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THE FARMER'S MAGAZINE. 



with aromatic food ; dried oats, ground, we think, is the beat. 

 Much good may come out of such circuni stances, for it will 

 teach us how to economize food, and make the best of au 

 inferior article. Turnips and mangel, where taken up, have 

 been found light crops, and very valuable for the bulk. The 

 potato crop was indifferent enough, and the quantity of good 

 ones very sraall in amount : we despair of ever again linding 

 them good as in the olden times. Our seed time has been but 

 an indifferent one. Much put in as bad as possible: the ground 

 so trampled that it was a common saying with the labourers, 

 " More barra than good." The breadth put in very limited. 

 What the result will be must rest with the future. Farming 

 work is backward, and in those districts where summer fal- 

 lows are yet made we see many fields in a sad state — foul 

 enough to tempt the farmer to give it another year's rest. 

 Our stock markets and fairs have been dull, and only first- 

 class things have found ready customers. The corn markets 

 for Englisii produce have been sluggish in the extreme : wheat 

 never did come in (as far as our memory serves us) in such 

 damp condition, and the range of value is very great. Kiln- 

 drying, aud every expedient the mind can think of, are resorted 

 to, but nothing makes it a favourite. There is a tenderness 

 about it (not arising from sprouting) which perhaps may never 

 be removed, and probably the cause is the want of sun during 

 the period of growth. It is well for us tbat old is in fair sup- 

 ply, and foreign in abundance. Ail spring-grown grain comes 

 to hand out of condition, aud maltsters complain much of the 

 working of barley — its irregular sprouting. The statutes, or 

 the annual season for the hiring of servants, have been duller 

 than usual ; not much lower the value of labour, but a 

 slackness of engagements among masters, from, we fear, in 

 too many instances, a lightness of cash. Day labourers are 

 all employed, and all surplus labour readily taken up by the 

 railway now in formation. We are fast drawing to the close 

 of the year, which, for perplexity to the farming commuuity, 

 has had few equals. Surely the better time is coming. 



WEST GLOUCESTERSHIRE. 



We have now to supply the last communication for the 

 year, one which will be remembered as tbe wettest recorded 

 for a long time past, exceeding the memorable wet winter of 

 1852 and 1853, inasmch, that more rain has fallen throughout 

 the summer. On the driest soils, especially on the hills, the 

 early-sown wheats are up and looking promisingly, but on the 

 cold and wet lands we cannot speak eo favourably, and on 

 many of those sowing has not been completed ; indeed, since 

 our laat report very little progress Las been made in such 

 situations. Rain, more or less, has fallen almost daily, and 

 those lands are absolutely waterlogged. The care of stock is 

 at the present crisis the most important consideration, and in 

 this neighbourhjod it is too frequently wofuUy conducted. A 

 most mistaken view of economy is adopted, and the necessary 

 adjuncts of meal or cake are regarded as extravagances. 

 There are some who set better examples, but too few profit by 

 them. It should be remembered that unless young stock is 

 improving, the farmer is losing instead of gaining money by 

 them. Thus, if growth is imparted by the summer's grass 

 and the animal remains stationary, so to speak, throughout 

 the winter, it is worth very little more in April than it was in 

 October. Stores have been selling very low ; but those who 

 have purchased, possessing courage and discrimination to keep 

 them well, may anticipate good profits in the spring, when 

 those in good condition may reasonably be expected to realize 

 remunerative prices. Fat cattle and sheep are selling well, 

 the demand for the approaching Christmas supplies being con- 

 siderable. Neat cattle are not the only animals we have to 

 notice as not being sufficiently provided for durmg the winter 

 months. The few horses that are bred in this county are 

 destined to the same parsimonious system. Even housing 

 them is considered too great an indulgence, or it is too much 

 trouble ; and as to a feed of corn for a yearling or a two-year- 

 old, that is extravagance not to be tolerated. A run with tile 

 cows or heifers, and, with them, to be supplied with hay, 

 which this year is generally of bad quality, is all that such 

 animals are thought to require ; and if a foal, in its desire to 

 share with its companions a portion of the scanty food, is 

 drawn from its repast by a more powerful animal, and gored 

 by its horns, the mismanagement is forthwith ascribed to bad 

 luck. No such term should be admitted in the vocabulary o 



the farmer. The festivities of Christmas are fast approaching. 

 May every hospitable hearth be surrounded by happy guests ; 

 may the enlivening mirth, which on those occasions prevails, 

 dispel all dismal reminiscences of the past ; may tbe succeed- 

 ing year commence with more cheering aspects, and compen- 

 sate for the difficulties with which we have bad to contend 

 throughout the year which has so nearly run its course. 



SOUTH HERTFORDSHIRE. 

 We are fast approaching the close of 1860, which will be 

 long remembered by the present generation of farmers as the 

 most trying and disastrous of j'ears. To many we fear it will 

 prove a ruinous season, as in some instances the hay crop was 

 spoiled, the corn all weathered, root crops a failure, and the 

 greater part of the ensuing wheat crop is yet unsown. As we 

 premised, in previous reports, farmers are at their wits' end to 

 know what to take to market. It has, so far, been useless to 

 thrash rough or raw wheat : samples of such have lately been 

 exhibited, week by week, at our market, without obtaining an 

 offer from milier or dealer. Weathered barley, also, is a drug, 

 unless it is dry, and such lots are scarce.- The best samples of 

 malting barley have receded full 5s. per qr. in price, and malt- 

 sters are not eager buyers : they complain loudly of the barley 

 not growing, aud prefer Scotch to English growth. Wheat 

 has not been thrashed to any extent, the condition proving so 

 bad, and foreign wheat and flour are extensively used. Farm- 

 ing operations are generally backward. The protracted har- 

 vest retarded the sowing of wheat in October, and the heavy 

 rams prevented it in November, whilst the sudden and severe 

 frost has now stopped the ploughs and all cultivation. There 

 are some good fields of wheat, which were sown in October ; 

 but many fields are thin, owiug, in part, to damp wheat being 

 sown, which the wet weather caused to rot, and the young 

 shoot perished. A large breadth of laud intended for wheat 

 is yet unsown, and there is no telling now when wheat-sowiug 

 can be resumed. The ploughing of fallows is anything but 

 forward, which is much to be regretted, if the present severe 

 weather continues. Now we are all busy carting dung on the 

 land, dressing pasture land with compost, and rendering our 

 live stock as comfortable as possible. The present bracing 

 weather will have a good effect on the corn in stack, and we 

 may hope to see it come to market in improved condition. 

 Owing to the very bad crop of roots, aud tbe small quantity 

 of good hay, the number of stall-fed cattle will be very limited 

 this winter. Fatting sheep are also much thmner than usual, 

 owiug to the scarcity of food, and the probability of a long and 

 severe winter. Many of us suffered so much last spring from 

 being over-stocked, that we have laid in cautiously this autumn. 

 Great complaints prevail respecting the unsoundness of sheep, 

 west country downs, in particular, having exhibited disease, 

 which has caused many to drop. Potatoes are selling at a 

 great price ~£1 per sack of three bushels. The outcry against 

 fat meat appears to have had a great effect this year on the 

 exhibitors at the Smithfield Club Show. We never recollect 

 seeing so many moderately-fed animals exhibited, and our im- 

 pression is that the show was decidedly below par. We trust 

 that those who are rich in this world's goods will now have a 

 kind thought for the poor, as this Christmas promises to be 

 one of unusual privation aud severity. And not wishing to 

 dwell on the anxious months of the year now closing, let ns 

 anticipate a more genial season in the year to come — one more 

 productive of good to all mankind. — Dec. 22. 



SOMERSETSHIRE. 



Winter, in what is called the old-fashioned way, has now 

 set in, and all progress in autumn sowing come to an end, 

 and it is but a little over half finished. We had several 

 days of most incessant rain, and the water was more out 

 than for years past, the barometer came down lower than it 

 has been for a twelvemonth ; when this is the case there is 

 generally a change to_ clear weather, and the days of fine 

 weather before the frost, which set in on the 17th, have been 

 very beneficial. We had a fall of snow on the 18th, and 

 more general on the 19th, two very severe frosts, Mercury 

 as low as 21 degrees, and there is now some appearance of 

 more snow. Very little of the wheat that has been already 

 put in shows above-ground, and there are many complaints 

 of the slugs eating that which has come up. Winter beans 



