The Dorset County Express and Agricultural Gazette.
Dorchester, Dorset, England, 1858-03-16 00:00:00

21gricuIture.

PROBABLE DISCONTINUANCE OF THE SCOTCH AGRI-
CULTURAL STATISTICS—The collection of these much
vaunted statistics threatens to be discontinutd, owing to
a squabble between Mr. Maxwell and the Board of
Trade. It seems that large items in his accounts have
been disallowed, because Mr. Maxwell refused to render
a detailed statement of the enumerators' expenditure,
and to recognise any authority as requisite for the em-
ployment of these gentlemen other then the mutual ar-
rangement between him and the Board of Trade. On
this, the whole difference between the Treasury and the
Secretary to the Highland Society, seemsto hinge. The
great value of these statistics may well be questioned
when there is so much manifest reluctance to pay for
them.

ROYAL AGRICULTURAL SOCIETY OF ENGLAND.—
CHESTER MerriNo.—Lord Portman, Chairman of the
General Chester Committee, reported recommendations
on the acceptance of Mr. Manning's contract for the
works at Chester, and of the Mayor of Chester's ar-
rangements for a dinner for 500 persons in the Music
flail; also on the accommodation of the Judges, and the
sale of substantial refreshments at a cheap rate to the
labouring classes daring the period of the meeting. The
Committee also recommend that • Special Committee be
appointed to report, before the selection of the place of
meeting for the next year, the best arrangements to be
made in reference generally to the showyard works.—
Mr. Hudson, of Castleacre, suggested that the general
question of the Society's purchasing a suitable pavilion,
to be retained as its own property, for the purpose of the
great dinner of the Society at its successive country
meetings, should be referred to the specie' committee on
show-yard works.—On the motion of Mr. Brandreth
Gibbs, seconded by Mr. Fisher Hobbs, the Council
decided that it was desirable that the Society should
hold a Metropolitan Show, provided a suitable site could
be obtained; and on the motion of Lord Portman,
seconded by Lord Feversham, that the Show should not
be held until after the year 1860, when the circuit
districts for the country meetings of the Society will
have been completed, but in the first year afterwards
that might be found practicable. The arrangements
connected with this subject were referred to the
Metropolitan Show Committee—The Council did not
adopt Mr. Frere's suggestion for a "Card of Meetings,"
and they declined to grant Mr. Morton's application, on
the behalf of the Proprietors of the Gardener a Chronicle,
for the admission of Reporters.
BATH AND WRIST OF ENGLAND AGRICULTURAL
Soarry.—The deputation appointed at a reoent meeting
of the Council, held at Waghorn's Hotel Taunton,
visited Barnstaple on Thursday week, for the purpose of
selecting from among the sites offered the most suitable
and convenient on which to hold the society's exhibition
in 1869. They were greeted on their arrival by • merry
peal from the pariah steeple, and were accompanied upon
their errand by several members of the local committee,
one of whom, in a complimentary speech, remarked that
their holding the meeting next year in Barnstaple would
be • greet advantage to the neighbourhood, "if only on
amount of the dung they would leave behind them 1"
We are informed that a part of Pottington farm was
determined upon as the eight for the exhibition, as it
was oonsidered to have superior advantages to Rawleigh
Park, from its oontignity to the town, and it. being ap-
proached by perfectly level roads.
VROZTABLE PHENOMINON.—BOITIe time ago the
Museum of Natural History at Paris received • parcel of
seeds, of a Mexican Euphorbie, which soon attracted at-
tention by the following strange phenomenon. In a
room kept at a moderate temperature, the seeds being
spread out upon a table, many of them are seen to move
spontaneously, sometimes by starts, and sometimes by
progressive motion • in the latter case a seed will move
in a direct line through • space of from four to five
inches. If the temperature of the room be lowered to
about 40 deg. Fahrenheit the motions will cease but
will begin as soon as the temperature is raised again to
between 55 and 60 deg. Fahrenheit. Upon examina-
tion, these seeds have been [mind to contain the larva of
• ooleopterous insect, but to what genus it belongs oan
only be ascertained after it has undergone all its trans-
formations. That the motion of the seed is owing to the
existence of the insect can hardly be doubted, still it is
not may to understand how the contractions of the larva
can communicate locomotion to its dwelling, especially
in a straight line. A fact of a similar nature has been
likewise observed in certain Algerian seeds, especially
those of the Tamarix
.Gallica.

--CJiii.----I;Tiß—the-r-e-Trere imported into Ireland
from abroad and from the colonies 492,428 quarters of
wheat, 104,632 of barley, 3,583 of mite, 9,202 of rye,
572,893 of Indian corn, 61,747 cwt. of wheat meal, and
4,266 cwt. of rye meal. The iuiporte of wheat amounted
in 1852 to 199,450 quarters, and that quantity has
greatly declined since that period. In 1863 it rose to
828,409 quarters, and in 1856 it was 571,088 quarters.
A Somersetehire farmer tells us that had it not been
for the late fall of snow there worild soon have been •
general outcry in his neighbourhood for water for the
cattle, the water coarse., which, generally, at this time
of year are full, being nearly dry.—Bristot Mirror.
AGIICIJI/PUBZ IN FRANCIL—The Agriculture eon.
tame the following :—" The determination expressed
by the Emperor to give • strong impulse to agricultural
pursuits has been niadifested more clearly than before
since the great agricultural exhibitions. The best
machines and the finest animals of both French and
foreign races sent to the Exhibitions of 1856 and 1857
were purchased by order of His Majesty, and placed on
his private estates. During his visits to England and
Germany the Emperor examined with the greatest in-
terest and visited in all their details the farms of Prince
Albert at Osborne and at Windsor, and the domains on
which the King of Wurtemberg has obtained such great
Improvements both as regards agriculture and the im-
provement of horses and cattle. Since that period the
projects of the Emperor have been more extended, and
are being realized on • vett scale. In the fine farm of
7:milieu:le, comprising about 70 hectares (176 scree) of
excellent land, near St. Cloud, drainage operations have
been executed and roads formed. Cowhouses. recently
constructed on the most approved plans, have been
filled with one of the most select droves of Durham
cattle ever imported from England. It comprises 2
balls, 29 cows and heifers, almost all in calf, and 9 nine
calves. One of the bulls, two years old, is the produce
of the famous Durham bull, Master Butterfly, which
obtained the first prize at the Exhibition of 1856, and
which was purchased, when five years old, for 31,700 f.,
to be sent to Australia. The farm at Montaigne, in the
Park of St. Germain, which contains 90 hectares of
excellent land, is about to be worked directly by the
civil list, and next spring from 25 to 30 cows will be
seen at pasture there, the milk and butter of which
will, we understand, be brought to Paris, and sold in a
pure state at a shop opened for the porpoise in the Rue
Richelieu. At Senart a farm of 200 hectares, which has
been hitherto farmed out, is also to be carried on by the
civil list. In Champagne, r wind the camp of Chalons,
12 farms have just been laid out in order to turn to ac-
count the litter of the cavalry and artillery horses.
There, as everywhere else, the great problem to be
solved is to obtain manure in large quantities and at •
cheap rate in order to transform a barren soil into • fer-
tile one. A large number of Breton cows have been
already !sent there train the Morbihan. In the Landes
the Emperor has pasolmod from 8,000 to 9,000 heotarm
of land in the neighbourhood of D. /buten' ha'ms

will before the end of this year have been established,
each containing about 20 hectare'. The clearing of the
ground has been already commenced, and the necessary
buildings are being constructed with the greatest acti-
vity. Planting on a very extensive scale will take
place, consisting principally of cork trees, pines, ches-
nuts, frt. In each farm a space of four or five hectares
will be devoted to agricultural experiments. The native
cattle of the country will be utilised and the breed im-
proved."