FOREIGN AGRICULTURAL NEWS. 
227 
FOREIGN AGRICULTURAL NEWS* 
By the Steamer Europa, we are in receipt of our 
foreign journals to 2d June. 
Markets. — Ashes, sales dull at present rates. Cot¬ 
ton same as per our last. Flour lower. Corn and 
Meal in good demand. Lard an advance of (id. per 
cwt. Rice a trifle higher. In other products no 
change. 
Money more in request, and a good demand for 
American Stocks. 
How to Kill Ants. —Blow tobacco smoke into their 
'burrows, which will drive them out, and then kill 
them. — Gardeners' Chronicle. 
Guano as a General Manure. —Peruvian guano is 
the best possible manure for all plants that require 
manure at all, provided the soil is kept “ open,” by 
digging in leaves, &c., from time to time. The best 
way of using it, is by pouring water over it, and using 
the solution thus obtained.— lb. 
Death of Miss Edgeworth. —The celebrated Maria 
Edgeworth, the popular Irish novelist, died after a few 
hours’ illness on Monday morning, the 21st of May, at 
Edgeworthstown, her native place, in the county of 
Longford, in her 83d year. 
Interesting Discovery. —The Paris correspondent of 
the Courier des Etats Unis describes a marvellous 
discovery which has recently been made, relating to 
the important subject of coloring grey hair. This 
•new system consists in bringing about the internal 
coloring of the hair. The discovery is borrowed from 
the Chinese, who have succeeded in reaching and 
transforming, bv means of medicine and a peculiar diet, 
the liquid which colors the pilous system and giving 
to white and red hair a black tint, which maintains 
itself during the continued growth. It is by this 
method, it is said, that the Chinese have been able to 
elaim the title from the highest antiquity of the black¬ 
haired nation. 
Famine in Ireland. —The distress in the county of 
Clare is represented to be most dreadful. In the 
course of two days, there were twelve ascertained 
deaths from starvation, in the parish of Kilmury, 
Ibrickane, in which there are 1,500 people who have 
not a morsel of food, and who are not on the relief 
lists. 
Naturalization of the Alpaca in France. —A com¬ 
pany has been formed in France, under the direct 
sanction of the government, for the purpose of natural¬ 
izing the alpaca upon a large scale. It is thought that 
the Alps, the Pyrenees, and the mountains of Auvergne 
are admirably adapted for the support of very large 
numbers of this valuable animal, and will prove of 
immense benefit to the country. Since the wool of 
fthe alpaca was first introduced into France, its price 
has tripled, and it is expected to rise still more, espe¬ 
cially as the Peruvians have adopted measures to 
cultivate a branch of commerce which is daily becom¬ 
ing of more value. In order to secure, if possible, a 
monopoly of the trade, the Peruvian government has 
'prohibited the exportation of the animal. 
Treatment of Bees. —Mr. J. Oates, of Tendring 
Hall, gives the following as his treating of bees :— 
I make a hole in the ground, then place an empty hive 
upside down, as nearly as possible the 9ize of the one 
I intend to fumigate; 1 then place my little apparatus, 
which contains a piece of lighted fungus about the 
size of a hen’s egg. When the smoke begins to rise, 
I place the hive which contains the bees over it; and 
then, with a cloth wrapped round them to prevent any 
escape of the perfume, in five minutes, they will be 
perfectly stupified. I then give the hive two or three 
gentle taps, which will cause those that are hanging 
to the comb to drop into the hive below. I then spread 
s. large white cloth and turn the bees on it, when I 
e&n .examine them with perfect safety. I let them 
remain until the second hive has undergone the same 
process. I add these, also, to those on the cloth. I 
then look for the queens, but have not at all times 
been successful in finding them Loth. If I find both, 
I kill one; hut my friends tell me this is not necessary, 
as I need not go to that trouble, for the bees will kill 
one themselves, and not have two mistresses in one 
house. 1 then mix them together and put them back 
into that hive which has the most honey in it. 1 con¬ 
sider this a better plan than burning them. Hitherto, 
mine have done well. I have done several for my 
neighbors, which have also done well, and they are at 
the present time strong. 
A Fox Lair. —The keepers and laborers of Mr. Legh, 
of Adlington, suspecting that, there was a brood of 
foxes in the park, set to work to dig them out ou 
Saturday last, when they found six cubs ; and in the 
course of their digging in the hole, they found the fol¬ 
lowing ample stores provided by their parent in a 
greater or less state of preservation:—the remains of 
one barndoor fowl, of four pheasants, one wild duck, 
two leverets, eighty rabbits, one jackdaw, one thrush, 
five rats, two mice, and one lamb. Some of these 
were nearly whole and fresh, others in a state of de¬ 
composition.— Macclesfield Courier. 
Greedy Asses. —Two donkeys lately strayed into a 
field near Ruthin, and attacked a stack of hay. They 
ate so far into the foundation that the stack fell over 
and buried them. The ow r ner of the hay, seeing it in a 
heap, went to cart it home, when, to his surprise, he 
found the two asses under it. They were not much 
injured.— North-British Daily Mail. 
Hydraulic Press for Raising Britannia Bridge. 
—On Wednesday, the 13th December, the large cyl¬ 
inder of the hydraulic press, intended to be used at 
Bangor, to raise the tubes of the bridge of the Chester 
and Holyhead Railway, was cast at the Bank-Quay 
Foundry, Warrington. This cylinder is, we believe, 
ihe largest ever made for hydraulic purposes, and 
weighs about 25 tons. It will have to sustain a pres¬ 
sure of upwards of 1,000 tons, when at work. 
Tobacco Culture in Great Britain. —At a late meet¬ 
ing of the Royal Agricultural Society of England, the 
Duke of Richmond presented to the Council a speci¬ 
men of the dried leaves of the tobacco plant, grown 
at Chelsea. His Grace also favored the Council witk 
the following statement made by the party from whom 
he had received the specimens then submitted to the 
inspection of the members :— 
Every person cultivating fruits, vegetables, or 
flowers, especia.ly in the forcing department, have 
been plagued to keep their houses and plants free from 
the numerous aphides to which they are subject, and 
to effect this without injury to the tender plants under 
cultivation, tobacco is, at present, the only known 
safe and sufficient resource, and there are but fevv who 
have not found it more convenient and safe to make 
purchases of this essential article, notwithstanding its 
costliness, than trust to uneertain remedies. Among 
this number, the writer is obliged to place himself; but 
not until he had made many attempts to save or lessen 
an expenditure so unsatisfactory. Thus circumstanced, 
about the month of March, 1848, a gentleman, living 
in his immediate neighborhood, who had been induced 
to attempt the cultivation of tobacco for his own con¬ 
sumption, the use of which he had found it expedient 
to discontinue, kindly offered his remaining stock to 
the writer, for the purpose of fumigating his plant- 
houses; and, on making a trial, it was found a most 
valuable article for the purpose, and far excelling any¬ 
thing in efficiency he had ever before used. Informa¬ 
tion as to the mode of its preparation, and the par¬ 
ticular variety, was fully obtained, and a determination 
to cultivate a sufficient quantity for all future purpose* 
resolved upon. 
