The Dorset County Express and Agricultural Gazette.
Dorchester, Dorset, England, 1858-05-04 00:00:00

Igriculturt.

CARAT SALE OF SHORT HOZNIL--OzroßD, April
30.—0 n Wednesday one of the Ana* herd ot ihort.
horns in the country is to be brought to the hammer at
the Aynho home fano bi Mr. Strafford.- The herd is
descended from the famous stock of Lord Spongier, Mr.
Bales, Sir Charles Tempest, and other celebrated
breeders, and contains, among other animals, a ball
denominated the Seeend Duke of Cambridge, and • cow
Venus, both descended from "Grad Duke," a bull
which was sold to go to America for 1,000 guineas,
The own brother to the Second Duke of Cambridge wag
sold for 390 guineas at Sir Charles Saightley's sale.

BATH AND WIRT OP ENGLAND AGRICIIIIITRAL MIST.
ING.—ConaiderAble progress hu been made within the
last fortnight with the works now being *rooted as
offices, sheds, &a. in Lord Bute's Park, Cardiff, for On
forthcoming moiling of the society next June. It is
said that a large influx of visitors will arrive in Cardiff
at that time, and that the whole of the beds in the
principal hotels have already been secured. A meeting
of the local committee was held last week, when it was
resolved that extensive arrangements should be entered
into in order to render the town as attractive as pOlai.
ble on the important occasion.
THIC ROYAL AGRICULTURAL SOCIPTY OF ENGLAND.—
The corporation and inhabitants of Reading, aided by
several agriculturists and country gentlemen, are making
every effort to meet the requirements of the Council of
the Royal Agriculturel Society of England to induce
them to hold the exhibition of 1859 in the town of
Reading. Subscriptions have been commenced, and
already a sum of upward. of £1,500 has been subscribed.
In the list appear the names of the Martini' of Down-
shire for £5O ; Mr. Robert Palmer' M. P., £110; the
Mayor ( Mr. George Palmer, of the celebrated NMI of
Huntely and Palmer), £5O; Messrs. Barret; Ezell, and
Andrewes, of the ironworks, £5O; Messrs. Sutton sod
Son, the large seed•growers, £5O; HOD. P. P. Bouverie,
M.P., £2O; Mr. OH. Vansittart, M.P., £2O; Mews.
Simonds, bankers, £5O; London and County Blink,
£25 ; Messrs. Wilder, ironfounders 215 • Messrs.
Stephens and Blandy, bankers, 250 ,• Mr. C. H.
Witherington, £2O; Mr. R. Gibson, 210, kc. Th.
Hon. Mr. Cavendish, Mr. Raymond Barker, Mr. Bran.
dreth Gibbs, and Mr. Milward are appointed by the
Council • committee of inspection, and they will visit
Reading this day (Tuesday) to inspect the land offered
for the show and trial of implements. Reading has
unquestionable powerful opponents in Warwick and
Oxford; still the liberality evinced by the inhebitants
of the town to comply with the condition of the Council
leads them confidently to anticipate that Berkshire
I will next year have the honour of the society's visit.

A Few WORDS ON Lige.—Limestone is composed
of carbonic acid, of lime, and of other earths. Great
expense Is incurred to get rid of the carbonic acid. A
ton of limestone when burnt loses about eight cwt.
The more lime is exposed to the air and dews the less
valuable it becomes for manure, and unless ploughed
In before it "falls" to powder, • great portion of its
powers are not only less &dive to combine and less for-
able in its operation, but are soon exhausted. Unneces-
sary exposure gradually deprives it of many of its most
valuable properties and tends to damage it to a great
extent for agricultural purposes. A, soon as lime has
been removed from the kiln it begins to attract carbonic
acid from the very atmosphere, and is more or less
speedily converted into the almost worthlew article
(comparatively speaking) of "white powdered Hine.
stone," in which form the readiness to attract and coin.
bine with other ingredients is sought for in vain, as in
that state it is almost void of that influencing principle
so much needed for the process of vegetable development
and maturity. Its soul and spirit (so to speak) are de-
parted and their remains are little calculated for bringing
into living activity those powers of the vegetable king-
dom which pervade the plant, to enable it so to exercise
its functions as to empower it to feed on the atmosphere.
When lime is put into the soil it soon evolves heat so
intense as to destroy grubs, slags, and wireworms, and is
obnoxious to the turnip fly and other enemies of vege-
table life. In the great energy and vigour of plants
grown where dung has from time to time been applied,
are they not in a great measure owing to lime? What
is it that would enable the plants (in the absence of
lime) to draw so much of their bulk as they do from the
atmosphere to perfect themselves Lime, even in the
absence of other manure, seldom fails to effect these ad-
vantages, and singly to stimulate and strengthen vegeta-
tion in some mysterious way to lay hold of this "celes-
tial food." Lime acts disadvantageously upon dung by
musing its manuring substance to evaporate, and ought
not to be either mixed with it or applied to the land at
the same time, except under peculiar arrangements.
Where lime is wanting in a soil the fertility of the soil
is increased and superior crops produoed by its applica-
tion, providing it m used neither in a slaked state nor
applied in too small quantities, because if so it does not
call forth by the "agency of moisture" both increased
fertility of soil and improvement of crop. We must
first prepare the soil and then enrich it. Heat is •
most powerful aid of chemical combinations, and to
evolve that agency ill a soil bymeans of lime the dressing
should be abundant. Some give two heavy covers of
lime instead of one, but such applications ought to be
regulated upon the principle of getting more into the
soil on the whole than adopted as • means to eoonomise
it.—S.

UNEMPLOYED GAEDENERIL—A friend who lately
advertised for • gardener, and received in consequence
90 applications, remarked to me that it was painful to
find that there should be 90 gardeners unemployed for
one place. Your readers who have advertised at any
time for a gardener will probably remember • similar
result and may possibly have made the same reflection.
If the inference were a just one, the prospects of gar-
deners, who have nothing but their labour, would
indeed be gloomy ; but • little reflection must convince
any one that no such state of things—notwithstanding
the supposed evidence—could possibly exist. The sup-
position that the 90 answers warranted the conclusion is
but another proof of the difficulty of drawing correct
inferences from our observation without scientific aid.
Tell • political economist that the supply of gardeners,
or of sack' of corn, or anything else that ie offered in
the market for hire or sale, and still retains any value at
all, is 90 times or nine times greater than the demand,
and lie will feel at once that the proposition Is mon-
strous and impossible. That my friend's arguments
must contain • fallacy some where is certain. Suppose
that the number of engagements for gardeners in Great
Britain, vacant or occupied is always about 100,000—no
extravagant suppaition—there would then, if his view
were correct, be nine millions of unemployed gardeners,
or • number of men equal to the whole male population
'of England and Wales. But the fact as such, can
have no such significance. There in nothing at all ex-
traordinary in the circumstance that a bidder going into
the labour market should have • choice offered to him
90 times greater than his want. Every market and
*very shop does, in fact, offer to every buyer infinitely
more than he requires; yet it would be absurd to
aasume that the supply of everything is infinitely
greater than the demand. I believe that any one who
has ever advertised, not only for a gardener, but for a
coachman, butler, clerk, or any other kind of worker,
will remember that his advertisement brought him a
basket-ful of letters. Are we to assume that every trade
is equally overstocked, and that only 89.90 the
of the people are employed ? Advertise to hire or
purchase • carriage or • house, and you may have 50
carriages or houses offered ; let your advertisement con-
vey a hint that you will pay more liberally than your
neighbours, and you will have 500; but every one
knows that no more earriagea or houses are constructed
than are wanted. The proof is that although there is
always a number of these, as of everything else, in the
market, the prices do not fall. Labour is subject to
precisely the same law as all other marketable things.
No more corn or hops are grown, no more fish is ever
brought to market than will find buyers' because if the
quantity is greater than usual the price fan' to that line
at which people are willing to take the whole. The
rates of labour are quoted in the Australian papers,
and frequently in the English papers, and are seen to
rise and fall like all other things—the price, for the
time, being in fact that price at which all the supply
can find employment. If the number of gardeners were
really permanently only half as great again as could be
employed, nothing could prevent their wages falling to
the level of the stookingers of Leicester, or the field
labourers of Dorsetahire. The fact that they do not is
conclusive. There is, however, a particular rayon
which makes my friend's advertisement a deceptive
test. An advertisement is but one way of obtaining •
gardener. Although a very good way, comparatively
few adopt it. A gentleman or nurseryman, wanting a
gardener, as s rule, applies to his seedsinan, and most
men finally get employment through the same channel;
but every man wanting a place will try an answer to an
advertisement if he sees one. U his chance is small,
the thing is so esay—• penny stamp, a sheet of note
paper, and no ocoaaion to go out of his town or
village—that it would be foolish to neglect it. A place
that could be so obtained is, all other things equal,
better than • place that can only be got through the
usual and more troublesome means. This advantage, in
fact, acts as • premium on the advertised place; and it
is therefore not at all surprising that the advertiser re-
ceives at once the offer of • large choice. Any gardener
then who 'ltaly found himself only one among 90 oom-
petitors for my friend's place, may take heart and be
assured that the fact affords no proof that there is even
one gardener too many in the world.—W. If. .1.