16S 



THE FARMER'S MAGAZINE. 



Same time in 1857 26,958 head. 



„ 1856 30.537 „ 



„ 1055 •22,6!)0 „ 



1854 2--V-'-t2 ., 



„ 1853 38,795 „ 



1852 27,008 „ 



Advices from the continent state that the actual numbers 

 of fat beasts and sheep on hand are smaller than in the 

 usual run of years, and that prices are relatively high. 



Newgate and Leadcnhall markets have been seasonably 

 well supplied with meat, which has sold slowly, without 

 material change in the quotations. 



CORNWALL. 



We are now verging on the brink of harvest, and every- 

 thing will depend on the weather as to the quality of bread 

 during the ensuing year. The last ten days, or more, have 

 been cloud\' and overcast : on the night of Saturday last 

 and on Sunday it blew a storm. Mouday was fine, but 

 j'esterday it rained the whole of the da}-. Should the 

 weather become more settled, with bright sunshine, cutting 

 of wheat will be pretty general in another week. The 

 general appearance of the crop is favourable, though in 

 many places it is very much lodged, and some flat and close 

 to the ground, but what is standing appears to be turning 

 off a good healthy colour. We have not heard any com- 

 plaint of rust or mildew, but there are certainly great defi- 

 ciencies in the ear. The earl^'-sown barleys have a good 

 appearance, and will soon be ready for the scythe, and in 

 strong land there appears no want of straw; but the late- 

 sown arc thin and short, particularly on the thin soils. 

 Oats, which are generally sown on the light and inferior 

 soils of this county, have sulFered from want of moisture, 

 but those on strong and heavy land arc very promising, 

 and, to all appearance, will turn out well. The late rains 

 have already liad some effect on our brown and sunburnt 

 pastures, which for some time have yielded a ver}' scanty 

 supplj', and it will require some weeks to restore them, even 

 to keep the stock in condition ; as to fattening, it is quite 

 out of the question, without a supply of cake, corn, or some 

 other substitute. The mangels are doing well, and promise 

 for a fair crop, and never was there a better season for 

 hoeing and setting them out in order. Swedes in some 

 instances have been taken off by the fly, and re-sown ; but 

 upon the whole they may be said to promise fair. We have 

 now several new varieties of pasture turnips, some of which 

 were sown lute, and all are coming forward most rapidlj'. 

 Potatoes are much better in quality than for many years, 

 and the crops of all kinds much more productive. The 

 blight has, here and there, done some damage, but as yet 

 not to the extent of former years, although the haulm is 

 black and withered. Apples are a partial crop : we have 

 seen some fine orchards nearly bare of fruit, and we have 

 heard of some good crops. There is a good demand for 

 well-fatted beasts at GOs. per cwt.,or a shade beyond ; but 

 the scarcity of keep fills the markets with inferior ones, 

 which afe sold much lower. Stores are to be bought on 

 much easier terms, and of late there has been no demand 

 for them. Fat sheep o^d. to Gd. per lb., with a good supply. 

 Wool much sought after, and the price firm. We cannot 

 find any account of rape having been sown in this county 

 until about forty years ago, and then only by one or two 

 individuals. It is now become very general to sow a portion 

 of the land destined for autumn wheat to rape in the 

 spring, and feed it down with sheep through the summer, 

 which ensureo a strong crop of wheat. It is well known to 



fatten sheep in less time than any other food. Pigs and 

 geese are also fond of it, and store pigs will not only keep 

 in condition, but improve. We name thi?, as we j erceive 

 is is not cultivated to any e.\tent in some parts of the king- 

 dom. — July 28. 



NOTTINGHAMSHIRE. 



The time of the year furnishes us with ample material for 

 a report. Our grass fields have for some time had a 

 withered aspect, requiring rain very much. Keep has con- 

 sequently become scarce, and many farmers have had re- 

 course to oilcake as an auxiliary. Stock generally have made 

 but little progress for want of a full supply of food ; and their 

 being teazed with the flies, allowing them very little rest) 

 well fatted stock is, as might be expected, scarce, while 

 those which our butchers call half-meated things are very 

 plentiful. Store stock is very freely brought to markets 

 and, throughout the county, in but very indifferent condi- 

 tion. The spring corn crops have progressed variouslj' : 

 very early sown has done well, while anything sown at a 

 medium time or late, is in many instances nearly worthless- 

 A friend of ours, who farms extensively in the neighbourhood 

 of Mansfield, holding full 1,000 acres of light siliceous land, 

 will scarcely have seed returns from all his spring crops. 

 Auother tells us he has 40 acres sown with barley he was 

 ploughing up again, to drill with turnips ; and hundreds of 

 acres are in a similar state from Nottingham to Worksop. It 

 will be felt the more as being a second disaster which has 

 overtaken the farmers of that district. During the last harvest 

 their wheat, which generally is fine white of Dantzic 

 quality, was so sprouted as to render it nearly worthless for 

 human food, and the money loss is not easily conceived- 

 The southern pai'ts of the county are more fortunate, but 

 spring corn of all sorts as a whole is very deficient — a very 

 poor crop. The turnip crop is very indifferent. The early- 

 sown ones have made some progress, but hundreds of acres 

 have been resown, and it will much depend on the amount 

 of rain which may fall whether we shall have any or not in 

 such fields. There have, as usual, beey a many charges 

 brought against the fly, and a full share of anathema in- 

 dulged in. Why have the early plants escaped.^ VVhy 

 the sheltered parts of the same field ? Why, in the same 

 field, 60 many instances present themselves of hit and miss ? 

 A neighbour of ours, a good farmer, and one of whom we 

 thought better, has invented a dusting machine, which we 

 think displays ingenuity enough, but, as a remedj' for the 

 diseased turnip plant, is, we think, quite as well in the shed. 

 It will do the plant about as much good as a good dusting 

 of snuff would a lousy animal ! Oilcake, liberally given, we 

 think is the best remedy for the animal ; and anything 

 which stimulates the growth of the plant is, we think, the 

 only means for the vegetable world. Adverse seasons will 

 at times upset the best-conducted farming operations ; but 

 we cannot see why there should be more difficulty in grow, 

 ing the turnip plant than any other. We farm a medium 

 clay soil, and never fail in getting a crop, and this season 

 have not a broken drill, with a good healthy plant ; we 

 have seen flies upon them, but never felt alarmed. Our 

 mode of farming is to clean and manure in the autumni 

 plough in the winter, stir the soil as little .as possible in the 

 spring, drill in with aahes three to four quarters of bone dust 

 per acre, and use plenty of seed. There is no secret about it : 

 they grow like docks, and we think the fly all humbug. 

 The potato crop is good, and the quality, so far, all we 

 could .desire. Our hay harvest has been a good one » 



