FOREIGN AGRICULTURAL NEWS. 
355 
FOREIGN AGRICULTURAL NEWS. 
By the arrival of the Steamer Cambria, we are in 
receipt of our foreign journals to the 4th of October. 
Markets. — Ashes limited sales. Cotton has fallen 
fully |d per pound, particularly among the lower quali¬ 
ties. Flour and Grain quite active at a small advance. 
Provisions and other articles, little change. 
Money was in great demand, and the interest paid in 
some instances, as high as 10 per cent. Many of the 
oldest and most respectable houses were daily stopping 
payment, said all confidence seemed to be destroyed. 
Nothing like the present state of mercantile affairs has 
been known since the bursting of the great South-Sea 
bubble. 
The Crops. —There seems to be little difference of 
opinion as to the productiveness of the harvest of the 
United Kingdom. Barley is probably the greatest crop 
ever grown. Wheat, on the whole, has been good, 
and something better than last year, but the quality is 
not generally so fine. Oats prove a good fair crop. 
Beans and peas are deficient probably fully one-third. 
The potato disease is again spoken of, but as of a less 
destructive character than the last two years. There 
is, however, only one general opinion, that a consider¬ 
ably less breadth of land was planted with this esculent 
last season : the present price is about one hundred per 
cent, over that of ordinary seasons. Notwithstanding 
that a satisfactory result may be anticipated from the 
late harvest, the present and prospective rate of con¬ 
sumption is evidently greater than it is calculated to 
supply; and there can be but little doubt that in the 
course of the next twelve months, large importations of 
breadstuff's from abroad will be required, and obtained 
at moderate rates, as the continental and American 
harvests are reported of even more favorably than 
those of the United Kingdom. 
Slaughter of Oxen and Sheep. —Within the last two 
years, 373,400 oxen and sheep have been slaughtered in 
New South Wales, in order to boil their carcases for 
tallow. 
Amoacnt of Beet-Root Sugar in France. —The amount 
of beet-root sugar made in France during the present 
year is 107,590,110 lbs., being an increase of 26,596,432 
lbs., on the quantity manufactured last year. The 
duty paid in the 12 months was £650,000 sterling. 
increased Culture of Tobacco in Algeria. —The culti¬ 
vation of tobacco has so much increased in Algeria that 
nearly 300,000 kilogrammes (300 tons) will be purchased 
during the present year for the French Government, 
which monopolises the sale of tobacco in France. 
Chemical Analysis of Tea. —In the memoirs of the 
London Chemical Society there is an interesting paper 
by Mr. Warrington, on the analysis of tea, in which he 
states that he has not only removed the whole of the 
coloring matter, or glazing, from green tea, but he has 
been able to analyse the matter removed, and to prove 
it, by chemical evidence, to consist of Prussian blue and 
gypsum principally. So that in fact the drinkers of 
green tea, as it comes to the English market, indulge in 
a beverage of Chinese paint, and might imitate the mix¬ 
ture by dissolving Prussian blue and plaster of Paris in 
hot water. The Chinese do not themselves drink this 
painted tea; they only sell it.— Gardeners' Chronicle. 
Sowing Seeds. —It is not sufficiently known amongst 
gardeners, that their ineffectual endeavors to raise some 
plants from seeds, often arise from their being kept 
through the winter, for spring sowing. If the seeds of 
many herbaceous plants and seeds be not sown as soon 
as ripe, they never vegetate. This circumstance is in¬ 
terestingly alluded to in reference to the Cyclamen, in 
Maund’s Botanic Garden and Fruitist. * It is there 
remarked, <! Cultivators overlook the fact, that the seed 
should be sown as soon as ripe; it never should be 
thoroughly dried; the plant itself asks, as plainly as 
plant can ask, for immediate sowing. The circling 
downwards of its peduncles, with the seed vessels, after 
flowering, to convey the seeds to the soil, should be our 
lesson. Here nature suffers not the seeds to dry, by 
suspension in the atmosphere; but, by independent lo¬ 
comotion, the plant nestles up its brood, and even pre- 
viously to the maturity of its offspring, conveys them in 
her bosom to the earth. 5 ’— Gardeners' Chronicle. 
Bones as Manure .—The researches of the chemist 
and the practical testimony of the farmer having more 
fully established the value of bones as a manure, not 
for turnips only, but for various other crops, it behoves 
us to ascertain whether they have been employed in 
gardening as extensively as they deserve. If we find 
they have not, we ought to lose no time in making use 
of them. The greatest obstacle to the more general use 
of bones in gardening, as well as in farming, is their 
undergoing decomposition so very slowly. But this 
difficulty is got over by dissolving them in sulphuric 
or muriatic acid. This plan, however, though excel¬ 
lent as far as turnip-culture is concerned, must be de¬ 
fective, inasmuch as it confers no lasting or permanent 
benefit on the land. Professor Way prefers using two 
parts of the bones undissolved, on the principle of their 
more continued and permanent benefit. I would, how¬ 
ever, very particularly direct attention to a sort of bone- 
manure not in general use (perhaps owing to its limit¬ 
ed supply), which, being very fine, requires no digest¬ 
ing with sulphuric or muriatic acid, and which is both 
immediate and permanent in its effects. This bone- 
manure is the saw-dust of a button factory. I do 
not know what quantity of this dust is to be had annu¬ 
ally in this country, but this I do know, that if we could 
reduce our bone-manure to the finely divided state of 
this dust, we should then have a most valuable fertil¬ 
izer without additional labor or expense. [Ground 
bones or bone-ash is much the same thing.]— Ibid. 
Harvests without Previous Sowing .—In the Schnell- 
post we find an account of a method of compelling the 
wheat-plant to become perennial, like grass, and to 
perfect its grains annually without the yearly sowing of 
seed, which has been successfully practised at Con¬ 
stance, in Germany. It was discovered by a steward 
of an estate named Kern. His method, after plowing 
and manuring the land and sowing it with summer or 
winter wheat, is, to mow it in the spring before the ear 
makes its appearance. This process is repeated seve¬ 
ral times' in the season, and the product is used as hay. 
The plant is then allowed to grow and be cut in the or¬ 
dinary manner. The next year it ripens earlier and 
bears more abundantly than wheal treated in the ordi¬ 
nary manner. It is manured in the autumn like grass 
in the meadows, and in spring cleared from weeds. In 
this manner, from one field four successive harvests 
have been gathered. 
Rules for Gardeners .—Study to produce, in perfec¬ 
tion, vegetables, fruits, and flowers in their proper'sea- 
son. Strive to render a just equivalent to your employer, 
for the expense he incurs. Be careful of everything 
put into your charge. Let all your operations be per¬ 
formed with neatness, and endeavor to preserve this 
general appearance in the grounds, gardens, and houses 
under your control. Never defer until to-morrow 
what ought to be done to-day. Time and nature will 
not wait, and the proper season will be neglected; no¬ 
thing is gained by procrastination, but a great deal lost. 
Be punctual in hours of attendance, and waste no time 
during working hours. Care, attention, and manage¬ 
ment do more business than strength and expenditure. 
As far as practicable, finish one piece of work before 
another is commenced. Bear in mind self-improve¬ 
ment. Exercise the memory on all occasions, and an¬ 
ticipate the wants of every season. Provide against the 
contingencies of the weather. Have some work in re¬ 
serve for a rainy day.' Read these rules over frequently, 
and try to keep them in your recollection.— Gard. Cfo-on. 
