The Sun.
London, England, 1839-09-25 00:00:00

THE HARVEST

We resume our extracts ti oat the country papers.

YORIESHIRE.—A great deal of harvest work has been
done in the north of England during the present week,
but it has been more in the fields than in the stack-yards.
The reaping, except on the cold and high lands, has
become very general. Friday, Saturday, Sunday, Mon-
day, and Tuesday were all very wet days—so much
so that the rivers throughout Great Britain and Ireland
have been swelled in many cases to overflowing. A
favourable change took place in the weather on Tues-
day night, and Wednesday, Thursday, and yesterday
were all tolerably favourable for cutting, if not for
carrying the corn. The wind still remains in the south.
and the sunshine is only in gleams ; but on the
whole the harvest is making tolerable progress, and
,ind a good deal of grain is secured, if not in high, yet in
fair condition. In most of the wheat-fields there
are sprit ears, and in some of them, where the
hedges are high, and the ventilation imperfect, the mis
chief already done is considerable ; but from our own
observation, we should not say that in Yorkshire and
Lancashire this is by any means general, and a fort-
night of fine weather would yet save the harvest. It
cannot, however, be denied that we are in the midst
of a crisis of great public importance, and that the fate
of millions of property, consisting of the necessaries of
life, and the comforts of the poor and the rich for a
whole year, depend upon fair or foul weather from this
time to the end of the present month.—Leeds Mercury.
KENDAL.—It is impossible for us to advert to the
state of the weather in Kendal of late without deep
concern. The rain for six weeks has fallen almost in-
cessantly, and during the present week there has not
passed a day without the most drenching showers.
Every brook and rivulet is overflowed, and our river is
swollen much beyond its usual height. As to the crops,
it is feared they will be much less than an average, and
poor in quality.— Westnzoreland Gazette.
DURHAM.—We have had two or three comparatively
fine days since our last, but there has been a decided
preponderance of wet. The crops are, in many places,
fast becoming fit for cutting ; but but the operations of
the reaper have been subjected to great interruption by
the changes in the weather. The demand for shearers
has been very great, and wages are consequently high.
—Durham chronicle.

WINDSOL—We are thankful to say, that notwith-
standing the unfavourable weather of late, the corn in
this part of the country has been got in remarkably well,
the crops being good, and in general well housed.—
IVindsor Journal.

DERBYSHIRE.—We regret to state that the harvest
in this neighbourhood has been greatly retarded, owing
to the very heavy fall of rain, which commenced on
Friday se'nnight, and continued, with little intermission,
until Sunday morning, when it cleared up, and the sun
began to shine. About noon, however, the rain again
descended in torrents, and did not cease during the
cehole of the night. The low grounds in the neigh-
bourhood of Chesterfield were almost all inundated, the
rivers were largely swollen, and the roads from Ches-
terfield leading to Derby and Mansfield were nearly as
deep in water as they were during the floods a few
weeks ago, when so many of the hay crops were de-
:troyed and swept away. The weather has since been

.enerally fine, although showers have occasionally fallen,
nd the sickle is now in full operation. Considerable
3jury_ has been caused to the crops in the neighbour-

tood by the rain ; and we hear but indifferent accounts
'rom the surrounding districts.—Derbyshire Courser.
WILTSHIRE.—The most gloomy appr' hensions are
ntertained for the fate of the harvest. On many
arms in the northern part of this county, the greater

,art of the wheat crop is still unhoused ; and in some
laces not a single acre of barley has been secured. The
:cattier continues unpropitious, and the grain becomes

Laily more deteriorated in colour and in quality.

The

.larvest in tho more forward districts, we fear, will be
tit from realising: the expectations entertained a few
weeks cgo.—Devizes Gazette.
BATA.—The weather of the past week has been de-
.

trimental to the bcn ley to a very serious extent : what
,vas cut in the latter part of the preceding week will
be unfit for making, and the continued unsettled state
,f the weather gives us every reason to expect a further
Advance in the market. We have had no harvest day
luring the last week, until Saturday, which was a
:,ropitious day.—Bath Journal.
IRELAND.—Thy past couple of days have continued

tine, and we have reason to believe that an immense
quantity of all sorts of grain has been secured. We are
Happy to hear that in many districts the wheat has not

suffered so much as people at first supposed, from the
unexampled severity of the weather. The district rang-
from Kilkenny to Kildare has suffered very much ;
but, as we stated in a former number, the wheat grown
on the large tract of country around Limerick, and
stretching along on either side of the Shannon to Per-
tumna, has generally escaped safe from malt. The ex-
treme south of Ireland, too, appears to have got over

be bad weather better than the midland district ; but

me fear much that in every district a large admixture of
Foreign wheat will be
_required to mix with our own

4rowth. We are told, indeed, that extenvive orders
Nave gone out to the Continental and American corn-
markets for wheat, and that freights of ships have risen
:20 per cent. in consequence.—Dublin
Since our last notice of the weather, on Tuesday, we
have been blessed on the whole with a continued favour-
lble change. A few showers have fallen, but they have
not been to the extent to interrupt the harvest opera-
tions in those parts where the crops were sufficiently
ripe for the sickle. There is nothing new to communi.
sate. The Wheat will be a short crop ; all accounts
concur upon that point ; the Barley and the Oats are
very promising, and the Potatoes were never in finer
condition or more abundant supply.—Cork Reporter of
Saturday.
SCOTLAND.—The damage done by the rain to the
crop generally, is very great. The grain has been seri-
ously damaged, and the hopes of the country as to the

result of the harvest have been almost dashed to the
ground. The weather has been since better, but is still
rather wet, and the welfre of the country with regard to
cheap and abundant food is still at stake. The crops
are good ; but if the weather continue in the same state
as it has done for a month past, scarcity or famine is sure
to overtake us.—Edinburgh Chronicle.

THE GREAT STORM in SCOTLAND.

The accounts from Scotland, contained in the Scotch
papers, as we have already stated, represent the late floods
to have been very extensive, and extremely destructive
in their effects to the outstanding crops. Bridges were,
in several instances, broken down, and all kinds of out-
door property was swept away or damaged. There is,
however, only one instance of loss of life recorded,
which occurred at Ruthven, near Auchterarder.

During the whole of last week the weather had kept
dry, with the exception of a slight shower on Wed-
nesday morning, which retarded harvest work for a
few hours only ; but on Thursday the barometer began
to fall, and continued low during the whole of Friday,
although it was as fine a day as ever graced the month
of September. The evening set in, however, clear and
cold, with the appearance of frost. On Saturday
morning, when we opened our eyes, it was to behold a
very different prospect,' for the clouds were pouring
down in torrents, and the country was not only drenched,
but deluged with rain from the surcharged canopy,
borne to cur district upon the wings of a south-
east wind, and having reached us, it seemed to rest
right over our heads, pouring out an incessant heavy
rain, which continued for thirty hours without intermis-
sion, commencing about five on Saturday morning, and
continuing till mid-day on Sabbath, with occasional and
rather lengthened heavy showers until Monday morning.
Nor has it ceased falling in occasional showers up till
this date. The rain was accompanied during Saturday
with a strong wind, and at night it increased into a
furious storm, which roared and rumbled during the
hours of darkness with impetuous rage, rendering it
quite impossible to remain out of doors to collect the
produce of the harvest field, which in some localities
was carried away by the roaring flood in one simultaneous
heap of irretrievable ruin. During the whole of Sunday
sheaves of grain were seen floating down the Forth in
great numbers, and boats were out in several directions
endeavouring to save it, and much of it was dragged
ashore. So numerous were these about mid-day, that a
person standing upon one of the bridges counted upwards
of 110 at one time between the two bridges, a distance of
not more than 150 yards. They consisted principally of
oats and barley from the uplands, although we have
beard of several patches of ground having been cleared
by the river in the carses, but these, we are glad to say
amount to but little. The Allan has, so far as we have
heard, been the chief agent in this destruction above
Stirling. In rolling through Btrathallan it has carried
away the produce of whole fields ; and we have heard
of one farmer, at Greenloaning, who has had seven
acres completely cleared, together with a large quantity
of lime, although the ground, as we learn, was em-
barked. Many others have lost less or more. But
other products of the field have been lost besides grain,
for calves, sheep, and swine were observed floating down
the river. About 600 trees laid down at Bluebank,
upon the estate of the Earl of Moray, were also borne
away by the current. Numbers of wheelbarrows, and
even a plough, were observed in a similar predicament.
Indeed, the havoc seems to be very general, and there
is very little prospect of the weather clearing up. On
Monday afternoon there was some very loud thunder,
which some think a good omen,
Six or eight weeks alp Scotland, especially in this
district, never presented a more cheerful appearance ;
but now all appears one universal waste, and an ex-
tended scene of desolation—the work of only a few
days. But the appearance, bad as it is, is not the worst
of this serious matter, for the reality is fast becoming
worse than the appearance. Wheat and barley are
both springing in the stook, and our utter helplessness
can do no nothing but look on. The result of this is,
as might have been expected, our bakers, some of whom
have not bought a quarter of wheat for many months
past, anticipating a good harvest, are now hastening t o
the bonded warehouse to purchase foreign wheat, b, -
cause they see now that the home grown article will
prove inferior in quality. This will be a severe blow

to the wheat-growing farmer, after three so bad years as '
he has just passed over with so much difficulty.—Cale-
donian Mercury.
During the whole of Saturday last we had the wind
from E. to E.N.E., hazy, and with a heavy ground-
swell, which generally indicates an approaching gale on
the east coast of Scotland. Towards midnight the
haze thickened, and by five, A.M., on Sunday, it blew
a violent gale, the rain falling in torrents. By noon,
the wind was due east, the storm raging with dreadful
violence. In the afternoon several vessels were seen
in the offing, labouring hard to clear the headlands,
and evidently anxious to open the Friths on either
tack. The sloop Lilias, Cowie, from Shields to Port-
soy, with coals, made very bad weather, and, getting
more closely embayed than any of the others, had to
attempt the harbour at a great risk. The
little craft, however, behaved wonderfully well,
took the bar with much more ease than could have
been expected, and stemmed the current of the
Dee without any assistance from shore. With the ex-
ception of the loss of part of her bulwarks and some
moveables on deck, no other damage was sustained.
There was a good deal of jerking among the vessels in
the harbour generally, but no injury was sustained
beyond the chafing of a few ropes at the Lower Basin.
The rivers Dee and Don were now rolling tremendously ;
and from the immense quantities of corn, hay, turnips,
and other agricultural produce which were coming down,
it became but too painfully evident that the work of de-
vastation had been going on at a sad rate in the upper
districts. Towards night several dead sheep came down
the Dee, and a good deal of alarm was excited by the
appearance of some thatch and barnyard implements
floating in the river. From this it was conjectured that
the flood had extended to some of the steadings on the
river side ; and, in view of the fact that the water
was now within ten inches of the flood-mark of
1829, at the Bridge of Dee, such a conjecture was but
too well grounded. The storm took off towards Mon-
day morning, when the sky cleared up, and the wind
went three points to the south-east, moderating gra-
dually. But the scene which now presented itself along
the beach for several miles was truly heart-rending.
Nothing was to be seen, as far as the eye could reach,
but farm produce, trees, and brushwood ; and on exa-
mining some of the corn it was found to have been torn
out by the roots from the field. The rivers settled down
by Tuesday, but even yet they have not fallen to their
wonted level. From the accounts which hare reached
us the damage done has been immense, and many a poor
family who last week were looking forward with plea-
sure to a comfortable winter are this week realising, in
all the bitterness of the sentiment, " a blank in nature.'
It is impossible as yet to ascertain the actual amount of
injury done by this storm and flood.—Aberdeen Herald.