The Dorset County Express and Agricultural Gazette.
Dorchester, Dorset, England, 1877-10-23 00:00:00

Agricultural Items.

AGRICULTURAL HIRING.

The great hiring fair at Newbury was held on Thur..-
'lay, when the town WM thronged with people from
the neighbouring villages. For the greater part of the
.lay the Market-place and if + approaches were deusley
crowded. There wax a large attendance of farmers,
and a 5r,0.1 deal of hiring went on. Since the lad fair
there hue been little or no agitation promoted In this
part of the country by the Agricultural Labourers'
Union, awl, on the whole, the relation's between
employers and employed have been of an improved
character. The greatest difficulty which agriculturiate
i now experience s the scarcity of boys, caused by the ,
operation of the Agricultural Children's Act. and in
most quarters this item lithe dearest in the agricultural
labour market. Most classes of farm servants
demanded wages fully as high as those given in the
Pant year, and the contracts made showed no decline.
Carters, although plentiful, commanded 144. to las,
per week, with Vi at Michaelmas (with or without a
cottage, according to circtunstances), while tinder-
cartons were hired at 9.. to 12. per week, with 1:5 at
,Nlichaelnias. Shepherds asked high wages, but owing
to the depression of 'agriculture but few sheep remain
on some farm, and there appears to be more shepherds
than vacant places, at least, in West Berk. and North
Hants. Such engagements ILI were made sh‘wed that
the wages of the district vary from 12s. to Vis. per
week. Domestic servants with good charactere were
somewhat scarce, as elsewhere, and had no difficulty In
obtaining kituati.mi at wages which exhibited a marked
increase on those given in former years.

HYDROPHOBIA.
A very painful case of this disease terminated
fatally at Bedford on Wednesday night, the ictim
being Mrs. Skipwith, wife of a barrister, residing at
Kimbolton Lodge, in that town. It seems that about
two months a4o the deceased lady was made a present
of two pet dogs by a friend at Brighton. One of these
was bitten by a mad dog, which at the time had been
wandering about the district, and the animal No hurt
wan destroyed ; not, howe%er, until it had infected be
pet companion. Soon afterwards Mrs. Skipwith,
while in the act of feeding the latter, was slightly
bitten by it upon the thumb, but, treating it as a
scratch, she tonic no notice of it. Last Sunday, how.
ever, while at church, she MIN seized with violent
pains, and the family medical attendant, Mr. Slutrpin,
called in Dr. Jenner, but all their efforts were in.
effectual.

I.EAD POISONING OF BIRDS.
A short time ago the keepers on Sir H. Tufton's
estate at Ashford noticed a singular mortality among
the pheasants. The cause was not immediately dis-
covered, but it was eventually found out that the birds
swallowed the splinters from spent bullets lying about
on the ground at the range of the local Volunteers,
which was tb,140 at hand. The lead did not produce
immediate death, but caused led poisoning, to which
the birds by slow degrees succumbed. Other even
more remarkable instances than the above have
occurred with pheasants and grouse swallowing shot
picked up in the coverts that have been shot, and
among the heather, in mistake either for seed or
gravel. Last year a considerable number of pheasants
died in one gentleman's preserve skim hi Lancashire
from this cause, and there is every probability that
many of both pheasants and grouse casually, found
dead from some unknown cause owe their death to
picking up pellets. in this manner.—Land and Water,

A VONSTER WATER WHITL.
The Agricultural Gazelle of Monday last contains
the following : " On the day the Queen was crowned,
a water-wheel was started at Bourton which has run
without stopping ever since,and has never required re-
pair. One revolution to e$ ery two minutes all these .years
has been continually accomplished. And not only for
the quality, but for the quantity, of the work thus
indicated great credit is due to the foundry close by
little more than • smithy then—at which this wheel
was made. It 1. 110 feet in diameter, with a rim 80
inches wide and 8 inches deep. It stands across the
',mine or narrow valley where Mr. Hindley's works
are situated, and is driven not by the main stream
(head of the Stour, which Joins the Avon at Christ.
church) but by • number of springs in the valley side,
the water from each of which is brought into it, and
fed into it at different points of ite circumference.
Designed and made at the Bourton Iron Works so
long ago it is • capital testimony to the merits of the
source from which the present industry or factory hair
grown."

PIOUS MARKET C ,MPANY.
The seventh ordinary half-yearly meeting of the
shareholders of this company wee held at the George-
hotel on Wednesday afternoon last. The Marquis
of Bath, chairman of the Bosrd of Directors presided,
and said his duty was a very light one. Their affairs
were in such a favourable condition that If they were
so disposed they had no wish or desire to keep an from them. The receipts during the six months
ending September HOth amounted to k= Is. 21, and
the expenditure to 1.75 19s. Bd., leaving a balance of
£152 4s. 6d., clear profit in favour of the company. It
had been a question with the directors whether they
should not declare a dividend upon that amount, but
after consulting several of the shareholders, the
directors thought it would be most convenient to
declare a dividend only once a year. They therefore

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pmpoeed tn Once the balance on deposit at the bealc.
for which they would receive interest, and postpone
their dividend till the spring, when they hoped it
would be at the rate of 4 per cent. for the year,
though of course, they did not guirantee that.
_

NVEIWIILLN P tit /1 Cli iIIeRTARD,
In a recent number of the gardeners' Che*niee your
correapon.let "J. A. E. A," liege a muggedion of eoine
bright pi int that would keep green all the
winter, low awl compact in hulk. for placicag on a
memorial ',tone in the churchyard. Would not some
of our luirdy Heath., be perfectly alipte.l to the
purpe, I By placing the Erica carn-ia el i•ci to the
sten,. the branehee aprewl over it, awl itu roae.
1,11111.14 1.1.,44,1T1S r. euily npriu anoi flee!, gra,n
foliage, inv.or ;4hiy trim :mil net throughout the year,
would lie alwar pleadlig. If a larger plant MU
tiehni.sible the 1.. VagAIDI, the Cornieh Heath, in it.
white variety, would he very appropriate in the long
enduring and perfect purity of it.. white blosmome, and
the aimed imperceptible ilhiorder of their fall. 0.