108 
AMERICAN AGRICULTURIST. 
REVIEW OF THE BRITISH CORN TRADE. 
The harvest is now concluded, even in the 
most backward parts of the kingdom. With 
the exception of that small proportion carried 
early in August., previous to the setting in of 
the fine weather, the whole has been secured 
in admirable order. We have lately heard that 
some of the Lincolnshire and Cambridge¬ 
shire farmers find, on threshing their wheat, 
that the yield is not so large as had been ex¬ 
pected would have proved the case. This, 
we think is not improbable as more mischief 
was done there by the heavy rains in July 
and August than in almost any other district. 
Large breadths were beaten down, and but 
for the splendid weather which succeeded, the 
injury would have been very extensive. Hot 
sunshine and drying breezes remedied the 
evil to a great extent ; but where the straw 
was broken, the ear, being deprived of nour¬ 
ishment, ripened prematurely, and the berry 
is, therefore, in many instances, meager and 
shriveled. Notwithstanding this disadvan¬ 
tage, we are inclined to think that the crop 
of wheat in the fens has given over an aver¬ 
age quantity; and in other parts of the 
country there is certainly a considerable 
excess. Taking the produce of the whole 
kingdom, we are disposed to estimate the 
yield at about one-fourth over an average. 
Whether, however, we are to have low 
prices during the next twelve months, may 
be questioned. One good crop is not suffi¬ 
cient to make good the exhaustion of stocks, 
in consequence of the deficiency in the har¬ 
vest of 1853 ; indeed, we have heard it seri¬ 
ously argued, that the country is not in a 
much better position as regards stocks now, 
than it was at this period last year. This 
proposition we do not feel inclined to agree 
to, but it is certain that very little wheat re¬ 
mained in farmers’ hands at harvest time, and 
that it was necessary to commence the new 
almost as soon as it was secured. The 
quantity of old foreign wheat in the kingdom 
was small; for though the London ware¬ 
houses were well filled, there was compara¬ 
tively little at any of the outports. This 
being the position of affairs, we do not con¬ 
sider that the late rally in prices has been 
without cause ; but present rates are tempt¬ 
ing to the growers, and we should certainly 
not be surprised to see materially increased 
deliveries from the farmers. Many who 
were not inclined to sell at 50s. willfeel well 
satisfied to realize a portion of their wheat 
at 60s. per qr., or even somewhat less. 
Thus far, farmers have been too busily en¬ 
gaged in the fields to have much time for 
threshing; but, in the course of another 
week or two, sowing will have been accom¬ 
plished, and we shall then, in all probability, 
have good supplies. The wheat trade has 
maintained a firm tone, and at several of the 
leading provincial markets Held since Mon¬ 
day, rather enhanced terms have been ob¬ 
tained. At the markets in the agricultural 
districts, the quantity brought forward has 
about kept pace with the demand, and the 
prices have undergone little alteration. Of 
spring corn the deliveries have been on a 
very scanty scale ; and barley and oats have 
risen in value in the farmers’ markets as well 
as at the leading consuming towns. 
We have for some time past heard com¬ 
paratively little about the potato. That part 
of the crop has been lost in consequence of 
disease, can not be questioned ; but they ap¬ 
pear to keep better this year when dug than 
in some former seasons, and the quality is 
certainly much superior to what it has been 
of late years. 
Within the last few days, a new subject 
of uneasiness has arisen ; reports having 
reached us, in respect to turnips, of a very 
unfavorable character, Whether this disor¬ 
der is general, we are not prepared to say \ 
but in some districts the plant is blighted or 
diseased to such an extent as to have given 
rise to the belief that the crop will prove a 
failure. Should this unfortunately be the 
case, all articles suitable for feeding would 
of course rise in value. 
[Mark Lane Express. 
WHAT CAN BE DONE IN A GARDEN. 
A correspondent of the Neiv-England Far¬ 
mer says: Thirty years ago I purchased an 
establishment consisting of a dwelling- 
house, barn, carriage and wood-house, cal¬ 
culating to make it a permanent residence. 
There was attached a little land for a garden, 
on which were just five apple trees, and in 
front of the house were three trees of the 
balm of Gilead; the trees were all about six 
inches in diameter at that time, but two of 
the apple trees were hollow, and I cut one of 
them down, after trying to make it do some¬ 
thing and finding I could not. 
Well, all the apple trees bore something 
for fruit, but so crabbed and sour they would 
make a pig squeal. At this time I was en¬ 
gaged as a trader, and had a country store to 
look after, which occupied about all my time; 
but, as time went on, and stage-coaches and 
railroad cars succeeded one another, I had 
more time; for I can now travel as far in 
four hours as I could then in two entire days 
with my team. Well, for amusement, I 
grafted all the four apple trees gradually, or 
year by year, cutting off the old branches and 
grafting the limbs with Roxbury russets, 
New-York russets, Baldwins, &c., &c., all 
the best kinds I could find. Now for results: 
I have bad about ten barrels of good apples, 
annually, to put up for winter, for three or 
four years past, beside all we used in the 
family of five, and we have used them freely 
all we wanted, till time to gather the winter 
apples. 
I have a yard in front of my house, about 
forty feet square, in front of which are two 
of the balm of Gilead trees before mentioned, 
which are now large trees, and have been left 
outside of the front fence : but inside of the 
fence I set out, about ten years ago, three 
pear trees, of the common summer pear, 
which now give us all the pears we want, 
for they have borne well for about four years. 
From the pear trees to the house, I filled 
the space with flower-beds, and have had 
many varieties, say twenty kinds, of roses, 
and nearly one hundred kinds of flowers ; I 
have planted on the south side of my build¬ 
ings, next to the passage to the barn, plums, 
peaches, and grapes. The peaches have 
not succeeded well, nor the plums, so I cut 
the plum trees off, and grafted them with the 
green and purple gage, only three or four 
years ago, and now I have plenty of the 
finest plums I ever saw, so that I have had 
to prop the small branches. My grapes be¬ 
gan to bear last year ; I had about a bushel, 
and I should think I might get double the 
quantity this year. I have set out some 
quince trees, but they do not bear yet. 
Beside the tree and grape vines, I have 
annually raised about ten or fifteen bushels 
of potatoes, six or seven bushels, of beets 
and carrots, some English turnips and ruta¬ 
bagas, and a few cabbages and onions, as 
many as our folks wanted to use. We have 
also had beans, peas, and corn, what we 
wanted to use green, and I have annually had 
about three or four bushels of dry corn, say 
two bushels common yellow corn, one bush¬ 
el of pop-corn,-and sweet corn enough to 
plant myself and supply all my neighbors. 
Also, 1 have annually raised cucumbers, wa¬ 
ter and muskmelons, summer and winter 
squashes, one or two hundred or one thou¬ 
sand pounds of pumpkins. Ah this has beer* 
raised on less than half an acre of ground, 
including buildings and drive way, and T 
have had more vegetables for years in my 
family, than some men that cultivate one 
hundred acres, and all on poor, gravelly 
New-Hampshire land, without any help but 
my girls in the flower department. And as 
Goldsmith says, “We make every rood of 
ground support its man.” 
YOUR PAPER DID NOT COME. SIR. 
The uncertain arrival, or uncertain de¬ 
livery of papers at country post offices is 
often the ground of complaint against pub¬ 
lishers and editors. Many of the offices are 
poorly supplied with conveniences for taking 
care of papers, no matter with what certain¬ 
ty they arrive. 
The papers are jumbled into a few little 
pigeon holes or piled upon a desk, box or 
barrel,to await the call of subscribers, in the 
midst of boots, hats, bridles, horse collars, 
and other coarse wares, which may be called 
for during the day by customers. Country 
post-masters, in most cases, being engaged 
in some mercantile business, many news¬ 
papers find their way into some obscure 
corner, where they are hid for a time from 
human eyes, as completely as if buried in a 
mountain cave. 
In comes the man for his paper, and, as it 
can not he found, of course it did not come. 
The indignant subscriber consequently 
abuses the rascally editor, and perhaps calls 
for pen, ink and paper, to write a letter of 
complaint about not sending his paper punc¬ 
tually, when, if the said paper were endowed 
with speech, it would cry out, “ Here I am, 
squeezed to death behind this box, or under 
this barrel.” 
W'e have seen just such things at many 
country post offices, elsewhere, as well as 
in this country. These remarks have no 
reference to any particular office, but are 
meant for all where they rviil apply. 
[The Advance. 
The Wheat Crop in England. —In a pri¬ 
vate letter just received from John B. Lawes, 
dated Rothamsted, Sept. 13, he says : “We 
have just gathered in a splendid harvest, all 
over great Britain, and you may expect 
prices to rule very low in England next 
year. One acre, which I set apart to ascer¬ 
tain the produce of my farm, yielded 53 
bushels, and I think my whole wheat crop 
will average from 45 to 48 bushels per acre. 
The experimental crops have not been 
threshed, but they are very fine, and I think 
the produce in Broadback * will be higher 
than it has ever been before.” 
[Rural New-Yorker. 
* Broadback is the name ofthe experimental wheat field . 
The fields in England are all designated by name, and if 
we mistake not Broadback is destined to hold a place in 
agricultural history. A crop of wheat is taken from it 
every year, the different plots being dressed with various 
fertilizing substances of known composition. The crop 
just harvested, and which Mr. Lawes thinks will be the 
best it has yet produced, is the eleventh.— Eds. 
A Fine Orchard. —Moore’s New-Yorker 
gives an account of the orchards of Austin 
Penney, Clarkson, Monroe Co., N. Y., who 
has for several years past devoted himself to 
the collection and planting of fine fruit, and 
more particularly of peaches, for the best 
varieties of which he has ransacked the 
whole United States. The editor of the 
New-Yorker states that he has 28 acres oc¬ 
cupied with fruit-trees, of which there are 
3,000 peach trees, and 2,700 dwarf pears. 
Most of them have been set out about three 
years. They are stated to be exceedingly 
thrifty and healthy, many of this year’s shoots 
being four to five feet long. The land was 
subsoiled before planting, and heavily ma¬ 
nured with a compost of yard manure and 
muck, The soil is kept mellow by cultiva¬ 
tion, but no annual crop is nchnitteslj ...except 
an ocojisionstl crop of heans, in the poach 
