases as long as the plants survive. 
Pruning can only be practised with propriety and 
advantage on hardwood trees, and should be done at an 
early stage. Little or no pruning should ever be neces¬ 
sary in a plantation after 15 years’ growth. In per¬ 
forming this operation, attention should be paid to the 
natural habit or form of the tree, and thus to assist, but 
not to thwart nature. It is absurd to attempt to make 
an oak, or any other round-headed tree, assume the 
habit of an erect growing plant, such as the Lombardy 
poplar. It is therefore difficult to lay down a general 
rule, and much must depend on the judgment of the 
operator. It may be remarked, however, that all trees 
intended to grow to timber should be set off* with one 
stem, and every rival to the top or leading shoot 
should be cut off, and any side shoot or branch acquir¬ 
ing greater strength than the stem itself, and drawing 
away from it an undue proportion of sap, should also 
be taken away. A few of the lower branches may be 
cut off* as the trees advance, but this must be done with 
caution. If this is properly attended to, and judiciously 
done when the plants are young, and it can almost all 
be done with the common pruning-knife, and at a mere 
trifling expense, the trees in general and under ordinary 
circumstances will have attained sufficient length of 
stem in 15 years.— Gardeners’ Chronicle. 
