1S07.] { 619 ) 



]\rO^;THLY AGRICULTURAL REPORT. 



THE continued wetnol'i of the feiilon, accompanied with warm li^uth-wefterly wjiids, 

 has been, as it is feared, too favourable to vegLtitioii. The young wheat crops on 

 <^old niOilt foils have a weak and fickly api)eiirante, which, il not fpeedily checked by 

 frotts, luuft Aiffer exceedingly. 'J'lie average prite of Grain per quarter lhrot!';liout Eng- 

 land and Wales is, for V/heat, 77^. 6d. ; Barley, 41s. Id. ; and Oals, '271. Ud. 



The winter green crops of turnips and colefced li.Hve tlouruhcd amazingly ; but, from 

 excclVive nioiftnre, ftieep feeding docs not thrive well, the ground bving damp, and theit 

 coats conftantly wet. 



The ten coniities^ from the complete ftaie of drainage ni which they are now in, not- 

 with.fandmg the quantity of ram \vlnch has fallen, have not been drowned; and the out- 

 iying-^lock of hay does tolerably well. 



The late autunuial fairs having been abundantly fupplied witli ftore beafts, the ftraw 

 yards in every dilfrift are fully (tockcd. In Smilli'lield Markst, Beef fetches from 4s. to 

 ■5s. fid. ; Mutton, .5s. to Cs. ; Veal, 6s. to 7s. ; and Pork, Os. to 6s. 6d. 



The grain, in general, now Ihrelhnig out (barley and pulfe cro|)S excepted) yields well 

 tothetlailj and^heintroduaion of that excellent machine, a threlhmg mill, to work by 

 liorfes, is become pretty genera! in nioft corn counties: a preference being given to thole 

 mills which are moveable on wheels from one barn to another, as they do much work in a 

 .clean and etVeftual manner. 



. Owing to extreme net, the winter operations of plowing and carrying out manure hare 

 ■been in moft places fulpended. 



NAIURALIST'-S MU.NTIILY REPORT. 

 See, Winter comes, to rule tht varied year. 

 Sullen and fad, with all his rifing train. 

 Vapours, and clouds, and ftorms. 

 ■pROM the hitter end of November to this day (19th of December) we have had little 

 elfe than a fuccellion of boifterons nnd Itorniy weather, from the well: and north-weft 

 quarter of the compafs. On the 7 lb of December there fell a greater quantity of raiu 

 iliau I almoft ever recolject to have tallen in the courfe of one day, and accompanied with 

 a moft heavy gale of wind. In each of the nights of the lllli and l3tli we had a thunder- 

 (ionu. Hitherto (19 Dec.) we have had no fnow ; and fo Utile froft, that I have not yet 

 feen a piece of ice. The weather, oii the whole, has been warm. 



At the conclufion of my laft report I fpoke of fome herrings having been caught on our 

 coafts, and of more being expefted, if the wind continueU moderate, and to blow from 

 oJF the land : the fnblequeut ftorms, however, drove the Ihoal away, and none have fince 

 been feen in the neighbourhood of our Ihores. 



December l'2th. A confideruble number of large xvhititigs were caught. 

 The heavy rains that have fallen have caufed fo great a quantity of eels to defcend tlie 

 rivers, that "at each of the mills in tht vicinity of the place from which 1 write, there have 

 been many hundred weights taken, for fcveral nights paft. It is a lingular circumftance 

 wiih rcfpect to the eels (and not generally know7i), that, contrary to all other fifti, they 

 uniformly lie and feed with their heads down the ftreanis. 



The JiJtJfares arrived in this county about the l6tli of November. 



Ihe lii-il jack Jnipe (fcohfac gallinuia of Linnajus) that I have feen this year, was on th« 

 17 th of December. 



1 now and then obferve thofe beautiful birds, the klng-fijhers, flying along near the fideS 

 of ftrcams and rivers ; but they are by no means common. I do not know that thefe birds 

 ever change their place of reUdence, bst 1 certainly fee them much more frequently dur- 

 ing the waiter leafon than at anj other time of the year. 



1 he moUs continue to work, and the mole catchers have not yet given up fetting traps 

 for them. Ihe hedges in various places are hung with their bodies. 



The houjefies did not tliis year begin to be affefted by the cold weather till a much later 

 prnud than ufual. 1 laft year lirft remarked it on tlie" t'yd of Oaober, but now not till 

 yearly the middle of November. The common people entertain a ridiculous notion that 

 they become blind. Their limbs are fo benumbed, that their powers of motion are greatly 

 impeded. They lly about one'-, perfon much more than during the fumnier ; but they 

 certainly do not this in the fame manner as they would if they were not able to fee. Any 

 oi:e who (a.eliilly atlcnds to them luuft remark, that they never alight upon an objett with- 

 out lirft per.eiviiig it. 



The^.;7^, or furze, is yet in bloom. Before the fetting in of the late ftorms, the -vhlers, 

 ill a tew Ihchered gardens, nnd under fouth walls, had put forth their tiowers. iJec. lyth. 

 Ihfjliois are 111 Uower ; and the mc%:non trees are beginning 16 Ihew their flowering buds, , 

 Vegetatioji, Uowcver, in general, feems at an end Icr the fealon. 



n, u quam lurifla aleuxt cckn tn>' talis (urfu. 

 n^rrj-filrc. M-ETBOROLOCICAt 



