FOREIGN AGRICULTURAL NEWS. 
jfbmgn Agricultural l$ms. 
By the steamer Pacific, we are in receipt of our for¬ 
eign journals to October 15 th. 
Markets. — Cotton , a slight fall, Flour and Wheat, a 
small advance. 
The Mineral Theory. —Mr. Lawes and Dr. Gilbert, 
have shown by several years of careful experiment, 
tliat the mineral theory of Leibig, which he put forth 
so confidently some time since, and still adheres to so 
pertinaciously, is founded in error. This is confirmed 
by Mr. Pusey and M. Dumas. 
A*Small Hen. —Mr. Morton states that he has a full- 
grown Se’bright Bantam hen that weighs only a quar¬ 
ter of a pound. We should like to see this bird along 
side of a Cochin China of fourteen pounds. The differ¬ 
ence is certainly remarkable. 
Rape. —It was my practice to grow yearly a few acres 
of rape for sheep feed, on land intended for wheat; it 
answers two purposes—first, feed for sheep, and sec¬ 
ondly, the wheat crop is much the better for it; but it 
requires caution on the part of the shepherd, or the sheep 
will be blown. I have generally had it mown in the 
morning, (and sometimes sprinkled with salt,) what was 
intended for the sheep to feed on in the evening, 
but I think with every attention there is some danger 
in feeding off rape—if the crop is good particularly. 
Popularity of Agriculture. —Never at any time or 
in any country has agriculture afforded a wider or 
more important range of subjects for discussion than it 
does in this, at the present moment. It is economic, 
social, and political; scientific, practical, moral and ed 
ucational; it is talked from the castle to the cottage, 
from the palace to the workhouse. It is clerical and 
yet secular; provincial, and yet fashionable. It has 
become common ground, on which all men meet.— Ag. 
Gazette. 
Thistles. —At this time of the year the extraordinary 
number of thistles in full seed, in hedgerows, might 
lead a novice in agriculture to imagine the plant was a 
favorite, and useful in the economy of the farm, instead 
of being one of the most mischievous weeds under the 
sun, each seed having wings on which it is carried over 
the face of the country for mile3. Thus the industrious 
man, who cleans his land, is at the mercy of the sloven. 
In a day’s ride sufficient seed may be seen to sow a 
thousand acres, only waiting for a breeze to disperse it. 
John Bull abused the Americans for being behind the 
world at the exhibition. However, brother Jonathan 
can teach us how to build a yacht! If our countrymen 
will take a lesson from the Dutch and Belgians, on the 
art of keeping land clean, they will be wise. Where 
a weed flourishes corn will grow.— Ag. Gazette. 
Feeding Calves. —Give them what is natural, viz: 
sweet milk; and as they advance, provide them some 
additional nourishing food, of rather a solid nature, but 
not too strong. When properly nursed and well kept, 
calves get strong before winter—the severity of which 
they are thus enabled to withstand, more especially if 
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descended from stocks with plenty of hair. Ill-fed 
calves, on the contrary, suffer severely in winter, and 
often fall victims to the parsimony of their owners. An 
idea is entertained by some breeders, that if all their 
cows produce calves, they are sure to be well paid; 
but one good calf is better than three bad ones. Many 
animals which would have made good oxen, heifers, or 
cows, are ruined when calves; they may recover, but 
not when young; so that the early maturity of such 
animals can never' be attained. Every day’s neglect hi 
properly feeding calves, retards their maturity; white 
every day’s good feeding will tell in the animal’s favor. 
On such a bull-breeding farm as now described, noth¬ 
ing but the best of food must be supplied to the calves, 
otherwise they will cut a poor figure when exposed for 
sale.— Hiclcens on the Breeding of Live Stock. 
Dahlias .— Every grower of this favorite flower will 
have noticed that some kinds possess a great advantage 
over others, both by expanding their blooms earlier, 
and also by throwing them out on extended footstalks 
from the foliage, sothat they may be said to hang pen¬ 
dulous in the air. These advantages are possessed, in 
a remarkable degree by the Dahlia called Cleopatra; 
and I should be much obliged by your carefully nan> 
ing other kinds that possess them in an equal degree. 
Cartmel ; [The following throw their blooms well up 
above the foliage and are of good habit. There are 
but few kinds so tall as Cleopatra grown at the present 
day: 
Black Prince, crimson 
Box, scarlet 
Charles Turner, crimson 
Duke of Cambridge, lilac 
Earl of Clarendon, orange 
Essex Triumph maroon 
Fearless, lilac 
John Edwards, scarlet 
Leda, buff 
Model, brown 
Mr. Palmer, salmon 
Mr. Seldon, lilac 
Mrs. C. Bacon blush 
Mrs. Seldon, yellow 
Negrc, crimson 
Nepaulese Prince, crimson 
Princes Radziville, white and 
purple 
Roundhead, buff 
Royal Chancellor, claret 
Seraph, orange 
Sir F. Bathurst, crimson 
Sulphurea pallida, sulphur 
Sir R. Peel, scarlet 
Thames' Bank Hem, 
crimson 
Ag. Gazette. 
Cultivation of Wheat. —The Rev. Mr. Smith, sowed 
four acres of wheat at the rate of one peck of seed per 
acre, in three rows of a foot apart; then he left a space 
of three feet for fallow, and sowed three more rows a 
foot apart; then another space of three feet, and so 
continued through the field. He hoed the wheat in thB 
spring between the rows, and stirred each three feet 
space of fallow between them, with a one horse scari¬ 
fier, and got nearly 45 bushels of wheat per acre, 
weighing 61 pounds per bushel. He applied no ma¬ 
nure ; and expects by this system, to obtain a good 
average crop from year to year without the aid of any 
fertiliser, other than the atmosphere. The second year, 
each three feet space between the triple rows, is sowed 
with wheat, and the ground occupying the triple rows 
of wheat the preceeding year, is left fallow, to be stirred 
occasionally with the scarifier. And thus he alternates 
from year to year, obtaining larger crops per acre than 
those who manure expensively under the old system. 
