292 
FOREIGN AGRICULTURAL NEWS. 
FOREIGN AGRICULTURAL NEWS. 
By the arrival of the Steamer Cambria, we are in 
receipt of our foreign journals to the 4th of August. 
Markets. — Ashes, sales limited. Cotton , a slight im¬ 
provement. Flour and Grain of all kinds have experi¬ 
enced a further heavy decline in prices. Provisions 
and most other American products were dull and had 
fallen a trifle. 
Money was scarce at 5 to 6 per cent. 
The Weather continued very fine, and the harvest in 
the south of England had commenced promisingly. On 
the continent the crops prove uncommonly good. The 
state of the potato-crop leads to the belief that the disease 
is much mitigated, being confined to small localities. 
Show of the English Agricultural Society. —The an¬ 
nual Show of this Society was held at Northampton, on 
the 20th of July. The Implement Show-yard was larger 
and better filled than at any previous meeting of this 
Society. The number of machines exhibited is stated 
to have been at least one-third greater, and though 
there were not many novelties among them, their 
quality was thought to be equal, if not superior, to the 
standard of the previous year. 
The exhibition of cattle, sheep, &c., and particularly 
of horses, is represented as very excellent. 
On our receipt of the full report, if anything offers 
by the way of improvement, that will be adapted to this 
country, it will be duly considered. 
Solvent Action of Rain- Water on Soils. —In the 
autumn of 1844, it occurred to John Wilson, Esq., of 
East Lothian, where the system of thorough drainage 
is very extensively carried out, that the drainage-water 
during its percolation of the soil must necessarily 
dissolve, out and carry away a great portion of soluble 
constituents of it, which, by the practice as at present 
followed, are carried off the land and consequently lost 
to the farmer. He accordingly, between that time and 
the following spring, took advantage of the fall of rain, 
subjected several samples of drainage-water he had 
collected, to chemical analyses, the results of which 
were quite sufficient to show that his conjectures were 
well founded. During the autumn there fell about the 
u%ual quantity of rain. On the 16th of May, 1845, he 
collected some drainage-water, from a field which had 
lain plowed in winter fallow, having been prepared, a 
few days before, for seed, and sown with guano and 
barley. From this sample of water, 18 lbs., on evapo¬ 
ration, gave 27| grains of solid residue, or about 8.44 
grains to the pound, which were composed of the follow¬ 
ing ingredients:— 
Grains. 
Organic matter, &c • •..... 7.8 
Silica,.*. . * * 0.7 
Silicate of alumina,. 0.2 
Peroxide of iron,.2.25 
Phosphate of Magnesia,. 1.8 
Magnesia?* . ....*•• 1.69 
Chloride of Sodium,. 2.615 
Chloride of calcium,. ..*• 2.107 
Carbonate of lime,. 2.7 
Phosphate of lime,. 3.1 
Phosphate of alumina,. 0.45 
Loss,..2-088 
27.5 
From the above experiment it would appear to be 
expedient for the farmer to avoid using large quantities 
of soluble manures, at a time, on porous leachy soils; 
and instead of giving his land sufficient manure to last 
two or three seasons, to divide the quantity, and apply 
it in as small a proportion and as frequently as the na¬ 
ture of his crops will permit. — Condensed from the Phi¬ 
losophical Mag. 
Zinc. —During the last fifteen years I have employ¬ 
ed zinc for various purposes to which I thought it was 
applicable, such, for instance, as in the covering of 
structures with flat roofs, where lightness of material 
was an object, and in the lining of cisterns for grow¬ 
ing tender aquatics ; also for ornamental chimney-tops, 
and as gutters for the circulation of hot water on the 
tank system, &c.; but I regret tb say that, unless for the 
purpose first mentioned, it has not answered the expec¬ 
tations I had formed of its utility. When used for gut¬ 
ters it is liable to bulge and get out of form by every 
change in the temperature of the water, and very soon 
breaks into holes. As a chimney-top, I have found 
that the soot in a short time attaches itself to the metal 
and rapidly corrodes it. If not attended to, it becomes 
choked, and in danger of being burnt down by the first 
spark from the chimney. Of this I have had more than 
one memorable example, and I should just as soon 
think of putting up an ornamental chimney-top of wood 
as of zinc—the one being nearly as inflammable as the 
other. For dairy-utensils I am aware that zinc has 
been highly recommended, and milk-pans made of it 
are said to throw up cream much better than pans of 
any other material. So far, however, as I have 1 had 
experience in this respect, I cannot say I have found 
zinc-pans to possess any superiority over those of earth¬ 
enware and others in general use. On the contrary, 
1 am convinced, from the little trial I made, that the 
milk sooner becomes tainted in the former than in the 
latter, and that zinc-vessels ought to be used with cau¬ 
tion for any purpose connected with a dairy, especially 
when it is known that this metal is most readily acted 
on by acids, and that the salts so formed are poisonous. 
— Gardeners' Chronicle. 
Approved Bee-Flowers. —Borage, mignionette, Pha- 
celia tenacitifolia, Salvia nemorosa, Lythrum salica- 
ria, winter aconite, crocuses of sorts, hepaticas single, 
wallflowers single, raspberry, and other fruit-trees, 
heath, lime-trees, willows, turnip, rape, and all the 
brassicas, mustard, buckwheat, white clover, lemon, 
thyme, laurustinus, currant, gooseberry, Chiococea ra- 
cemosa, Buddlea globosa, Cacalia suaveolens, white 
alyssum, winter-vetches, autumn-ivy, Hypericum per¬ 
foratum, archangel, Erysimum peraskianum, Tussilago 
petasites, dandelion, &c.— Agricultural Magazine. 
Advantages of Transporting Live Stock on Railroads. 
—It is estimated that the average loss upon all distan¬ 
ces by driving, and consequent saving by conveyance 
on railway, is 5 lbs. per quarter for bullocks, or 20 lbs..; 
2 lbs. per quarter, or 8 lbs. for sheep; and 2J lbs. per 
quarter, or 10 lbs. for hogs. This is believed to be a 
low estimate. Mr. H. Handley, one of ihe heads of 
the agricultural interest, calculates the loss on driving 
from Lincolnshire to London, say 100 miles, at 8 lbs. in 
weight, and 15s. to 30s. in money for sheep. The time 
for sheep he calculates at 8 days for getting up to mar¬ 
ket, which is equivalent to three or four market days, 
during which the chances of the market may be much 
affected. The promoters of the Northern and Eastern 
Railway, in their prospectus, calculate the loss on driv¬ 
ing a hundred miles, at 40s. for bullocks, and 5s. for 
sheep, They estimate the supply of the London mar¬ 
ket at 150,000 beeves, and 1,500,000 sheep per annum, 
the saving on which, by railway conveyance, they set 
down at £675,000. This saving might be fairly taken 
at 40 lbs. for bullocks, 8 lbs. for sheep, and 20 lbs. for 
swine; which would give a gross saving of pounds of 
animal food on the present number conveyed on rail¬ 
ways, as follows: on 220,000 cattle, 8,800,000 lbs. of 
beef; on 1,250,000 sheep, 10,000,000 lbs. of mutton; on 
550,000 swine, 11,000,000 lbs. of pork. This would 
give a total of 29,800,000 lbs. of animal food economiz¬ 
ed, even at the present moment, in the infancy of the 
railway system.— Railway Register. 
Linseed-Oil. —In Rutlandshire many farmers have 
lately used large quantities of linseed oil in feeding cat¬ 
tle and horses, by sprinkling it on their hay. 
