The Dorset County Express and Agricultural Gazette.
Dorchester, Dorset, England, 1858-02-09 00:00:00

Iforiculturt.

THE WOOL SPECULATORS—We recently adverted to
the extraordinary facility with which the parties who
have inflicted so heavy a blow upon the wool trade in
the Bradford districts have contrived to escape not
merely any punishment for their misdeeds, but any ade-
quate personal censure. To attempt to rig the wool
market by acoommodation bills, to beat the fair trader
out of the field by a vast system of paper credit, and in
the end to fail with • maximum of liabilities and • mini-
mum of assets, is admitted to be universally wrong in
the abstract; but as to A, B, and C, who did these
things, they, poor fellows, are by no means to blame.
The system is atrocious, but the men who originated it,
by some curious process in morals which we confess that
we cannot understand, seem to be regarded as, upon the
whole, having been rather sinned against than sinning.
Here and there it is true that some fractious creditor
intimates his disgust rt the attempts which have been
made, and successfully made, to stop all investigation
into the transactions of the select knot of wool specu-
lators who have recently gone down, but the general im-
pression seems to be that the best thing to be done
under the circumstances is to take what may be left out
of the fire, and to be thankful that it is no less. The
report of the meeting of creditors of Mr. Edward Smith,
woolstapler, of Bermondsey, in the Times of Saturday
last, bears out everything that we have said. There
had been an enormous system of accommodation bills
carried on between the insolvent and the commission
houses which have recently failed in Yorkshire,—the
books had been kept in a very unsatisfactory manner,
many of them not having been posted up for a consider-
able time,—no such thing as a cash book existed, "but
there were certain accounts purporting to contain the
elements of one,"—the private expenditure in 1857 was
£l,7oo,—the debts are £185,249, and the assets £25,539,
thus showing about 2s. 10d. in the pound. These things
were all duly laid before the meeting, and we must, do
the chairman the credit to say that he expressed his dis-
approbation of the course pursued by Mr. Smith, but
the conclusion arrived at was simply that the estste
should be wound up under a deed of inspectorship.
This gentleman, therefore, has -had his awing; he has
traded recklessly, he has kept no proper books, and he
can't pay his creditors more than about • seventh of
what he owes them; but he escapes with the most abso-
lute impunity upon making what may he—but what no
one can be assured is • true statement of his affairs
and handing them over to his creditors to make the best
of them. Now, to what are we to attribute such • state
of things? Primarily, we believe, if not altogether,
to the horror which is entertained by the mercantile
community of the Court of Bankruptcy, to which, if it
were properly constituted, every such case as this ought
to go. But, looking at its enormous expense, at its de-
lays, and of its inefficient mode of procedure, creditors
say, and say very naturally,—" The insolvent has be-
haved, it is true, in such a manner as to deprive him of
our confidence, his whole conduct as a trader has been
utterly subversive of sound principles of mercantile mo-
rality, and we cannot be at all sure that he has disclosed
to us all his property. It is a bad business from begin-
ning to end, but, after all, our first duty to ourselves is
to snatch something from the flames, and that it will be
impossible for us to do if the estate be thrown into bank-
ruptcy." If that court were—what it is not—a well or-
ganised and well conducted mercantile tribunal, such
cases as that of Mr. E, Smith would always be disposed
of there, for his offences have been exactly those which
Bush • tribunal would be competent to investigate and
punish. At present, however, it is by no means certain
that a resort to it would secure the punishment of the
insolvent, while, on the other hand, it is certain that
such • course would materially diminish the dividend.—
Leeds Mercury.

WHAT FEEDING WILL DO FOR Ploo.—We have just
killed one pig, fourteen months old, which weighed 438
pounds, A neighbour had two pigs of the same litter,
weights 436 and 439 pounds. It will be seen that the
average growth was a trifle over a pound • day for the
whole life of these pigs. Another neighbour had • pig
of the same litter, killed at the same time, weight 248
pounds—a difference of nearly 200 pounds. There is an
old adage among pork makers, that "the breed of swine
is all in the trough," and these experiments would go to
establish the truth of the proverb. Though we have
full faith that some breeds are much better than others,
yet very much depends upon feeding. In the cases here
recorded, the whole difference lay in the trough. The
heavy pigs were well fed, while the other was stinted.
Pork, in one case costs about six cents a pound, in the
other not less than ten. To make pork economically,
the swine must have a dry, warm apartment to sleep in,
and, at this season of the year, the bottom should be of
wood, or some good non-conducter. They should be fed
at regular intervals. The pig knows the dinner hour as
well as his master, and his stomach becomes uneasy, if
its cravings are not met at the appointed time. The
secret of thrift depends upon keeping him in the most
comfortable position possible. If a pig squeals, his flesh
is wasting, and the owner should take the alarm at once.
But pigs should have enough to eat at each meal, and •
change of food, occasionally. They will grow more
rapidly upon • mixed diet. For the last few weeks
these heavy pigs were fed with two quarts of corn meal
apiece, at each feeding. This made the flesh firm, and
heavy, and the lard very abundant. Full feeding is as
great an advantage to the manure heap, as it is to the
pork barrel. With suitable conveniences a farmer may
make eight cords of manure worth sixteen dollars, for
each pig that he keeps a year. This will pay for nearly
one-half the food the pig consumes, and very much
reduce the oost of making pork. The rule then for mak-
ing pork economically is, keep dry and warm, feed
regularly and abundantly, with a variety of food—and
save the manure.—American Agriculturist.

THE HIRING OF AGRICULTURAL SERVANTS.—A
movement has been commenced in several counties for
the purpose of effecting an improvement in the present
mode of hiring agricultural servants. These persons are
generally engaged at certain periods of the year at places
where "statutes" are annually appointed to be held by
the chief constable of the district. Such occasions are
regarded as the regular holyday seasons of the young
rustics, who flock in great numbers to the place fixed
upon, whether they want hiring or not, and mostly
spend the day in eating, drinking, and dancing, and
visiting the various travelling exhibitions brought for
their amusement. It is alleged that these "statutes"
are attended with highly demoralizing results, and the
movement in question has been started with • view to
prevent such consequences by substituting better system
of hiring. At • recent meeting held at Lincoln, at
which the bishop of the diocese and many leading gentle-
men and farmers attended, the subject was discussed at
considerable length, but the meeting was not unanimous
as to whether statutes ought to be altogether abolished,
and ultimately the following resolution was agreed to :
—" That a society to be called the Lincohislure Gene-
ral Servants' Amelioration Society,' be established,
under the joint patronage of the Lord Lieutenant of the
county and the Lord Bishop of the diocese; the object
of the society being to place the relation between master
and servant on a more satisfactory footing than at pre-
sent exists, by securing the former from imposition, the
latter from unfair treatment; to encourage servants of
all classes to good conduct; to stimulate them to con-
tinuous service, thus maintaining confidence between
master and servant, and tending, under the blessing of
God, to promote their mutual comfort and wellbeing."
In several parts of Yorkshire attempts have been made
to abolish the statute fairs, but hitherto without much
success. In Wiltshire an improvement has been made
on the present system, by better arrangements at the
"statutes" themselves, and by the personal superin-
tendence of the clergy and gentry of the locality, who
assist in maintaining order and in facilitating the business
of hiring, whereby the young people are enabled to start
home at an earlier hour than they otherwise would do.
REFORM THE HEDGR-RCOVEL—AII writers insist upon
the necessity of encouraging the leading shoot, particu-
larly in hedge-row timber, and checking all others which
have a tendency to compete with it, so as to divide the
stem into forks or clefts. By increasing the number of
leading shoots, the strength of the nutritious principle
is rendered in a great measure ineffectual. In the appli-
cation of this system to practice the forester's simple
rule will be, that all branches taking a vertical direction,
and thereby becoming robbers of the main leaders,
should be removed or foreshortened, and that no
branches growing horizontally should be cut off, except
in those cases where, from their size and number, they
produce an evident stop falling off in the growth of the
main stem; or where, from their being overhung by
larger or snore spreading branches, they have begun to
decay. Pruning is only of much advantage when per-
formed early, and continued annually in those side
branches which are apt to bear too great a proportion to
the leading branch, thereby modifying the tree, and
directing its energies gradually to the top, preserving at
the same time a sufficient quantity of foliage. When
hedge-row trees, and trees in open situations, are in-
tended for profitable timber, priming should commence
at an early period of their growth, encouraging the
leading or main stem by displacing or foreshortening all
over-luxuriant or aspiring side shoots, by ripping off
buds likely to contend with the leader, gradually clear-
ing the lower part of the stem or side shoots, and form-
ing the top into the shape of • very open cone. All
lower branches should be removed before they exceed
an inch in diameter. Trees thus managed will form
close and healthy stems without any interior blemish,
and be trained to any reasonable altitude, according to
the soil, subsoil, and situation in which they grow. The
chief rule to attend to is to keep the top to taper, pre-
serving the leading shoot clear and free from knots, and
the stem tree from all the largest rooted branches, leav-
ing those only of the smaller }find that are requisite for
the health and support of the tree, and clearing the
tree from the bottom of all the branches as it advances
to age. But the trees should be cleared very slowly at
first when they are young. Only keep the branches that
are left thereon small, by often pruning, so as not to
injure the tree when it becomes timber. By the heads
of the trees being kept tapering when young, the rapid-
ity of the growth is greatly increased, on account of
the sap being confined to the most useful points, and
not allowed to spread in support of large unnecessary
branches. By attending to these rules, and the opera-
tion of pruning being executed every year, the stem
will be extended to a great height, and in the end the
grand object will be attained, viz., the production of
sound, unblemished timber. Reform the hedge:rows,
it is to be hoped, will become a popular cry in this
country. Let me recommend the landowners to reap
and sell when the crop is ripe—remove from the hedges
all those useless deformities of nature called pollards,
and all those stunted, scrubbed trees, to make way for
the young and flourishing, at from 10 to 15 feet apart,
' and they will do but little harm to the tenant, and be
source of five times the profit to the landlord. I went
, over an estate some time since with • gentleman's
steward, for the purpose of surveying the timber.
Having observed that he was inning over scores of
trees that ought to have been cut down 30 years ago, I
, said 'Here is a worthless tree that has been standing no
I doubt 100 years, and is doing the tenant an avenge in-
jury of Is. annually, and in greatest value, I should
think, was only 45." Oh, then, said he, 'lf it is worth
no more, I should not wish to cut it down.' Perhaps,
thoughtful reader, you will say the steward and the
tree were much alike—that they were both past im-
provement. In such a maritime country as England, I
am of opinion that to out down all the trees and dig
down to many of the fences would be a great injury.
Thin and prune the hedge-row timber as you do turnip...,
and the wider apart in reason the better the crop—for I
still contend that where one hundred elm trees grown
in man are worth • mown each, or £25, ten grown in
the same space and of the same age would be worth
from £3O to P.4o.—RaraZ Handbook.

A CRE4P ICI ROO/I—l partitioned off the north-
east corner of my wood-house, which opens to the west,
and is 25 feet wide. The ice room is about 9 feet
square; is clap-boarded on the studs on the north and
east, and lined on the inside, having the 4 inch space
between, empty. On the south is an inch board parti-
tion just tight enough to hold saw dud. On the west,
I slip in boards, like bars, to any height I wish to pile
my ice, and leave the upper part open just as is COIVIO.
Meat. This is my house. Into it, on the ground, I
put from 6 to 10 inches of saw dust, then put in my ice,
one foot from the partitition on every side, packing it as
closely as I can, and in as large blocks as I can son-
veniently handle. I then fill the &popes next the parti-
tion with saw dust and a good depth, (nay one foot)e) Ter
the top, and it is done for the year. I have practiced
in this way two years past, and had all I wanted for
dairy and other uses, and to give to my neighbour'', and
I had plenty of good ice left last week. The whole cod
of making is about 300 feet hemlock boards, a few
nails, and half-a-day's work. Neighbour farmers try it
Almost any other location is as good as this.—
A. P. Pewees.

DAHLIAS BLOOMING THE FIRST YEAR FROM Bun.
—Last spring I planted the seed of the Dahlia, which
quickly germinated, grew vigotuosuily, until they attained
the height of from four to five feet, and produced perfect
flowers. They were very double, and of every colour,
except black—that sombre hue which nature has entirely
excluded from this, her most beautiful department—and
blue, that coveted colour which no botanist has yet been
able to obtain in the Dalhia. In the spring of 1856 I
planted the seed of the Dalhia, with the same result,
but under the impression which you have adopted, and
which seems to be general among florists, that it requires
two years to bring it to perfection. I was fearful it
might be an eccentricity, and therefore did not communi-
cate it. The soil of my garden is • rich blank loam,
three feet in depth, which may have contributed to the
result, still I am convinced that the Dahlia may be pro-
pagated from the seed in • single season, from any
moderately rich soil—A. SAUNDRES.