THE FARMER'S MAGAZINE. 



463 



DERBYSHIRE. 



We are passing over a very Irjing period of the year. On 

 every side we hear complaints of want of foo.l for stock. It 

 has truly been a long winter, and the early demand on 

 ■winter food, together with tlie extreme severity of the sea- 

 son, has brought all kinds of provender to a liigh point. 

 Haystacks are scarce affairs; and pieces in many places 

 wanting. The aspect of the country is that of more sterihty 

 than the time of the year warrants ; and grass in early dis- 

 tricts is backward. Farm work is sadly behiiid. The sea- 

 son has been too wet ; and those who have been restless, 

 and urged it along, have, in many instances, done more 

 harm than gooi], poaching the ground, and leaving a very 

 poor seed bed, with a prospect of an indifferent return. We 

 hold it a universal axiom never to sow until we have a good 

 tilth. Better never sow at all than run the chance of a half 

 crop. Vegetation in all its forms is backward, and needing 

 sunshine. The wheat plant is much beliind, and ou all wet 

 soils has a very starved meagre appearance. On clay soils, 

 where drained, none too good : many of the plants have 

 perished from the severity of the winter, and are what the 

 farmers call thrown out. Several fields wo have seen that 

 were sown in February promised better than that put in in 

 the autumn. Taken as a whole, the crop as at present is 

 very indifferent, and must apparently come short at harvest. 

 We hope there is a brighter aspect in reserve for us. One 

 remark we would make as to the remedy applied to the 

 sickly plants. Several farmers arc rolling the fields, to give 

 solidity to the ground, and fasten the plants. Now, wo think 

 it most destructive to all, even healthy plants. We thiutc 

 an observant mind will easily perceive that whatever power 

 is applied to the roller is equally resisted by the soil ; and if 

 any one will \vatch the movement of the loose earth when the 

 roller is in motion, he will see that the soil, and all attached 

 to it, moves several inches; sa that the inference is plain. 

 The roots of the plants are broken, and immense damage 

 done instead of good. As a rule, no plant ought ever to 

 have a roller pass over it. We rather advise harrowing \vith 

 thick tedded harrows (many teeth), so that the surface, and 

 nothing more, may be perfectly disturbed. Or lioeing, the 

 hoer always moving backward while in the act of doing so. 

 Or a good flock of sheep folded, giving them plenty of lin- 

 seed cake at the same time. In spite of the immense loss 

 sustained from the frost in winter to the mangold wurtzel, 

 the farmers are making preparation for another spec. More 

 care will be taken another season. The rod applied has 

 been heavy enough. They would now be invaluable to us 

 if we had them. Our cattle markets and fairs are dull ones 

 for stores. Fat stock is in good demand, and must rise in 

 value. Sheep sold well in price, considering the scarcity of 

 keep. The lambing season has been a trying one, and con- 

 siderable loss has been sustained in some districts, from the 

 ■weakly state of the ewes, and the severity of the season. 

 All kinds of grain steadily creeps up in value, wheat takmg 

 the lead. The quantity of old wheat on hand is still con- 

 siderable, or the upward move would have been greater. 

 The demand for labour is on the increase, and in many 

 localities it is next to impossible to get a good servant. The 

 working people bid fair, at last, to form a class demanding a 

 voice in the legislation of their country. Wages from 15s, 

 to 20s. per y/eek.—AprU ISih, 1860. 



ISLE OF ELY. 

 The cold weather still lingers. After six months of genuine 

 winter, we had anxiously looked for a mild and genial spring, 

 but it is yet future. Cold winds and frosty nights have gene- 

 rally prevailed, with only a mild day occasionally to break the 

 monotony of the cold. To-day we have an east wind, with a 

 higher temperature ; but there are indications of a return to 

 frost and cold again ere many hours have passed. The season 

 is decidedly backward, and vegetation has made but little pro- 

 gress. The hedges are only just breaking into leaf, and the 

 trees are yet destitute of foliage. But not'withstanding the 

 lateness of the season, we cannot report unfavourably of the 

 growing wheats generally. On our best farmed and strongest 

 fen soils the wheat plant is looking healthy and promising, 

 and, where early rolled, is growing strong and vigorous, al- 

 though backward. Ou some of the weak and naturally unkind 

 fen lands the plant is looking very thin and sickly, and can 

 scarcely make a crop, however favourable the weather may 



come. Some of the gravelly high lands, too, are not quite as 

 promising as they were; they are turning a little pale in 

 colour, arising from the hardness of the surface. The heavy 

 raius of the wiuttr, followed by strong penetrating winds, 

 have occasioned the soil to get as hard as a road, and the wheat 

 is suffering. We are harrowing acres to break this hard crust, 

 and make the laud again susceptible of benefit from atmos- 

 pheric iiifluences. Most of our farmers are sr^ttiug their lauds 

 prepared for mangolds, but many of them still obstinately re- 

 fuse to sow this crop before the very end of the pre;ent, or the 

 beginni;ig of the following month, notwithstanding the many 

 remonstrances and kind rebuKesthey have received. Potatoes 

 are nearly all planted, but the growth this year will be smaller 

 than usual. Oat-sowing is about completed; many of the 

 first sown are up and looking healthy and well, although grow- 

 ing slowly. Beans and peaa are also showing themselves very 

 generally. Last year, at this time, we were hoeing peas ; 

 su^h is the difference in the seasons! Grass on good dry 

 lands is growing, and our earliest pastures now look beautiful, 

 and are quite bii enough for sheep ; warm nights and frequent 

 showers are required to make the bullock pastures good. 

 Store stock of all sorts are a slow sale ; prices move up very 

 tardily, and it will only be when grass is plentiful that they 

 will rally, and then we expect, aa we st»ted last month, a de- 

 cided reaction. The corn trade is improving, and wheat has 

 advanced considerably, hut not more than we anticipated ; 

 prices must yet be higher. All feeding stulTa are high, with a 

 brisk demand. Meat must sell well, to pay for all this, or our 

 graziers will suffer. — April 16. 



NORTH NORTHUMBERLAND. 

 We have deferred reporting from the most northerly corner 

 of England, hoping long ere now to announce the advent of 

 spring, so anxiously looked for by the rural population at this 

 advanced period of the season ; still it has been willed by a 

 wise overruling Providence that "winter lingers in the shades 

 of summer," inasmuch that to this day scarcely a green herb 

 appears. Nor for some time past has the sweet melody of 

 the singing bird been heard. A bitter north-easterly wind 

 has been the prevaihng element for several days past, and 

 everywhere the bleating of sheep and lowing of beeves meet 

 the ear. Provender of all sorts being extremely scarce, it is no 

 easy matter for the flockmaater to meet the cravings of the 

 appetite. In the lower districts there have already been many 

 losses from starvation amoug the tender ewe and lamb hirsels. 

 On the mountain grazings the casualties are still more nu- 

 merous. The present month being the principal lambing sea- 

 son, when we look at the entire range of our border moun- 

 tains lying under an icy mass of snow for the past six months, 

 no one can doubt the loss and impoverished sta'e of the fleecy 

 tribe. No season within out recollection during the present 

 century did winter visit us with his hoary locks before our 

 usual autumn quarter, maintain a fixed hold of his sceptre dur- 

 ing his dark and dreary months, and smother vernal spring 

 until the powerful heat of the sun's rays shall melt away bis 

 briny icicles. While we write, the team works in the field, pre- 

 paring a seed bed for turnip-sowing, and the men following 

 in full winter clothing, sea running mountains high, with drifts 

 of snow at intervals. On the other baud, farm labour is well 

 forward ; spring seeding nearly completed, and the finish ge- 

 nerally satisfactory. Oats and barley, where early got in on 

 old ploughed land , had a well pulverized mould, and are making 

 braird ; but nothing can be said of progress. Barley, where 

 prematurely sown, will suffer severely from the frost. Wheat 

 lands seeded in the foggy davs of December look miserably 

 thin ; what was down the last week in February has brairded 

 much better ; the breadth sown altogether will fall far short 

 of the average of seasons. Autumn-sown wheats have made 

 little progress on our greatest breadths ; cannot be seen 

 without close inspection ; yet generally seem well planted ; 

 the land loose, and much hoven by the severe winter frost. 

 Clovers and grass seeds only partially sown on such fields, 

 awaiting dry genial weather, when the harrow works safely 

 without hoeing up tender plants. Of barley a large breadth 

 has been sown ; and oats a full medium. Potato planting 

 has been going forward on dry soils for some days past, with 

 not very favourable aspect for vegetating, the soil working 

 cold and clammy below the drill. Next in importance are our 

 corn and cattle markets, which now seeaa to be creeping up 



