August 11 , 1881. ] JOURNAL OF HORTICULTURE AND COTTAGE GARDENER. 143 
few sales have been effected, the biddings not even reaching the 
amount of the mortgage. Amongst the many instances that could be 
given we may mention the Tiptree Hall property, the farm of the late 
Mr. Mechi; £3750 was the utmost that was offered for the estate, on 
which a mortgage of £4500 existed. We know of another case where 
£5000 was advanced on an estate, and when it was subsequently put 
up for sale, £3000 was the extent of the bidding. A property would 
be supposed to be worth £7000 or more on which to raise a mortgage 
of £5000. This shows how land has fallen in value, whether perma¬ 
nently or not no one can say for certain. In our results of country 
sales the amount reached in our last issue is only £644,017, whereas 
last year it was £1,013,464. We find estates bought in far more fre¬ 
quently than sold. Land is now a drug in the market—a fancy place 
may sell, but nothing in the way of an investment is looked at. A 
very melancholy state of things indeed. 
- The American Wheat Crop.—A cablegram sent from New 
York last Sunday states that the best judges say that the winter Wheat 
crop is about 20 per cent, short. It is difficult to get an accurate 
estimate of the spring Wheat. In some localities the yield will be 
very heavy, from 20 to 25 bushels per acre. Placing last year’s 
yield at 100, this year’s in these sections will be 105. In others it 
will be as low as 80, and in others 93. The most competent autho¬ 
rities place the crop at 15 per cent, short of last year’s. 
- A Large Landowner. —Mr. Hamilton Desson, a Phila¬ 
delphia manufacturer, appears, says a daily paper, to be a gentleman 
whom destiny has assuredly marked out for immortality. He has 
just concluded a contract by which he secures four millions of acres 
from the Board of Internal Improvement of the State of Florida. 
He has thus made the largest purchase of land ever effected by one 
person. His intention is to work out a great emigration scheme, 
which will have agencies in England, Germany, and France. America 
can now boast that among her citizens is not only the richest man 
but also the largest landowner in the world. 
-The English Harvest.— Harvest, says the Mark Lane Express, 
is now in rapid progress all over the southern and midland counties 
of England, and the weather has been very favourable. The high 
temperature of the latter portion of last week has enabled farmers to 
secure a considerable acreage of Wheat in the more forward districts, 
and has afforded exceptional facilities for thrashing in the fields 
wherever the exigencies of harvest work and the availability of trac¬ 
tion engines rendered such policy practicable. There have been a 
few samples of the new crop of provincial exchanges, but they have 
been too exceptional to afford any trustworthy index as to probable 
harvest results. It is noteworthy, however, that the quality of these 
early samples has been variable, and that the yield in such cases is 
not reported to have been more than an average. It remains to be 
seen to what extent premature ripening, general thinness of plant, 
and the appearance of parasitical fungi at the eleventh hour, will 
detract from what has hitherto been very generally spoken of as an 
average ci'op of Wheat. It is also noticeable, as bearing somewhat 
on the subject, that the first results of the Wheat harvest in France 
and Italy are causing considerable anxiety and disappointment, the 
climatic influences of the season having been practically the same 
all over western and southern Europe ; in eastern Europe, especially 
in southern Russia, the Wheat harvest is likely to prove both large 
and good. So far as the United Kingdom is concerned the position 
appears to be that, if the Wheat crop in England reaches an average, 
the actual quantity grown will be comparately small, inasmuch as the 
acreage is known to be smaller than usual; in Scotland the Wheat 
crop has not, of late, been favourably reported on ; whilst Ireland— 
where all cereal crops are said to be good—is not, to any great extent, 
a Wheat-growing country. 
- Peat Charcoal. —Messrs. Wells & Co., Barton-on-Humber, 
have sent us from their trial grounds specimens of Wheat and 
Turnips that have been grown solely by the aid of the above 
fertiliser, which was used at the rate of 5 cwts. per acre. The 
Wheat is a wonderful sample, exceeding 5 feet in height, with large 
heavy heads ; indeed, a full crop of such heads would afford a yield 
of 7 or 8 quarters per acre, and this we should very much like to see 
in field culture. The Turnips are remarkably large and clean, and we 
are informed they were never attacked with the fly, against which 
the charcoal is recommended as a specific. Have any of our readers 
had experience with this manure in ordinary field culture ? 
- Lincolnshire Bee-keepers’ Association. — We have 
received the schedule of prizes of this Association’s Show, which is 
to be held at Louth on September the 8th. There are twenty-seven 
classes, and several special prizes, also a silver cup for local exhi¬ 
bitors. Mr. Godfrey, the Secretary, is indefatigable in his efforts to 
improve and extend bee-keeping in the county in which he resides, 
and he merits support and success. 
- New Hops.—T he first pocket of this year’s growth arrived 
in the Borough Market, London, on Tuesday morning last, consigned 
to Messrs. W. H. & H. Le May, Hop-factors. The quality and manage¬ 
ment were exceedingly good. It is grown by Mr. Amos Luck, 
Paddock Wood, Brenchley, Kent, and realised £15 per cwt., and has 
been forwarded to Messrs. Kitchin & Simpson, Hop merchants, 
Leeds. 
- ■ 
POULTRY NOTES. 
We have frequently endeavoured to impress upon such of our 
readers as keep poultry for the sake of the eggs they lay, that no 
hens should be kept over after their second laying season. Many 
people who complain of a deficient supply of eggs would find 
matters mend if they paid attention to this point. Hens, as a 
rule, lay about an equal number of eggs in their first and second 
seasons, but after that the produce rapidly decreases. Every 
autumn one-half of the laying stock should be killed or disposed 
of, and their places filled up by pullets of the year. Now is the 
time to see to this. As the two-year-old hens show symptoms of 
going into moult, let them be put up to fatten for a short time, if 
necessary, and then be killed or sold. If chickens have been 
reared at home, the best of the pullets can be selected to fill up 
the vacancies in the laying stock. If it be necessary to purchase 
pullets, the sooner it is done the better, as when the season is 
further advanced it is not easy to make sure of what the age the 
pullets is. March and April pullets are best for winter laying, 
and at this season well-bred chickens which are not up to the 
exhibition standard can generally be purchased at moderate 
prices. _ 
A correspondent of an American contemporary writing from 
Petaluma, California, gives an account of poultry keeping in the 
Far West. The long dry summers, and the consequent deficiency 
of grass, are somewhat against the rearing of chickens except in 
the early months of the year ; but the writer has found that by 
giving an abundant supply of green stuff from the lawn and 
garden he has been able to overcome this difficulty. Within the 
range of vision from the writer’s farm about a dozen other farms 
can be seen at which from four hundred to eight hundred laying 
hens are kept, and flocks of smaller numbers are almost innume¬ 
rable. Not much attention has hitherto been paid to the raising 
of pure-bred poultry, but now some advance is being made. 
Breeders are adding fine birds to their stock, incubators are being 
introduced, and there are marked indications of “ a new era of 
poultry-raising on that coast.” The writer has devoted his atten¬ 
tion to Plymouth Rocks and Brown Leghorns, and has raised this 
season 1800 chickens. Next year he hopes, or rather “calculates” 
to raise more thousands than his hundreds number this season. 
We trust that Mr. Byce’s calculations will be realised, and as he 
promises further particulars we shall await them with much 
interest. __ 
The same number of the Poultry Bulletin, which contains the 
particulars we have quoted above, also contains a letter headed 
“ Farmers as Poultry-keepers.” At the present juncture the views 
of an American writer upon this subject may be of interest; we 
therefore quote the following passages—“ A farmer should keep 
standard breeds of fowls, because such poultry is more profitable 
than mongrel stock, and if hens are kept at all one might just as 
well keep the best as the worst; but I would advise a practical 
farmer to keep out of what is known as the business of breeding 
