The Dorset County Express and Agricultural Gazette.
Dorchester, Dorset, England, 1859-05-10 00:00:00

2griculturt

Tin CORN TRADE IN FRANCE.—The Imperial and
Central Society of Agriculture on Wednesday closed
the debate on the corn laws, which occupied it during
six sittings, M. Antoine Puny, the President, gave a
summary of the arguments of the various speakers, and
proposes] • division. There were 39 members present:
24 voted for a fixed duty on corn, 12 for variable duties,
and three abstained from voting. Thus the principle of
the eliding scale was rejected by the society by • great
majority. Flour rose last week 51. a sack in the Paris
market, notwithstanding the resistance offered by the
bakers. Choice samples. which could have been bought
on the 15th of April at 454. the sack, are now quoted at
501. Flour of the four marks was sold on Tuesday as
high as 521. the sack of 157 kilogrammes. The factors
declared on Friday 2,561 sacks of flour, first quality,
sold for delivery within 30 days at iirices varying from
401. 50c. to 481. the sack; and 2,6,6 sacks to bakers.
The Paris corn market was extremely &ululated. The
rise in wheat was general, and does not appear to have
yet reached its highest level. Several contracts for the
supply of wheat advertised by the Government were
not concluded, the proposal* being higher than the
iINIIIII fixed by the Boveninient. The last quota-
tion.' are choice samples of wheat 2lf. 66e. the 100 kilo-
grammes ; first quality, INN. 53c. to 21f. 240. ;
second quality, LW. to 201. 41e. There has been
a still greater rise in wheat at Marseilles. Bur-
gaudy wheat is quoted there at 24f. 50c. and 251. the 100
kilograminee. Gate were more *ought for in the Paris
market, with • rise of se.tc. the sack of 150 kilograniuwe.
Choice samples were ',old at 331. 50c. the sack, end
inferior 31f. to 321. All corn crops present a luxuriant
appearance except rye, and serious complaints have been
received respecting the growing rye. The frost of the
nightof the 17th of April, which caused so touch injury
to the vines in Lower Burgundy. seriously attacked the
forward rye. particularly in rich ground. These accounts
caused rye to rise in the Paris market to 161. the 115
kilogrammes. The telegram hiss supplied ue with the
prices of the provincial corn-markets held on Tuesday :
" Arras.—Market will supplied with wheat, for which
there was a brisk demand, at a rise of If. :sk. the
hectolitre." " Chartres.— A small market with good
demand for wheat, at a rise of If. the hectolitre ; oats
firs," " Dijon.—Much activity, with • rise in wheat
of If. 51k. ti, quintal." " Mett.-681 hectolitres of
wheat sold at 191. 90c."

OAT.HAT.—We would caution any person who is die I
posed to rely on this fodder for horses, nut to cut it .
too soon or stock it too early, as • few years since ate I
saw a field cut before the flower appear's', the stock sunk
into a very 'mall rotten hem, of black useless stuff, and
was literally good for nothing. The oats should he "in
bell" and cut before the grain ',fully formed, thell mowed
and tied as if the corn Mel ripened, and after 'moving
had sufficient "field room" stacked in the onlinary I
way, and cut lip as chaff for horses or stock, as it
should be borne in mind that good oat straw makes an I
excellent food for horses, but the straw of unripened I
Wad is the best,—J, W., ii, Goreleneri Chru•strie.
SeLs'-31 INTAININti AiIIiRTIATRE.—Iti it a billings i
agricultural economy that rests on ex tratiel.ll.l hupplit, for
its succesn ? This is a question who h, what is called,
high farming tempts us to nine. The requisitions of
high farming evidently render it exclusive and incapable
of general application, for they require and appropriate
inure feeding and fertilising matters than would fall to
the share of such highly farmed land. in a system
bit of general adoption. To fann high Mint therefore
imply also to farm low. Now it has been said that the ,
happiest and most prosperous and perfect state is one in
which there are neither too rich nor to, poor the
troth of this maxim we must think equally applies to
agriculture. It must be inferred that the connumption
of an undue proportion of feeding and fertilising 'natters
by some farms, although increasing the prmluctive
powers of a few, will by the deterioration of the many
diminish the general supply of the food if the country
and that, in a greater proportion thnn is inade up by the
superior produce of the favoured lands. But the supply
of such matter to these lands is also an uncertainty,
depending 11,1 it does on various contingencies. They
may be exhaunted or the foreign supply may be cut of.
Would it not be • sounder policy so to regulate our agri-
cultural emintiny that we may free it front • minion- on
what may become failing sources, and give it a depend-
ance on self by rendering each farm capable of sustain-
ing a high fertility front its own internal resources,
using up only a fair share of extraiimms matter* and
allowing only au unlimited use of such mineral sub.
stances as are inexhaustible 1' Desirable as may be in-
dependence in manurial properties, it is yet more so in :•
the production of a sufficiency of food for our people ; it I
is moat 'innate that we should have to trust to foreign !
countries for our daily bread. Is this dependency in
food to be attained from the high productive powers of a
few farms ? Is it not more likely to be obtained by in-
creasing the productiveness of all, even though it reached
not to that of the mom favoured ? Now it appears to
us that we may arrive at this end. Ply the practice of
Lois-Weedon we are
ba:iss.uzli,fie,tl:aotntlaileleLeilzittilastoufratilliye
cereals on manure may
fitted to produce them, from natural sources alone, thus I
leaving the whole of the manure produced on the farm
unappropriated, and, therefore, free to be applied to
those growler feeding plants cultivated fir leaf or root,
and for which at Lois.Weedon they are, I believe, found
sufficient witliont the use of other help. Were all our
land cultivated on the latin.W•eedon plan all would be as
productive as our vaunted high farmed land,. and pro.
bably more food would he prod:in:el than sufficient for
our consumptien. We should thus become independent
of foreign supplies both of manure and food. On further
experience of the [min-W.-Oen practice should it be
foul tl that after a lapse of years any component parts of
the soil have been tto much used up, or that the natinal
aerial supplies have become insufficient for the fertilising
of the inorganic 'flatten of the soil with sufficient
activity for the ei,ntini,iims demand,' of the corn crops,
we have still the husbanded foreign manures to recur to ;
and • little hand manure, with Mr. Piper, has been found
sufficient to make up the loss of the soil from the recur-
rence of continuotin crops of wheat. There cannot he •
doubt that were the whole manure of a farm confined to
only one-half of the land instead of being spread over
the whole, that half being deeply drained and deeply
worked, a much larger amount of leaf and mot plant
would be raised thau where it sustained a deterioration
from cereals interposed between these crops. This in-
creased amount of cattle food would produce a corres-
ponding increaute of manure and a consequent increase of
crop; thus the increase of manure and cattle food would

have of immense production, and t exception
r-
become the rule. If the yn inciple of rotation as pe
witted to hold with regard to thet.o crops, there is • suf.
eciciit variety in root leaf and legume to afford any
fabulous accounts
would
become gode.iornabui.ntilhawneg
jize. realized osuttufavhheui.ri
iii Ch no ac/c.
A new pea has been introduced from China into
France ; the produce of the plant callecrlioja hispidos
the 00131MOR Chinese soy beau. This kind of pulse is
said to do very well on Poor sandy rye land near Far*
and to' the following good qualities. Booed in
the in dle of April it is ripe in the middle of astober.
t
The beans contain, according to IL Louis Vilmorin,
whose accuracy is unimpeachable, as much as 21 ler
of oil. They are also made into an excellent
cheese if boiled and pounded in &mortar. A white liquid
is the result, which easily seta when premed • the lost*
so obtained, with the addition of a little salt, is after-
wards forced into moulds. We fear thin pea will be too
tender for F.ngland ; but it &nerves • trial, end if it
should ripen we way make our own " voy."—Ourdencre
Ch 1.11111

WHAT 18 MFADOW BALONB/410—Frous the adver-
tisements one sees in agricultural prints of "Grass seeds
to renovate old pastures," a novice might almost be
induced to believe that bare spots in • meadow were so
cosily cured that, as for ringworm, every one has a
iidack remedy which is certain ill its operation. The
primary cause of bald patches, however, in turf, will
ever be the mistaken plan on which haymaking is too
often conducted. The farmer wanta as heavy • crop of
hay as he can get • or if not influenced by this, he lets
' the grans get too old before cutting, either from want of
hands or due appreciation of the results •' and thus ais
the natural end aimed at in seeding has been attained,
we may soon see how readily the old stems die away,
and in proportion to the goodness of the crop, that is to
the quantity of dowering mhos, so will the mischief
(ruin this cause be increased. The true causes which
lead to the need of" rebovation" are mechanical, includ-
ing unevenness of surface (which are in a few years
injured by neglect of cattle droppings) the growth of
large weeds, 'such as thistles and nettles, and want of
arisllrinningessfrufmrom lectalinoegwingthofe Tihaainined.ask,ofeigs
individual raahaugt,
themselves by too great a development of woody maws
and seeding, a condition which is of course aided by the
exhaustion of chemical principles which such growth
necessarily induces, and thus leading to the most import-
ant cause, viz., the chemical. If too much be taken
from a meadow in the shape of hay, however rich it may
be, exhaustion of it. chemical or fertilising principles
must at some time be the result. Thus the rich
meadows on the alluvial flats of Cheshire had for
years been getting poorer, a decadence which
showed itself by a growth of rushes, sedges, and reedy
grasses, the luxuriance of which was at one time an
indication to the farmer that his meadow wanted reno-
vating, and his plan was to apply a thick dressing of
salt, which had the effect of killing not only the grasses
but the weeds, and indeed the whole herbage, and of
course these as dead plants won decayed into plant
elements. which were thus brought into the condition of
manure to grow fresh plants. mid as the seeds of these
were still in the soil such manuring would cause their
active germination, and the thus renovated land would
for a time produce good grasses as a rule, and bad WILY
as an exception, but as the fanner became again
exhausted, the exceptional examples wo ild increase and
ultimately obtain possession and mastery. Farmers
often try to renovate pour paatures by years of depaatur-
ing. and with great success, hut with this plan as with
the former, nothing is brought to the soil. Sheep feed-
ing or salting cannot ni..ke phosphatic matter for
example, and thus this important fertilising principle
must become less and less with every portion of bone
and muscle that is made from it, and we need not
wonder therefore that with the kinds of renovation
mentioned, though the ruin would be retarded, and
that too for a lengthened period, yet it must CIPIIIC 1101110
time unless chemical renovation be brought about, as
indeed is now most successfully done by the application
of bones, superphospate, and guano. The principles
which should guide us in remedying decayed pasture
should hare more immediate reference to the mid than
to the plant, for it cannot be tesi strongly urged that
grass and meadow herbage is natural to our fields, and
its decay arises from exhaustion of ore useful mittens,
in the soil ; rs-tiovation niust therefore be sought for
in the land. Without this it would be almost as
efficacious to bow had seeds as good, for if grass lies
decayed from natural causes, such as poverty, the sowing
of grass seed is Out likely to be of great use. It is
just probable that a neglected pasture may have in it
sufficient seeds for every purpose, if merely manure be
applied capable of stimulating them into existence ; in
reference to which every farmer will recollect the sudden
appearance of clover in meadows in which it before only
existed as an exceptional part of the Pasture, on the
application of hum or superphospate. Hence then
drainage, liberal manuring where required, rest from
hay-making, depasturing instead, are all so many agents
in renovating pasture, without which weds for the
purpose may almost as well be bad as good, just as in
restoring loss of hair arising from • change of consti-
tution, lard will be quite as efficient as hears'
grease. NI hen however conditions are so altered as that
seeds can be made grow, we should not only seek the
best of their kinds, but at the same time we should make
choice of the species according to the nature of the soil,
both in grasses proper, and in the clovers and other
fodder plants.—Garderiers' Chronicle.

WOODLICE TRAP.-With woodlice every gardener is
more or leas annoyed. Owing to the fact that our melon
grounds are generally close to the wood yard, I fun sure
to have an unlimited number every spring, and this.ea-
son they threatened to eat up every melon and cucumber
plant! had. Dahlias which were starting, and cuttings
of all kinds for nothing conies millso to them), shared
the same fate. After trying variou trap, for them, I
have now succeeded mod effectually in clearing my
frames by catching them in hundreds every night. hly
plan is simply to plunge a lot a Bower-pot saucers,
glazed inside, up to the rims, fill them three-parts full of
water, and nest morning will reveal the secret that
during the night the niaraudeni tumbled in, and being
unable to get out again, got drowned.—J. Rita.