1830.] Agricultural Report. 231 



ravages of insectile vermin, and has been further instrumental in the destruction of vast 

 numbers of vermin of another description, which of late years have increased multitudi- 

 nously in most parts of the country crows, rooks, wood-pigeons, and small birds of every 

 description. The gunners have taken an active part in aiding Nature in this her neces- 

 sary work of cruelty. Roads have been rendered impassable in various parts, by a depth 

 of snow which has not been witnessed for many years ; and, on one occasion, upwards of 

 one hundred men were employed in order to make a passage for the mails and stage- 

 coaches. The deep covering of snow has, however, been beneficial to the lands in a double 

 view ; as a preventive of the frost from penetrating too deep into the soil, and as a manure, 

 by its nitrous and fructifying quality. Some time and labour have been thrown away, by 

 attempting to cart and even to plough during the intervals of frost and thaw ; particularly 

 upon heavy lands, which such weather leaves in the same sodden and puddled state as 

 constant rain. The snow has also protected the turnips, but they cannot be expected 4o 

 remain long sound after a change of weather. The sheep are said to do very well upon 

 them ; and these animals, to which moisture is known to be the great bane, are, by an 

 English custom, left abroad in deluges of wet, their fleeces constantly soaked through, and 

 their loins chilled ; yet they generally escape in some sort of condition. But surely a 

 superior condition of our flocks, both in wool and carcase, would well repay the labour 

 and expense of sheltering and of supplying them with food, which, at any rate, must be 

 done, whilst they remain in the field covered with snow. 



That immense bulk of fodder, of hay and straw, of which not long since we made such 

 boast, has already been considerably, indeed alarmingly, reduced on some farms, where, in 

 case of a protracted spring, a deficiency of food for the stock will be most distressing, if not 

 ruinous. Great quantities of barley have been thrashed for the straw, and the corn itself, 

 perhaps our largest crop, is too generally unfit for any purpose but cattle food. 



The late crop of wheat is again represented variously, with more complaint of late, both 

 of the yield and the quality ; and it is now said the stock of English wheat will be nearly 

 exhausted before harvest. Those farmers who have no other resource, have nearly cleared 

 off the whole of their corn, and disposeable live stock, the value of which has been totally 

 absorbed by rent, taxes, and poor's rates, leaving yet, with too many, considerable arrears ! 

 From some counties a slight advance is reported in the price of store stock, but at most of the 

 great fairs, there has been the usual glut of fat cattle and sheep, which could not be 

 ridded at any price, and this was particularly the case at Aylesbury, with the finest show 

 that has been there seen during many years, in consequence, it appears, that the number 

 of stall-fed cattle at present, is considerately below that of former years ; as much is averred 

 of the reduced number of sheep in the hands of our flock masters. Pigs have had some- 

 what of a start again in price. Apples and potatoes also begin to feel the effects of con- 

 sumption. The rabbits and hares, near the great preserves, have done immense mischief 

 by cropping the young buds of the wood, during the hard weather. The former con- 

 tinue to increase in such multitudes, that neither the national consumption, nor any 

 means that can be adopted, are sufficient to reduce them. Game is said to be scarce, 

 excepting where preserved. The wages of labourers in regular employ, from 12s. to 9s. 

 per week, in the best counties ; 8s. and 9s. in the poor land districts. The reports from 

 Scotland are more favourable in all respects, than from any part of South Britain. How 

 happens it that their labourers are more generally employed, and in so much more com- 

 fortable circumstances than ours ? Is there then a lesson to be taken from our northern 

 brethren ? On one subject, however, it does not appear that we can gather much 

 instruction from them. Their writers tell us that, in the case of Gowrie, alone, the 

 deficiency in the last crop of wheat, occasioned by the " wheat-fly," amounted to the 

 value of 36,000. Now this is somewhat like using the ancient figure of putting the 

 cart before the horse, since, but for the nature of the season, neither fly nor consequent 

 deficiency would have been heard of. From the multitude and variety of memoirs and 

 essays on this subject, it would seem that certain northern heads were ven table flies* 

 nests, and a large premium for fly-traps will, no doubt, be shortly offered. 



The accounts from almost every quarter of England of unemployed labourers, and their 

 dissolute, demoralized state, are most distressing. Their diabolical cruelty to the innocent 

 animals of those persons whom they deem their enemies, still continues. They are 

 driven to a state of absolute madness and distraction ; and all the boasted religious 

 instruction, which has been made so great a point of, within the last thirty years, seems 

 to have been cast upon the waters. A correspondent from a great county tells us that it 

 has cost that county nearly forty thousand pounds, within a year, to provide the com- 

 monalty with religious books and instruction ; on which he remarks, that such a sum 

 would have been far more charitably, morally, and better employed in relieving their 

 physical wants ! The returns of rent made, instead of ingratiating and encouraging the 

 tenantry, seem to have given very general, and at present, not much concealed dissatis- 

 faction. The universal cry is for an adequate reduction of rent, to enable them to afford 

 which, the landed interest have it in their power to reduce taxation and redress grievances. 

 The spirit of association for addressing the legislature is alive, active, and energetic 

 throughout the land, guided by men of the highest character for both influence and 



