1829.] AgrictiUural Report. /iSS 



bishopric of Durliam, assures us that " vast breadths of com, indeed the greater part 

 in his vicinity, remained uncut in the second week of tlie present montli, and that 

 they had no expectations of a period to their harvest labours until gunpowder trea- 

 son." Our friend fiurther ventures the opinion that the present season may vie with 

 that of ninety-nine, in all its disadvantages and clieerless prospects : an opinion 

 in which, having kept a register of the weather during that unfortunate year, we cannot 

 concur. The incessant rains of that year, from the latter end of spring until the com- 

 mencement of autumn, attended by a constant low and chilling temperature, the wind 

 being almost invariably fixed in the nortli or east, blasted, and in many parts of the 

 country, totally destroyed the crops and fruits of the earth, rendering the year that fol- 

 lowed almost a year of famine. Most fortunately, considering the present state of the 

 country, tiventy-nine can cLaim no near relationship with ninety-nine. In our present 

 year, however drenched with too much moisture the land has been, and the ripening of 

 the crops retarded by the want of solar heat, we have been invariably relieved by favour- 

 able alternations, the winds veering to the south and west, and by tlieir genial though 

 temporary influence, aiding the production of crops of almost every description, some of 

 the most important in nearly the average quantity, the quality of the wheat, when fortu- 

 nately^harvested being of a superior degree. 



^^'heat, the first in importance, may, we hope, be deemed generally the largest crop ; 

 but as a heavy drawback, perhaps not one quarter of it has been successfully harvested, to 

 which must be added the loss of quantity accruing from the necessity of keeping the damp 

 wheat until suificiently dry for the operation of the mill. The most wholesome, effectual, 

 and best mode of drying, is in tlie stacks and barns of tlie farmers ; but from tlie present 

 depressed and impoverished state of that body, tliey are too generally unable to hold their 

 corn, and the markets, since harvest, have been so glutted, with wheat particularly, that in 

 the poorer districts the stack yards already begin to exhibit a meagre appearance. This 

 state of things must necessarily continue, gradually reducing price, together with the 

 absolute necessity for the use of dry foreign wheat, without the admixture witli which our 

 own could not be ground. A prospective view towards the spring does not afford very 

 flattering expectations even to tlie opulent class of farmers who liave been able to hold 

 their com, since the ample foreign supply, which can have no other vent, must inevitably 

 keep our markets down. Heie we may be allowed to repeat an anecdote of a great 

 farmer, in a most productive part of tlie old renowned corn county of Essex, and which 

 we had from a friend in liis neighbourhood. M'ith a superior talent both for speculation 

 and execution, and well aware tliat })ost est occasio calva, he laid hold of the critical and 

 uncertain opportunity of a few days fine weather in the beginning of harvest, sent a hun- 

 dred labourers into his fields, cut and carted his wheat, had it immediately threshed in 

 his machines, sent it to market, and saved five or six shillings per quarter on the greater 

 part of his crop. In all the forwardest and best districts throughout the island, the corn 

 has been secured somewhat before Michaelmas, scarcely any article remaining abroad but 

 a small portion of the bean crop. In the great corn county of Lincoln, tlie wolds and 

 poor sandy soils excepted, their harvest reports may be deemed favourable. The same 

 may be said in a more considerable degree of certain districts in the north of Scotland — 

 Perth especially ; in the Casse of Gowrie, however, wheat appears to be the least produc- 

 tive crop. 



Barley, oats, and pulse, taken in the aggregate, may be pronounced an average crop in 

 respect to quantity, but generally deficient in quality, unless oats form a favourable excep- 

 tions. From the constantly succeeding rains, great part of the Lent crops were harvested 

 in a damp and soft state, and not one quarter of the year's barley is fit either for matting 

 or grinding. The stain and discolouration of the samples have reduced the market price 

 considerably beyond the indemnity of increased measure. The total failure of mangel 

 (bet), has been succeeded by a very considerable and general failure of the turnips, both 

 common and Swedish, there being in fact no good crops of either, but upon superior and 

 well tilled turnip soils. As well as from the moisture of the season, tliis misfortune has 

 occurred from neglected tillage, the turnip foliage being absolutely surmounted by a lofty 

 and luxuriant crop of every possible and mischievous description of weeds. Tlie bulb of 

 the turnip is in consequence small, and its juices aqueous and poor, very ill calculated to 

 nourish and improve the animals by which it must be consumed ; tliis, with tlic general 

 lightness and deficiency of the crop, will necessarily occasion a great additional consump- 

 tion of potatoes as cattle-food, to tlie enhancement of the price to the labourer of that 

 indispensable article. Of late we have been incessantly and ridiculously lioreil, through 

 the press, with tliat ancient novelty. Maize or Indian Corn, which was cultivated in various 

 parts of the country more than lialf a century since, and the culture relinquished. The 

 present writer has no other experience of it than in ornamental patclics ; but an intelligent 

 \V'arwickshire cultivator, having made experiments of sufficient extent, states, tliat tlie 

 quality of Indian corn is unsubstantial and washy, and that the jiork fid with it is equally 

 loose and innutritions as potatoe-fed pork, than which he could not well have given it a 

 worse character ; to wliich may be added tliat maize may be always imported from iVmc- 

 rica cheaper than it can be grown in IJritain. l'npropitiou.« however the seasons have 



