The Dorset County Express and Agricultural Gazette.
Dorchester, Dorset, England, 1865-09-26 00:00:00

Countr Lsa !an.

N.vennber and Deoember, at one time there will
be b.,th green and ripe pones of the Scotch fir on the
,•anie tree—the green the produce of the dowers tha,
bloomed in Idey, the lit e ones the produce of last year.

SPARR6WS r. C ATCRPI LL ARR. The Ea Winfion
Cour,er rec an instance in which a gentlemat. in Watt
loctlity Imving taken e pecial pains to gusrd his crop of
gootosberries from sparrows, food to his mort fication
that the caterpillar had distroyed both Let and fruit.
OWING to the unprecedented seatton strawberri a are
now in full bloom in the garden *belonging to Mr. Heil,
in Roupel Park, strostham and n some casts the fruit
is fully formed. Recently the same garden produced a
vegetable marrow measuiing 25 imMes in length and
21i round.

INDUSTRY is a great virtue Indispensable, and when
joined to the other virtues she bring+ happiness and
prosperity. But when industry becomes allied to her
natural foes, the vices, she loses her character and her
wages. Thus industry and hsr good frui s are soon
ctstroyed by ra•liness, extraragmee, intemperance, and
debauchery.
VEGETABLYS a Slbibitiform FhOUI4 not be shown
"just as lifted, with all their roots, leaves, and filth
about them." They should be moderately trimmed,
and those that require it should he washed, and the
whole set up "tidily and t+stefully." This is the I
general practice at the Metro])(AMß Shows, though
there is no absolute rule. If a root lifts clesn and
bright, as pntatos for example often do, then it does not
need washing, and should not be washed. Toe best •
guide in these amiss is common sense.—Gardeners' I
Chronicle.

THE PoTATO DISTASE.—The Gardeners' Atigazise,
speskiug of the re-cm earancse of the potato cliseoe,
'Dike them up at once ; whether full ripe or
still growing vigoron4y, whether healthy or diseased,
large or small, get them out of the ground, Rorie' over
and stored as quickly as 1,0-sible. They will ripen in
store, especially if stored where they have a chance of
dryini.. It left in the ground they will scarcely increase
In bulk now and for what little gain there might be in
th.-ir increase, the risk of entire lOU by disease is too
great to be incurred for it.

THE HOP AND WILLOW.—ID dicelious plants, like the
hop or the willow. male blosmins are sometimes found
on the female trees. In some of the willows this is
particularly common ; and moreover it frequently
happens in these trees that there is to be seen • gradual
transition in form and function from the stamen to the
pistil. This change can hardly be the result of any
alteraVon is the constitution of the plant. but merely of
some external agency acting for a short time, for in the
next season perhaps no such transitional forms are to
be seen. Again, the hop plant has buen noticed to pro-
duce female flowers in one season, male and female
flowers in the succeeding summer, while in the third '
year male blossoms only were produced.

NEW EDIBLE FUNGI:M.—We (Gardeners' Chronic/e)
have just received, through the kindness of Dr. Greville,
from the neighbourhood of Brandon, one of the most
magnificent fungi we ever saw—Sparassis crisps, and
and which has moreover the merit of being described by
Fries and Krombhols as most delicious. Four
specimens only were found at the roots of a large Scotch
fir, in a wood of a hundred years' growth, consisting
of Scotch fir mixed with large and small oaks. The
specimens were so remarkable that they were gathered
by the kee, er on Mr. Amhurst's estate, and sent to •
village flower show at Bridlington, without any
suspicion that the species is of inch extreme rarity in
this country, a single specimen only having occurred
before in Berkshire, which was figured in the Intellectual
Observer. That specimen however WU very small in
comparison of these, one of which Admiral Mitford,
who sent it originally to Dr. Greville informs us
measured 18 inches in diameter by 14. At the first
glance it looks more like some beautiful rnadrepore or
seaweed, so different is it from other fungi, but ite
affinities are with the genus clavaria.

CHOLERA AND CATTLE DISMABL—The following is
the paper to which we briefly adverted last week, that
has been drawn up by the Rev. H. hfonle, vicar of
Fordington, the inventor of the "Dry Earth System,"
at the request of the Secretary of the Hereford Society
for Aiding the Industrious, who purpose sending it into
every house in Herefordshire :—" The cattle disease and
the cholera may both be greatly checked in their pro-
gress, or even averted; and at all times the health of
human beings and of cattle may be greatly promoted by
the adoption of a plan which in itself is perfectly simple,
and within the reach of every one. The secretions, both
of human beings and of the brute creation, are amongst
the moat active agents in spreading and fostering
disease; when they are allowed to ferment and the ex-
halations from them are suffered to escape, or when
they drain into ponds from which the cattle drink, or
into household wells, or into streams which supply water
to the neighbourhood. • It is of the utmost importance,
therefore, properly to dispose of these secretions, and
the plan suggeeted is as follows :—First, as regards
cattle: Into a shed or outhouse near the stable or cow-
shed, or pigstye, let a sufficient quantity of earth or
clay be carted. When that earth or cloy is tolerably
dry (the dryer the better), let a portion of it be sifted
through a sieve, with a quarter-inch mesh, every day
let this be appldel in sufficient quantity to absorb the
liquids, and let the solid Becretioes be swell as often as
possible into a heap with this eerth, or the floor of the
stable, &c., might be so constructed that the liquid
secretions should drain either into a hollow at the outer
end of it, or into a shallow pit or vault, either of them
being nearly filled with dry and sifted earth. In a
very few days the absence of ammonia from the
atmosphere of the building will strikingly suggest
the efficacy of the disinfecting power. Do any object
to the trouble and perhaps the expense of this? The
value of the manure thus eared will more than compen,
sate for both. Secondly, as to human beings threatened
by cholera, or any other epidemic or infectious disease.
Professor Miller, in his report recently circulated by
the Privy Council, with reference to the threatened
approach of oholera, recommends that all secretions
should be covered with a layer of powdered charcoal or
of lime, or, if these be not at hand, with fresh or dry
earth. It has, however, for some years been fully
established that earth or clay dry and sifted is quite as
efficient for deodorising purposes, and (as the writer
believes) for disinfecting purposes, as charcoal; and far
more so, and every way far better than lime. Into the
vaults then, as at present ordinarily constructed, let a
considerable quantity of such earth be immediately
thrown, and let addition to this be made from time to
time. This will prove a great remedy ; but it requires
a very large quantity of earth—and because of the
drainage, which may flow from the vault into some
water supply, it may prove very partial in is effect.
An out-door vault for the purpose of proper supply of
earth, should as soon as possible be constructed. This
should be water-tight. It should be about three feet
deep; and if it be carried under the whole floor, and if
there be no opportunity of removal from behind, that
removal can be effected without the slightest offence
through • trap door in the floor. Such vaults may be
and are construoted for closets inside a house tt.e
opening for removal being made through the foundation
and basement of the wall. But ter the sick room, or
hospital, or prison, or private house, there are earth
closets or commodes of a most Rimple and efficient con-
struction, which may be used as a receptacle both of
liquid and solid secretions, in which those secretions
can be immediately covered with earth. Thus all
fermentation is prevented, and no exhalation or
offensive smell can escape into the room.l- And no
offensiveness is found in the removal of the secretions.
In cases in which parties cannot incur the small expense
of these commodes in a sick room—in many a cottage, for
instance—it will be well to have a box of dry earth in
the sick room, and apply it by means of a small scoop.
When the earth has been used once, it may be dried
and sifted, and used a second time, or even several
times over. This is important when it is difficult to get
the earth (as in towns), or when the manure has to be
carried to a distance. The manure may be applied at
once to the garden or avid; or may be allowed to
accumulate, under lover, until wanted for use. The ,
accumulation is quite inodorons, and b comes rapidly
dry. Several of these closets were used with great
swims in the reoent rifle camp at Wimbledon; avid the
system advocated by Mr. fdoule is now fully and suc-
cessfully establethed in almost every gaol and barrack in
India. A paper on the subject, read by Mr. Moule
before the Society of Arts, and printed in their Journal
for May, 1863, has been reprinted by the Supreme
Government, and sent by them to every station. The
Punjab Government have translated the paper into the
language of the people of that Province. And some of
the hiehest medical officers in that country speak of the
inventor as one of India's greatest benefactors.