( 226 ) May 



B Pv A N C H III. 



AcRicT'i.TURAi. Intelligence. 



Ffw fprinr^ feafons have been more unfriendly to rural matters than 

 fhe preftMit ;. indeed, bouc within the compafs of our remembrance, ex- 

 ci'pt thofc ot the fatal years 1782 and 1799* can be compared to it* 

 Altenuile fiiow, fleet, nun and froll have, lefs or more, prevailed hnce 

 the beginniiu- of March, which caufed feed-work to be executed, as if 

 l)y fteahli, in cvoiy fair interval. The air has been conllantly cold, 

 bIo\^ rng getirrally from the northern and eaftern points : vegetation wa^ 

 thereby :n a gr^^at meafure fufpended ; and, except the fields of winter 

 wheat, the moll part of the iihmd at this date (April 25.), uniform- 

 ly prefcnts nothing ]>rit a black afpccl. 



Under thefe circuniiiances, we cannot, but with regret, open this de- 

 partment of our work, becaufe we apprehend they will lead to more 

 ir.eluncholy detail,^ at an after pericxl. From every account tranfmitted 

 1,0 u*;,' it appears that the important operation of depofiting the feed 

 in fhe groiind has rarely been pei-fofn'.ed in a huibandman-Iike ftyle,* 

 and that in many inftances the work was delayed to the very laft 

 jTioment. ^Unlike what happens in ordinary years, M'hen thofe poflefs- 

 ed of the greatell flock of patience ultimately become moll fuccefsful, 

 every moment's delay augmented the periculous itate in which the 

 farmer was unfortunately placed. In a word, little fpring wheat ws& 

 fown in any dillricl ; in many, where the practice is cullomar}-, none 

 was fown at all. The oats were poflponed beyond the time when thty 

 can reafonably be thought to })e fown with fuccefs ; and are not all in 

 the ground at this day, even in the befl cultivated counties. Bear.a 

 were a full month later than their ufual term of femination ; and this 

 of itfelf is a fource of future evil : It fubjecls the farmer to all the 

 confequences of a late harvtft, and alfo to its ufual concomitant, a 

 Lad whej\t feed-time afterwards. 



It cannot excite furprife, that the grain markets have of late fhov.-n a 

 difpofition to rife, becaufe fuch would inevitably have happened, thougl; 

 the feafon had proved as favourable as it has been unpropiticus. From 

 a combination of caufes, the moll of them well imderflood, a greater 

 quantity of grain wa^. thrown into the public market through tlie courfe 

 f^f winter tlian ufual, which tended to exhaull the flack-yards at an 

 earlier period than confiftent with the regular fupply of the year. 

 The great market of the kingdom in Mark-lane has not yet felt any 

 diminiinment of its ftock, confequcntly preferves fomething hkc an equa- 

 bility of price : But, as happens with large rivers, the fmaller flreams 

 mufl be leffened before the main body is affe6led ; fo the centre market 

 is always the laft that r.d-rgces a material change. If grain becomes 

 fcarce in the provincial .■ .irkets, a proportional diminution of fupplies 

 for the capital mufl take place. Perhaps even the fpeculation, which 



neceiTaril^- 



