1 791- LITERARY INTELLIGENCEU. 357 



MifccHaneotis Ohfervatio/is — The harvefts of 1782, and 

 1783, were very late, efpecially that of 1782. Before the 

 corn was all cut in this part of the country, there were in- 

 tenfc frofts and heavy fnows. On the 2d of November 

 1782, in particular, a very heavy fail of fnow covered the 

 corn fo deep, and lay fo long, that they could not be cut 

 for feveral days after. Though the harveft was uncom- 

 monly late in this parifh in thele two years, and though the 

 lateft of the corn in it was hurt by the froft, yet the harveft 

 here was earlier than in any other part of Scotland ; and 

 the greateft part of the corn was ripened before the frofts 

 came on. Under all thefe untoward circumftances, the 

 crops of thefe years were, however, uncommonly good, as 

 is the cafe, not only this year, but alfo in all late years, 

 owing to the peculiar drynefs and earlinefs of the foil and 

 climate of this parifli. The general fcarcity of meal in 

 Scotland during thefe two years, and the great demand for 

 feed corn from thofe counties where the froft had deftroyed 

 the crops, greatly increafed, as is well remembered, the 

 price of meal and oats all over Scotland. At that time the 

 farmers of this parifh had large quantities of both, efpecially 

 of feed corn, to fell ; and they cleared by it in thofe two 

 years, more than they ever did in any other two years. 

 The price of oat meal was then 2 s. 6 d. the ftone of 1 74. 

 pounds •, higher than was ever known before or fince. In 

 this parifti, the heritors and farmers, by a voluntary contri- 

 bution, colle<!:T;ed into two ftorehoufes, one at each extremity 

 of the parilh, all the meal they could, and diftributed it 

 among the poor labourers, and artificers at 2 s. a ftone, until 

 it fell in the markets to that price ; and by thus lofing 6 d. 

 a ftone in the meal which they fold, they were the happy- 

 means of preferving their poor pariftiioners from the general 

 calamity of the country. 



, ', That this extraft might not be imperfedl, and to prevent it from being 

 divided between this and the fuccceding volume, we have been obliged 

 to extend this number beyond its ufual limits. 



As it was found that what remains to be faid on the corn laws could 

 not have been com|<rifed in one number, it was judged expedient to de- 

 fer it till the commencement of next volume, that thofe who purchafc 

 eith.er might not find it imptn'eft. What goes before, forms a diftindl: 

 article of itfelf, which is only flightly comicdcd with that which will 

 fbUaw. 



