356 
FOREIGN AGRICULTURAL NEWS. 
FOREIGN AGRICULTURAL NEWS. 
By the steamer Niagara, we are in receipt of our 
foreign journals to 5th October. 
Markets. —Scarce any alteration in the American 
staple products since our last, and sales only moderate. 
Money as plenty as ever, and business on the whole 
rather dull. 
The Crops , in general, were very good throughout 
Europe. There are some indications of the potato rot, 
especially in Ireland and Germany. But be this the 
case or not, we must look forward for rather low prices 
for our produce the coming year, cotton alone being 
an exception. 
The Potato Disease in Germany. —The potato dis¬ 
ease has again made its appearance, with more or less 
intensity, throughout this country, the loss of the crop 
being estimated to vary from two thirds to one half; 
but the quantity planted is so great, and other agricul¬ 
tural produce so abundant, that no alarm seems to be 
felt about it. The prices are lower than last year, 
when they were not half what they were in 1847. 
Mortality among Cattle at Malta. —Accounts from 
this island announce the breaking out of a disease 
amongst cattle, which has proved fatal to a large num¬ 
ber of bullocks, and considerably enhanced the price 
of fresh meat in the market. 
Shrubs and Flowers for Cemeteries. —Yews, Cupres- 
sus lambertiana, Cupressus funebris, and white thorn ; 
primroses, violets, Amaranthus caudatus, Woodruff, 
pansies, xeranthemums, and thyme of different kinds. 
The French use Gnaphalium arenarium, and similar 
everlastings.— Gardeners' Chronicle. 
Cuttings. —No cuttings ought to have the leaves left 
upon them below the level of the ground. Leaves 
cause roots to appear, or at least to assist much in the 
operation; therefore, all cuttings are the better for 
having leaves upon them. But it is necessary to take 
care that the leaves do not destroy the cuttings instead 
of feeding them, as they are very apt to do, if permitted 
to perspire freely. Hence the use of bell glasses, and 
other similar contrivances.— Ibid. 
Proposed Plan of Converting the London JVight 
Soil into Manure. —A letter has recently been ad¬ 
dressed to the “ Chairman of the Board of Guardians 
of Poor-Law Unions,” of London, for the more effec¬ 
tual cleansing and draining that metropolis, without 
poisoning the Thames, by keeping out of the sewers 
all the foecal matter, and converting 500,000 tons of 
the latter into 1,500,000 tons of manure, by mixing it 
with one million tons of Irish-peat charcoal, at a cost 
of £2,500,000 for the use of it, as an absorber, dis¬ 
infectant, and deodorizer, besides other expenses, 
£1,329,387; total, £3,829,387; profit, £3,829,387, 
being nearly 100 per cent, or rather more than most 
would consider prudent to pay for Irish charcoal in the 
present state of agricultural distress. 
Sex of Eggs.—It is stated by a correspondent in 
the London Agricultural Gazette, that it is already 
well known to every housewife in the north of Scot¬ 
land, and acted upon by them with unerring success, 
that, before they set the clucking hens, the eggs to be 
placed under them for incubation are carefully exam¬ 
ined in the following manner. The eggs are, one by 
one, poised in the fingers of the left hand, with the 
broad end uppermost, and in that position held close 
to the light of a candle, or before a bright sun; the 
little finger of the right hand is then placed behind 
the egg, near the top, faintly to shade the light. When 
thus placed, and the egg turned gently round, (as atop 
would spin,) a hollow, or vacuum, about half an inch 
in diameter, will be distinctly seen, inside the egg. 
Now, if this hollow be exactly on the top, the egg 
will produce a cock ; if on the side, it will produce a 
hen. If the egg has no such vacuum, or hollow, neither 
on the top nor side, (as is the case with all hens’ eggs 
where no cock ia kept to fecundate, or impregnate, 
them,) no one in the secret would place any such 
under the hen, for incubation r.or in the hope of its 
hatching. 
Gutta-Percha Water Pipes, —A series of experi¬ 
ments has just been concluded at the Birmingham 
Waterworks, England, relative to the strength of 
gutta-percha tubing, with a view to its applicability 
for the conveyance of water. The experiments were 
made upon tubes of three quarters of an inch in di¬ 
ameter, and one eighth thick, of gutta percha. These 
were attached to the iron main, and subjected for two 
months to a pressure of 200 feet head of water, with¬ 
out being in the slightest degree deteriorated. In 
order to ascertain, if possible, the maximum strength 
of the tubes, they were connected with the water 
company’s hydraulic proving pump, the regular load 
of which is 250 lbs. on the square inch. At this point, 
they were unaffected, and the pump was worked up 
to 337 lbs., but, to the astonishment of every one, the 
tubes still remained perfect. It was then proposed to 
work the pump up to 500, but it was found that the 
lever of the valve would bear no more weight. The 
utmost power of the hydraulic pump could not burst 
the tubes. The gutta percha being slightly elastic, 
allowed the tubes to become a little expanded by the 
extraordinary pressure which was applied, but on its 
withdrawal, they resumed their former size.— Bir¬ 
mingham Gazette. 
Best Food for Foivls and Pigeons. —Reaumur’s ex¬ 
periments on food of poultry are well known. Fowls 
and pigeons are differently formed in the crop ; the 
one, therefore, requires to be fed chiefly on grain and 
green food; the flesh of the other, too heating as a 
general diet, feeds on pulse. The most simple answer 
is, barley for fowls, and peas and beans for pigeons. 
But fowls require more variety, as pointed out in for¬ 
mer numbers of this journal, and many little delica¬ 
cies, occasionally oats or buckwheat mixed with the 
barley; also, in moulting time, a portion of w T heat, 
malt, and hemp seed. They should generally be fed 
three times a day, before sunset; the mid-day meal, 
sometimes, may be boiled potatoes, mashed up with a 
little dry barley meal, or rice, not overdone and boiled 
dry, to be given when cold, never hot. An onion, 
chopped fine and mixed with the above, is said to be 
good, or green chives. Two cocks, with eight hens 
each, will consume in this way, from a peck to a peck 
and a half of barley per week. A pigeon will con¬ 
sume from a pint to a quart per week ; much depends 
upon town or country keep.— Agricultural Gazette. 
Important Discovery in Ventilation. —Dr. Chowne 
has enrolled a patent for improvements in ventilating 
rooms and apartments, of the perfect efficacy of which, 
we believe, there cannot be a doubt, and on a princi¬ 
ple at once most simple and unexpected. Without 
going into details, at present, we may state that the 
improvements are based upon an action in the syphon, 
which had not previously attracted the notice of any 
experimenter, namely, that, if fixed with legs of un¬ 
equal length, the air rushes into the shorter leg, and 
circulates up, and discharges itself from the longer 
leg. It is easy to see how readily this can be applied 
to any chamber, in order to purify its atmosphere. 
Let the orifice of the shorter leg be disposed where it 
can receive the current, and lead it into the chimney, 
(in mines, into the shaft,) so as to convert that chimney 
or shaft into the longer leg, and you have at once the 
circulation complete. A similar air syphon can be 
employed in ships; and the lower holds, where dis¬ 
ease is generated in the close berths of the crowded 
seamen, be rendered as fresh as the upper decks The 
curiosity of this discovery is, that air in a syphon re¬ 
verses the action of water, or other liquid, which 
enters and descends, or moves down in the longer leg, 
and rises up in the shorter leg.— London Literary 
Gazette* 
