18i 



THE FARMER'S MAGAZINE. 



Comparison of Supplies. 

 Jan. Beasts. Cows. Sheep. Calves. Pigs. 



1860 20,500 535 92,425 1,078 2,045 



1859 19,805 364 90,620 921 2,400 



1858 20,312 572 80,742 1,108 1,759 



1857 19,949 355 81.200 1,071 2,355 



185G 17,532 435 101,000 757 2,930 



1855 19,717 500 120,470 962 2,625 



1854 19.687 510 95,080 887 2,279 



1853 20,717 480 96,800 2,148 2,360 



Beef has realized Ss, 2d. to 53. 2d., mutton Ss. 6d. to Gs,, 

 veal 48. 2d. to 5s. 6d., aud pork 48. to Ss. per Bibs, to sink 

 the offal. 



Comparison of Puices. 



Jan., 1857. Jan., 1858. 



8. d. 8. d. 8. d. B. d. 



Beef, from 3 4 to 5 2 .... 3 2 to 4 6 



Mutton 3 8 to 5 6 3 4 to 5 4 



Veal 3 8 to 5 .... 4 to 5 4 



Pork .^ 3 8 to 5 2 .... 3 6 to 4 10 



Jan., 1859, Jan., 1860. 



s. d. 8. d. 8. d. s. d. 



Beef, from 3 0to50 3 4 to 50 



Mutton 3 2 to 5 2 3 8 to 5 6 



Veal 3 4 to 5 2 .... 4 6 to 5 8 



Pork ...0 3 2 to 4 2 .... 3 6 to 4 10 



From the above comparison, it will be seen that mutton has 

 Bold at a much higher price in the past month than in the 

 corresponding period in several previous years. 



The arrivals of beasts from Norfolk, Suffolk, Essex, and 

 Cambridgeshire have amounted to 8,360 Scots, shorthorns, 

 and crosses ; from the northern counties, 3,500 shorthorns ; 

 from other parts of England, 3,000 various breeds; from 

 Scotland, 460 Scots and crosses; and from Ireland, 220 oxen 

 and heifers. 



Although Newgate and Leadenhall have been scantily sup- 

 plied with each kind of meat, the trade, almost generally, baa 

 continued very inactive ; nevertheless, no change of import- 

 ance has taken place in the quotations. 



SOUTH LINCOLNSHIRE. 



We have now passed through a season of remarkable 

 intensity, and the close of it is as favourable to the con- 

 tinuance of farm operations as was ever known. The 

 weather to-day (January 21st) is actually mild, warm, and 

 pleasant : tlie snow and ice are diminisliing amazingly fast, 

 without a drop of rain. The grass lauds appear truly- 

 benefited by the snow, and the grass has grown uuderneatli 

 its thick coating. The trees and shrubs have received 

 great injury. The evergreens are all brown, and the half- 

 matured wood of the last cold summer is dead. Cabbages, 

 coleseed, and all roots much exposed have suffered exceed- 

 ing!}' — many already rotten. Swedes now emerging from 

 their thick snow covering look far better than could have 

 been expected, and do not denote any loss in quality. The 

 leaves and bulbs look quite healthy and flourishing. Man- 

 golds, notwithstanding such severe frosts, have kept well 

 ill grave, aud now arc being brought into general requisi- 

 tion, owing to the loss of other food. It is rather too early 

 to commencs feeding oft' mangolds ; but there is no help 

 for it, as but little other food remains, and this is a large 

 crop in this district, purposely provided for this emer- 

 gency. They will do very well, in moderation, in connection 

 with dry cereal food. Our lairage for sheep just now is 

 very bail, and symptoms of inflammatory diseases are pre- 

 valent — the lungs being mostly attacked. Some casualties 

 have already occurred, and we look forward with fear. 

 Diuretic or purgative drinks, and occasionally bleeding, 

 should be resorted to ; depending, however, much iipon 

 the weather aud the change of food they are undergoing. 

 Salt should always be accessible to them. The number of 

 fatting sheep or fatting cattle is very limited in this 

 locality ; bu.t of pigs we have a good supply, and doing 

 well — their chief food being wheat or barley-meal, as the 

 diseased potatoes this year are so bad as to be unfit for 

 fatting pigs. I regret to say we have much inferior wheat, 

 the meal of which is unfit for human food. The work of 

 the favms in this neighbourhood has progressed tolerably 



well during the " blast." Thrashing is very forward : the 

 produce of many wheat stacks have gone to market, 

 and our yards already look very thinly stocked, the yield 

 and weight both rrnsatisfactory — 60 lbs. per bushel being 

 seldom realized, and frequently not exceeding 54 lbs. per 

 bushel. Almost every load of manure that could be carted 

 has been removed, either on to the field for plonghing-in, 

 or to the dung-heap for future service. At the jpresent 

 time we are all in perplexity as to what work can now be 

 profitably done — all are awaiting the total exit of " Jack 

 Frost" and his attendants, so that ploughing and wheat- 

 seeding may again be commenced, a very considerable 

 breadth of which we have yet to sow. It is a pleasing 

 feature to be noticed, /. e., that we have had fewer men out 

 of work than usual this winter, chiefly owing to the extra 

 care bestowed upon stock management. The extra work 

 of subsoil di-aining has not been got on with to any extent, 

 it being impossible to dig. The few following weeks wUl, 

 I tnist. see much of it accomplished, as no department of 

 farm management can be more valuable. It is a gratifying 

 fact, that during the whole of the frost the lioUow drains 

 have kept running, and the absence of ice from the 

 ditches into which they empty show the temperature of 

 the soil. This will of itself soon drain the surface soil, 

 and enable ploughing to proceed : at present it is in a per- 

 fect pulp, and requires patience ere it be meddled with. 

 This fact alone ought to convince all our slow farmers of 

 the value of subsoil drainage. We are sorry to report that 

 a considerable breadth of the dead level of South Lincoln- 

 shire is still undrained. — Jan. 22. 



SUFFOLK. 



So thoroughly adverse has the year 1860 been in its 

 seasons, influences, and results, to the best interests of 

 agriculture, and to the comfort and success of agricul- 

 turists, that but few can regret its departure ; and but few, 

 indeed, would desire to re-live its seasons of extreme wet, 

 winds, and cold, and to re-enact the past of unrequited 

 toil upon an ungenial soil, with such antagonistic odds as 

 every element in opposition. We bid adieu to 1800, with 

 a hearty farewell ; and though recollections of a hay crop 

 drowned and a harvest deficient clings to us, and the 

 sharper stings of pecuniary difficulties remain as a natu- 

 ral consequence, and act as a more powerful reminder; 

 yet we turn to the future with hope, and hail 1861 as the 

 new year of a now agricultural era, with other prospects 

 and sweeter realities in store. What has 1860 taught us? 

 It has taiight us both grave and important lessons, which 

 need to be loudly sounded, and sharply felt, to impress the 

 mind and reach the feelings, for we are dull in our suscep- 

 tibilities, and slow in our acknowledgments ; but the les- 

 sons have been truthful and salutary, and we are compelled 

 to feel that, powerful as we are inj skill and in judgment, 

 we are powerless to command success ; that great as we 

 are in science and in the use of every appliance, a few more 

 clouds, a few degrees less heat, or a few inches more rain, 

 can entirely nullify our best eftbrts, blight our brightest 

 prospects, and present a scarcity where we gladly antici- 

 pated an overflowing plenty. Such is our dependence up- 

 on a far mightier Power, that it is our wisdom to know 

 that the increase is not ours, and that the blessing worth 

 having is worth seeking. The recent inclement weather 

 has entirely stopped all out-door work, aud much suHering 

 has resulted from the fact that many labourers were thrown 

 out of employment. Field work is in a very backward 

 condition ; but the severe frosts have effected much good 

 in counteracting the injurious influences of the past wet 

 j'ear, and even where the land is unploughed, the frost 

 has sufficiently penetrated to disintegrate the soil, and im- 

 prove its condition for a future crop. Turnips liave been 

 so frozen, tl:a' sheep have made but little progress, and the 

 losses have been very great. Within the past few months 

 not less than 15 per cent, of the lambs lambed in 1860 have 

 died of disease, and from Cambridgeshire, Berkshire, and 

 other counties, we receive similar complaints. Mutton 

 must be very high in price in the Spring and Summer, and 

 with the partial loss of the hay and root crops, beef must 

 also be dear in value ; this country will manufacture many 

 thousands less stones of meat this year than usual. The 

 septennial average is aiTanged to goyern the rent-charge 



