THE YEAR 1825. 387 



burnt up before maturity, hung shrivelled upon 

 the leafless bushes ; the strawberry and raspberry 

 quite withered away ; the stalk of the early potato 

 was perfectly destroyed, and the tubers near the 

 surface in many places became roasted and sodden 

 by the heat, few obtaining their natural size, and 

 sold at this period in the Bristol market at twenty- 

 four shillings the sack. A few choice plants were 

 saved by watering them daily ; but in general the 

 exhalation from the foliage, by reason of the heat 

 of the earth, was greater than the root could sup- 

 ply, the green parts withering as if seared by a 

 frost, 



On the 20th of July some farmers began to cut 

 their wheat ; and by the 25th reaping had gene- 

 rally commenced. Our bean crop presented, per- 

 haps, an unprecedented instance of early ripeness, 

 being usually mowed in September ; but this year 

 it was universally ripe, indeed more perfectly so 

 than the wheat, by the 1st of August. The crop, 

 however, proved a defective one : water became 

 scarce, and the herbage of the fields afforded so 

 little nutriment, that the cows nearly lost their 

 milk, eight or ten being milked into a pail that 

 four should have filled ; and one week, from July 

 the 18th to the 24th, butter could not be made to 

 harden, but remained a soft oleaginous mass. 



This extreme heat had a favourable influence on 

 n\any of our exotic plants, enabling several to per- 



2 C 2 



