THE FARMER'S MAGAZINE. 



39 



been, and what an astonishing saving in expense would 

 it have been, had one general act been obtained, 

 leaving the details to be carried out by the local authori- 

 ties ! This is the very thing wanted in the present day 

 — a general Act of Parliament empowering local boards of 

 commissioners to carry out improvements in rivers and 

 outfalls. Of course any such general act must be guarded 

 in its provisions by the usual provisos ; so that every 

 interest shall be fairly represented, and nothing be done 

 without the sanction of a certain and influential body 

 of owners and occupiers along the course of the 

 rivers. We have many Acts of Parliament which might, 

 under supervision, be taken as models. Lord Lincoln's 

 general Act for Drainage of Small Districts is under the 

 direction of the Enclosure Commissioners for England 

 and Wales, and is a good example. Every fen-district has 

 one, describing the course to be pursued in commencing 

 and carrying out a system of drainage-improvements. 

 There can be no difficulty in framing a general Act of 

 Parliament for such purpose. That one is needed we 

 have only to take the present season in instance. 

 What a large extent of low land bordering on rivers 

 and streams is at this moment lying under water ! 

 And what losses occurred during the past summer 

 along the course of every river, that need not 

 to have taken place had the waters free course ! It 

 may appear rather hard to interfere with the water- 

 mills, so as to cause their removal, or to convert them 

 into steam-mills ; but in these cases the owners must 



be compensated. The great thing to be considered, 

 in every case, will be the ultimate advantage ; and when 

 we know the prevention of injury by flooding — the 

 reclaiming of large tracts of the primest land in the 

 kingdom — the sanitary improvement of the country — the 

 advantage to navigation — and the many minor improve- 

 ments to be carried on up every brook and stream, to the 

 benefit of subsoil drainage, it must be manifest that 

 great good will ensue to the community, far beyond 

 individual losses, which must ever give way to public 

 benefit. Take the flooding alone within the past ten 

 years. What woeful damage have the floods done ! In 

 1852 those of the Severn and Wye caused immense 

 injury. The vale of Gloucester was one wide sea. 

 Worcestershire suffered much ; Wilts and Berks were 

 equally bad ; Northamptonshire, Lancashire, Notting- 

 hamshire had unheard-of losses. And again in 1853, 

 Cambridgeshire, Essex, and Norfolk, were in a woful 

 state, many thousands of acres being under water, 

 and the produce swept away : the Trent to the Hum- 

 ber was one vast flood. In Kent, Surrey, and Herts 

 much damage was done. And this is, no doubt, the 

 case at this present time — such continuous rains cannot 

 fail to have caused disastrous floods wherever the loca- 

 lities are subject to them. It cannot be too strongly 

 impressed upon the Legislature that the satisfactory ful- 

 filment of a wise system of arterial drainage would be 

 of immense advantage to the country ; and I trust we 

 shall soon see it accomplished. 



THE EFFECT OF THE LOW TEMPERATURE AND HEAVY RAINFALL. 



Sir, — It may be useful to examine the influence of 

 the low temperature and excessive rainfall of the last 

 spring, summer, and autumn on our present and future 

 supplies of meat. 



The cold late spring of 1860 was seriously prejudicial 

 to the breed of lambs. In the large sheep -breeding 

 districts of Hants, Wilts, Dorset, and Sussex, and in 

 the Romney Marsh and adjacent country, the produce 

 was very considerably below what, in the absence of 

 accurate statistics, may be considered an average. The 

 season was equally prejudicial to the ewes, and amongst 

 them the mortality was unusually large. 



The high prices of mutton and beef from April on- 

 wards have demonstrated the shortness of the stock on 

 hand, and the unfavourable character of the spring for 

 the production of meat. The high prices may also be 

 assumed to have led to the early and premature slaughter 

 of animals usually held on till a later period. 



The summer, when meat is ordinarily most readily 

 produced, brought no remission of price. It was not 

 until the middle of September that the Smithfield and 

 country markets indicated by lower rates that they were 

 more liberally supplied. At first sight this reduction of 

 price would appear to be a natural and healthy con- 

 sequence of increased production. The real cause pro- 

 bably lies, unfortunately, in another direction. 



The sunless wet and cold weather has undoubtedly 



affected the nutritive quality of the natural and culti- 

 vated grasses. Those fed- off during the summer have 

 been wanting " in proof" (to use the grazier's expres- 

 sion), whilst a large proportion of the grass crop con- 

 verted into hay has been most seriously injured by the 

 continuous rain. The root crops are equally, perhaps 

 more, injuriously affected by these causes. On the soils 

 most favourable to the swede turnip and mangold wurzel, 

 on which reliance for feeding purposes is now chiefly 

 placed, the roots are singularly deficient in bulb and 

 quality. On the heavier soils, particularly where un- 

 drained, the crop is scarcely worth the trouble of 

 storing. 



These conditions have compelled the breeder of 

 sheep to sell more heavily than usual, and in the same 

 proportion they prevent the ordinary buyer making his 

 purchase for grazing for the spring and early summer 

 supply. 



Again, in the rich marsh lands of Somerset, in the 

 usually safe pastures of Dorset and North Wilts, and 

 in the Sussex and Romney marshes, where during the 

 autumn mutton is usually rapidly and abundantly pro- 

 duced, the anticipation of rot, or the disease itself, is so 

 prevalent that, instead of being buyers of sheep as 

 usual, the farmers have in some cases prematurely forced 

 their entire stocks into the market. 



It is obvious, if these assumptions have any accuracy, 



