194 
FOREIGN AGRICULTURAL NEWS. 
.foreign Agricultural Sfoios. 
By the steamer Cambria, we are in receipt of our 
foreign journals to the 3d of May. 
Markets. — Ashes are lower. Cotton has fallen again 
fully per lb. Wheat , Flour, Corn, Provisions, and 
in fact, most American products, were dull of sale, at 
slightly lower prices. Wool seems a little more prom¬ 
ising. 
Eggs in Winter.—An Irish correspondent in the 
London Agricultural Gazette, suggests that the best 
way of preserving eggs is, to have the pullets hatched 
in February that will begin to lay in December. 
To Remove Moss from Trees. —ScrapeThe roughest of 
the moss from the trees, and then wash them with a 
mixture of soap suds, quicklime, green cow dung, and 
wood ashes.— English Paper. 
Death of Professor Wahlenberg. —From Stockholm, 
is annouuced the death, at the age of 71. of the distin¬ 
guished botanist and geologist, M. Goeran Wahlenberg, 
Professor at the University of Upsal. 
Baked Potatoes. —It is computed that there are 60 
tons of baked potatoes sold in the streets of London 
every week during the season, namely, from Septem¬ 
ber till the beginning of April. The average takings 
of each vendor, is 6s. a day, and the receipts of the 
whole number throughout the season, are supposed to 
be £14,000. — Cornwall Gazette. 
Boiling Potatoes. —The correspondent of the Lon¬ 
don Times, says: “ The following method of dressing 
potatoes will be found of great use at this season of the 
year, when skins are tough and potatoes are watery. 
Score the skin of the potato with a knife, lengthwise 
and across, quite around, and then boil the potato in 
plenty of water and salt, with the skin on. The skin 
readily cracks when it is scored, and lets outs the 
moisture, which otherwise renders the potato soapy 
and wet. The improvement to bad potatoes by this 
method of boiling them is very great; and all who 
have tried it find a great advantage in it, now that 
good potatoes are very difficult to be obtained 
Effect■ of Seaweed upon Orchard Trees, Applied as a 
Top-Dressing around the Roots. —Early in February of 
last year, I put in 150 high standards, including nearly 
every variety of apple, pear, plum, and cherry; also 
mulberry and walnut; the trees being generally six or 
eight years old. In the summer, most of them bore a 
little fruit; they were dressed as above, with seaweed, 
(of which there is abundance on my shore,) contrary to 
the advice of all around me ; and, notwithstanding the 
fruit borne, it is a fair subject of inquiry, whether sea¬ 
weed may be beneficial or otherwise to fruit trees.— 
Gardeners' Chronicle. 
Comparative Value of Dung Heaps. —The dung 
heap, will, under the careless system, more rapidly di¬ 
minish in bulk than in value, so that a load of it unrot¬ 
ted is not worth much more than half a load of the 
well-rotted manure; while the whole bulk of the heap 
after rotting in this way, may be worth, perhaps, two 
thirds or three fourths of the whole bulk in its original 
state. When carefully prepared, the whole heap is 
worth as much as in its original state, indeed, more, 
the labor spent upon it not being lost; and as the bulk ;j 
of the heap does diminish somewhat, the value of a 
given bulk increases in the same proportion.— Agricul- ■■ 
tural Gazette. 
Poultry Remedy. —About six weeks ago, one of my 
hens became ill, and lost the use of one of its legs. I 
was told over laying was the cause of the malady, and 
was recommended to give her a few peppercorns, and ■ 
a little bread soaked in ale, which was forced down her j 
throat. In a few hours, the bird was walking about the 
yard ; however, in a couple of days, she had a relapse, | 
when the same dose was administered, and she was sep- 1 
arated from her companions for 48 hours, when she ia 
quite recovered, and has had no return of the complaint, < 
and produces her fair number of eggs per week. This J 
may be a useful hint to amateurs, as I was informed by * ! 
a poultry fancier of some experience that my hen would 
die.— Ibid. 
Adulteration of Condiments. —It appears that pep¬ 
per, mustard, arrowroot, <fec., are not the only articles ~ 
deteriorated by dishonest tradesmen and dealers. A 
report issued by the Pharmaceutical Society, describes 
an ingenious, but unwarrantable system of adulterating 
isinglass, an article extensively used for fining purposes, | 
and for preparing the luxuries of the wealthy classes. | 
Russian isinglass is the air bladder of the sturgeon, dried, 
rolled into thin sheets, and cut into very fine shreds* 1 
The system of adulteration detected, consists in rolling 
out common gelatine in a similar manner, and placing 
one sheet of the spurious matter, between two of isin¬ 
glass. ‘After cutting, the deception is very difficult of 
detection, but it may be marked by a comparison with 
the really genuine specimen, or by the disagreeable 
gluey flavor of the adulterated article when dissolved 
in boiling hot water, and tasted without sweetening.— 
Ibid. 
Effects of Water on Metallic Pipes. —Attention has 
of late years been directed to the corrosion of tanks, 
and hot-water pipes, by particular kinds of water; these 
effects are sometimes very remarkable, and the cause 
of them is not always quite evident. When very pure 
water is kept in leaden tanks, or is allowed to remain in 
leaden pipes, it invariably corrodes them, the lead in 
time becoming honey combed and useless, whilst the 
water acquires a slight impregnation of lead, sufficient 
to render it decidedly unwholesome, if not absolutely 
poisonous. On the other hand, when water contains 
a considerable quantity of saline or earthy impurity, 
though it then does not act upon lead, it often corrodes • 
iron pipes with great rapidity ; tins sometimes is traced 
to the presence of a large quantity of carbonic acid 
and air dissolved in the water, and sometimes' is 
caused by the salts themselves; it is also frequently 
caused by the presence of two metals, as where iron 
pipes are joined by lead, in which case a galvanic ac¬ 
tion is established, which increases the corrosion of the 
one metal.— Ibid. 
