The Dorset County Express and Agricultural Gazette.
Dorchester, Dorset, England, 1860-10-09 00:00:00

L&triiLntrr.

EXTRAORDINARY SALE or PorATorm.— Litat week
Mr. Wall me, North It vwick Mairs. sold all dp•
upon his fanu, comprising 73 Scotch acres, it the bigh
price of £57 Pk. per acre. He will realize for potatoes
:dune the komo sum of £4.107 11,.. The purchasat
is an Eot Lothian potato merchant.—Scotamint.
GRRAT (h7"nru cArrio: AND riirrhr
FAlR.—This great auntial 1111,111{1MS and pleasure fair com-
menced on Tuesday, the 2nd inst., and was proclaimed
For time days. There was a tolerable supple of llores,
most of which were of inferior quality, Ana sold at ir-
regular prices, while anything goad and useful inside
very high rates. The 1,4 animals acre disposed of on
the previous day (Monday) at the stables, and many of
them moved off at 100 guineas. The demand, however,
wiss deeidedly Mat, and secondary qualitica hang heavily
on hand. 604.1 cart horees maiie £10; secondary, £3ll
to £45 each; colts, EH) k, £18; nags, MO to CIO ; rough
Irish colts, £l2 to CM

EKG.IT COKS.—We regret to see, by specimens
forwarded from Ilrigg, that the fungus called ergot is
very ailimilaut among the rye in that part of Lincoln-
shire. This affection of the grain -has now become so
rare that it is to be feared lest the formidalile come-
planers of ergoti,al corn when eaten way ba forgotten.
It is in reality a dangerous poison if taken into the body
mixed with foal, producing violent spasmodic convul-
sions and dry gangrene. If taken in doses 13 much
as two drachms. giddiness, headache, and Hushed face
are produced, together with pain and spasms in the
fIitINCIL and vomiting, with colic, purging. and
a sense at weight and weariness of the limbs. :trine. •
lvrinan a riter, states that on one occasion. in the king.
dimis I.lWurtemburgand Bohemia, he saw what is called
convulsive ergotimi raging to such an extent that 200
patients died out of 509. In severe eases the very
limbs of men and animals rot off.

TUE LATE —three weeks at which,
three months ago, we estimattsl the delay of harvest
tone by the weather of April, May, and June, have been
doubled at the least, by the weather of July, August,
and Septenitier. We are now, over most of the southern
counties, no nearer the complet of our harvest than
we were in the middle of last month last year. Having
traversed noisy of these counties during the past ten
days, we are hound to speak of the lamentable COMM,
queues, which are how at length following upon the
perpetual rainfall of many weeks. There is everywhere
an immense extent f barley either lying in swathe upon
the ground or be den fiat amidst the closers which are
growing through it. A great deal if wheat, too, remains
um: irried on all the higher I mils. And the high prices
realized for the few good samples in the inerket shows
how general is the opinion of the injury which has been
Rust:oiled. Beside the corn upon the land, there is, we
believe, re water standing upon the surface now thou
there has been at ally time for many previous years.
Anil beneath that surface the whole substance of the
soil is wisterke,geil soil satorated More generally Ulan
has been kown since most of our drainage engineers eon,
inenced their operations. We cannot doubt that during
the coining winter the contrast hetween drained it..
undrained lima will be snore obvious than ever. Ind
the discussions of our aericaltural journal's will turn
almost exclusively upon the anamolies of drainage legis-
lation, and the practice awl the principles of tire opera-
tion it professes to promote. We must ad I that the
etilihies.s of this wet weather, while it has delayed or
diniinishell the injuriea vu damned by our corn crops, has
greatly retsniesl the growth of all green crops, and a
dripping season has not peeved so beneficial to the growth
of sweilea and ma gel wurzols as might have been es-
pected.—Ayeiraftenif rAt:ritr.
311 our WTI' KED l'Arrt.t: Frain. —Mr. Lures war the
first to show, by a series of carefully us iile analyses, the
true nature of these maile•up kin la if heel, and he has
since been corroborated hy Drs. Amlorson and V.:Li:ker,
sod lately he lir. Cameron. of Dublin. Those gentle-
men have proved that the juices charged for sudi food
are very much greater than de in intrinsic properties
would warrant, pundiasers paying from CPI to E5O per
ton for a material which is not worth inore than 11 or
profe.sor Voelelter's repot hi the Couneil of the
Royal Agricultural noidety of Elighalid is try strongly
condemnatory of such peeper abets. lie says :- --• Most
samides of c utile (mei which I have hitherto ex: 111 l ined
*amain large proportions of riceoneal (the refuse of
riceslresaill4 mills), odr dust, 'del the sweepings of
flour mills, mixed with spoiled sn I iliferier flour. The
bad taste and fusty suseli of the latter are concealed by
etrong-stneliing drugs, such as toluene, or anise, or
fennel se:sl, and aim by latter suietances, ouch a.
gentian. In one partietilor 5 niple, recommended
as heel for pigs. I have found Vie balk of the Meal to
consiet of crushed earnits, beans, rice. an-I b irloyoueal;
this food also coot Mini none sulphur and Mire, as Well
as femigrie, and a little anise. ; it was, in fact, a
regular medical powder.' We would therefore recom-
mend all parties hi use only such articles as they really
know the value of, or which will hear the test of ...lami-
nation : fur while such preparations as those to which
wi refer do possess a certain amount of value, it lias not
hitherto been at all equivalent to the price charged."--
R. O. Prins*.