The Sun.
London, England, 1864-08-25 00:00:00

The Harvest

Should the weather continue fine the harvest in
this district (Newmarket) will be nearly, if not
quite, finished during the week. Some farmers,
even in the heavy soil neighbourhood, have already
finished, and the crops have been gathered in fine
condition. Formerly the harvest on heavy land
farms was from a fortnight to three weeks later
than that on light and medium soils, but now it
is almost as early, owing to the beneficial effects
of good draining. The wheat is reported to be of
an excellent quality, and rather above the ordinary
average. Barley is an unusually heavy crop, but
in many instances is of a bad selling colour. Some
have deferred the carting of it for a few days, in
the hope of getting some rain, which, it is thought,
would considerably improve it in appearance, and,
of course, enhance its value. The oats are heavy,
and of a fine quality, but tae bean crop is inferior
to that of last year.

Should there be another ten days of dry weather
the harvest will be nearly to an end for this year,
and grain of all descriptions will have been housed
in the primest condition for thrashing. At the
time we write, however, there has been some
steady rain, of which the root crops stood sorely in
need—at least in this neighbourhood. We have
ocoasionally heard of storms elsewhere, but around
Salisbury there has not been sufficient rain to
penetrate the soil to any depth since the begin-
ning of June. The pastures are completely
parched, and there is but little grass in the
water meadows. Dairy produce has, consequently,
advanced in price, and the prospects for
the coming winter and early spring are
anything but encouraging, seeing that the swede,
turnip, and mangold crops will be far below the
average. In some places farmers have already had
to give their cattle hay, and those who have a super-
abundant supply of this description of provender
will doubtless rea!ise high prices for the same dur.
ing the winter. There has been a good breadth of
wheat carried, and, looking at the character of the
season, not much fault can be found with the yield.
Of course it will be far below that of last year, but
there being a pretty good stock in hand, nothing
bat war or other unforeseen circumstances will en-
able the farmer to obtain anything like remunera-
tive prices. With the high rents paid for most farms
we fear that even Mr Huxtable himself would not
increase the balance at his bankers by growing
wheat at ss. a bushel. It has had to be done, it is
true, but the last three years have been most trying
and anxious ones to the holders of arable farms.
About the usual number of acres have been sown to
barley, but owing to the long continued drought
the crop is light and thin, with of course very little
straw. The early sown will prove the best for malt-
ing purposes. The oat crop is unusually light, and
excepting in strong, retentive soils, beans are a
general failure. We have seen only two or three
good samples, and the yield will be unprecedent-
edly small, owing to the excessive blight which has
prevailed. Good beans are likely to fetch high prices.
Similar observations are applicable to the pea
crop, which, owing to the parched stats of the
ground, is very deficient. Here, again, the
advantage of early sowing has been rendered
strikingly apparent. Less flax is grown in this
neighbourhood than in North Wilts and in some
parts of Dorsetshire, but most of the accounts are
favourable, and we are surprised that farmers do not
devote more attention to this crop, for which there
is now a more remunerative market than has been
the case for many years. Most of the late planted
potatoes will hardly repay the cost attending them,
but there is very little disease, and the tubers,
though small, are of good quality for the table.
The season has been a capital one for the destruction
of weedP, and every advantage has been taken of
the opportunity.— Wiltshire Mirror. 1

NOTTINGIIAMSIIIRE.—Since last week the wea-
ther has bee❑ broken. On Sunday morning we
had a heavy thunderstorm, and several hours of
refreshing rain followed. Since then there have
been several showers, which must prove very bene-
ficial to the pastures and root crops. In many parts
of the county farmers have secured the whole of their
corn crops, and on good heavy lands the yield of
wheat will be nearly an average. On the loose sand
soils the crops are very light, and there will be a
considerable deficiency. Barley is the best crop of
the season. Generally the plant has done well, and
the yield will reach a full average. Oats are
varied y spoken of, but altogether the yield is very
light. Beans are thin. Peas are a fair crop. In the
southern part of the county wheat is a good crop on
the marsh and subsoils, and the quality of the grain
is fine ; on the light lands it is uneven. Barley pro-
mises exceedingly well. Oats and beans are short in
straw, and the yield is indifferent. Potatoes are
sound and of good quality, but small in size. Turnips
have mostly proved a favour—the early Swedes
promise the best, Mangolds are a very poor crop.

THE WEATHER AND TUE CROPS IN THE NORTH
OF ENGLAND.—In Lancashire the crops generally
are looking admirable, both grass and roots, which
have nearer London suffered so much from drought,
being at least up to the averege. This is certain to
render 1864 a profitable year for Northern farmers,
hay and other fodder rapidly rising in value owing
to the short yield in other localities. Good hay,
which a few weeks ago was selling at 6d. per stone
of 141 b., now realises 91, and many dealers expect
that in spring it will reach the maximum attained
during the Crimean war—ld. per lb. In anticipas
tion of this state of matters, vast herds of cattle are
being sent from Berkshire and neighbouring coun-
ties to the Manchester, Liverpool, Leeds and Wakes
field markets, instructions to dealers being to dispose
of them at anything approaching reasonable prices
in preference to their having to be kept on southern
estates during the coming winter. Here they can
be fattened to a profit, there being no lack of
nourishing vegetation, the country presenting a
coinpletely different aspect to that on the London