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THE FARMER'S MAGAZINE. 



HAIL-STORM I N SU RANGE — THE REGENT DAMAGES. 



It is with deep regret that we have received most 

 distressing accounts, from various quarters, of the de- 

 structive effects of the late thunder-storms, whicli have 

 been far more extensively and severely felt than, at the 

 time, we had any idea of. From a statement handed 

 to us it appears that, whilst the dint of the storm fell 

 on the counties of Hants and Berks, which bore the 

 utmost fury of the warring elements, its ravages were 

 felt in no ordinary degree in nine or ten of the adjoining, 

 or even more distant districts. Letters from the coun- 

 ties of Bedford, Cambridge, Leicester, Lincoln, Bucks, 

 Oxford, Essex, Gloucester, Monmouth, &c., give the 

 arae painful details of the extensive and irreparable 

 ^njury done to the crops of all kinds from the masses of 

 jice — for they can scarcely be called by the common 

 name of hail — by which both the standing corn, and 

 that on the swathe and in the shock, were utterly de- 

 _ stroyed, and many of the owners ruined. Thus, a gen- 

 tleman writes from Reading : " By this storm two or 

 three farmers have been completely ruined : one poor 

 fellow said, with tears in his eyes, that " he was 

 beggared, for all his barley was destroyed." Another, 

 from Basingstoke, states: " I am sorry to say I never 

 witnessed such destruction before in n)y life. On 

 Wednesday (five days after the storm) I saw 20 cart- 

 loads of hailstones, all whole; and I heard several 

 people say that over 200 loads were floated down into a 

 corner near Lord Ashburton's park. Such a storm was 

 never before witnessed." A third writes, from Aires- 

 ford : "On the 15th I measured a drift of ice (I could 

 not call them hail-stones) across the turnpike-road 

 from Alresford to Basingstoke, and found it four feet 

 in depth. The greatest fury of the storm was felt at 

 Lord Ashburton's, The Grange, near Alresford." A 

 fourth, from Cirencester, says : " There are many per- 

 eons here that have lost the whole of their crops, roots 

 and all; and the ice is lying about the fields now 

 (Tuesday), although the storm took place last Friday." 

 A gentleman from Hampshire assured us that the ice 

 on the barley that was uncut was, in some places, four 

 feet deep ; and that a gentleman's carriage was unable 

 to proceed on the high road, which was covered with 

 ice to the depth of three feet. In a less, but still in a 

 very severe degree, the effects of the storm were felt in 

 the other counties we have named, and hundreds of 

 farmers have suffered more or less by it, many being 

 utterly ruined by the destruction of their crops. 



Deeply as we sympathize with the sufferers by this 

 destructive visitation of Providence, which no precau- 

 tions could have averted ; and fully disposed as we feel 

 to assist in alleviating their misfortunes, we cannot 

 help expressing our astonishment at learning that 

 hardly any of them have had the prudence or foresight 

 to guard against such casualties, by effecting a hail- 

 insurance. The expense of this is so trifling, that 

 it would not cause a moment's hesitation if in- 



curred to purchase a temporary gratification. For 

 a few shillings or a few pounds, per annum, accord- 

 ing to the extent of their occupations, all might have 

 secured themselves from loss from this calamitous 

 occurrence, and been enabled at all times to lie down 

 at night with the satisfactory reflection that, without 

 intrenching in an appreciable degree upon either their 

 funds or their comforts, they had secured themselves 

 and their families against the ruin that would other- 

 wise fall upon them in the event of such a visitation. 



About a year ago we had occasion to urge this mat- 

 ter upon the farmers in consequence of a destructive 

 conflagration, by which two industrious men were 

 wholly ruined, but for whom a liberal subscription was 

 raised, that reinstated them, as we believe, in their farm. 

 They probably 7ioio insure ; but we should like to 

 know how many took the same course in consequence 

 of our urgent recommendation ? And what can we 

 add to our observations at that period, that can yet 

 induce the farmers to insure ? If we tell them that it 

 is not only ill-judging parsimony and miscalculating 

 economy, but jjositive iiijustice to themselves and 

 their faniilies — aye, and to the public too— to sys- 

 tematically omit insuring, we say no more than the 

 truth. The gamester, who risks his property on the 

 principle that " a blot is no blot till it is hit," puts up 

 with his loss when the " hit" falls, without calling 

 upon his friends to make it good to him. The farmer 

 who neglects to insure is also a gambler; for, with the 

 means in his power of securing himself from loss, he 

 stakes his whole crop against the elements, and has no 

 more moral right to calculate upon the assistance of 

 friends to make good his losses than has the professed 

 gamester. We admit that this is putting the case in a 

 strong light ; but let those who think it too strong take 

 all the circumstances into the account, and they will 

 be compelled to admit that our comparison is correct. 

 For, whether the proportion of persons be great or small 

 that suffer by a hail-storm or fire, it is equally uncer- 

 tain who will bo called to bear it ; and it is positively 

 as much calculating on the doctrine of chances in the 

 farmer not to insui-e, as it is in the professed gambler 

 to stake his last guinea on the turn-up of a card or 

 dice. 



Equally imprudent and unjust to his family is it in 

 the farmer of small means to neglect insuring his life. 

 The uncertainty which hangs upon the frail existence 

 of even the healthiest of us, and tlie apparently trifling 

 circumstances which frequently cut down a man in the 

 vigour of youth, or the prime of manhood, when he 

 has probably a tender wife and helpless family of 

 young children, whose all of future prospects hang 

 upon the continuance of his life, or the provision he 

 has made in case of his death — for such a man, we 

 repeat, to neglect insuring his life, when he can do it 

 at so small an outlay, is unjust to his family, to say 



