The Sun.
London, England, 1865-09-05 00:00:00

MIDLAND COUNTIES.

The harvest has made great progress in the coun-
ties of Derby, Nottingham, Leicester, and Lincoln
during the past week. The weather has been all
that could be desired, and a large breadth of grain
has been carried in tolerable order. In Notting-
hamshire the harvest is nearly concluded, and the
yield of wheat will be nearly an average. The
crops are irregular ; in some places they are very
good and of fair quality, in others they are very
poor indeed. Reports respecting barley are good,
and some fine malting samples will be secured.
Oats a very small crop. In Leicestershire all
available hands have been put to work, and the
garnering of grain has been rapidly proceeded
with. Those farmers who • have commenced
threshing wheat are much better satisfied
with the result than was anticipated. Barley
has in some instances been stained by the late
rains, but on the whole the crop is a good one.
Beans and peas are average crops. Most of the
white corn has been housed in Lincolnshire. The
crops are very varied, and there will be a deficiency
in the yield—quality also mostly inferior. In South
and Mid Derbyshire farmers are busily engaged
with the harvest, but in the northern part of the
county the crops are not yet ready for cutting. Pas-
tures, turnips, and mangolds are looking exceed-
ingly well. Should the weather prove fine through-
out the week there will not be much corn left out-
standing in the midland district.

Agricultural Prospects.

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The week opened with a bright day, sunny and
calm, very warm. Monday morning was thick and
foggy ; at 7 a.m. drizzling rain set in, and it was a
close muggy day. No harvest work could be pro-
ceeded with. Tuesday proved a fine dry day, and
much work was accomplished. Our advices received
with that day's date were—from the West Riding
of Yorkshire On Saturday we had a very'fine
harvest day, and a good deal of corn was got to-
gether in fine order. Sunday was a very brilliant
day, but there came on some heavy rain on Monday
morning, which stopped all sorts of harvest work.
To-day is a fine day; and if it continue fine to-night
and to-morrow, a great deal of corn will be got to-
gether in fine order." Another account from the same
district, speaking of the root crops, says :--" Notwith-
standing the heavy rains, the fly is still making sad
work among the gardens ; turnips and mangolds are
likely to suffer from it." The same day, from the
East Riding, it was remarked:—" The bulk of the
corn in this district still remains unhoused. Yester-
day heavy raja fell the most of the day, and the
weather has still an unsettled appearance. A good
deal of damige has already been done, and besides
the harvest being procastinated, the wheat crop is
likely to turn out deficient, both as regards quantity
and quality." Wednesday proved a fine breezy
day, and everywhere the farmers were on the alert
to cart and secure every description of corn still re-
maining in the fields through the earliest counties.
From Lincolnshire, it was stated, " The weather .
since this day se'nnight has been of a variable cha-
raeterl and a good deal of wheat in this district has
been housed in very poor condition." On the west
coast of Scotland the advices state :—" We have had
much rain from Sunday to yesterday, since when it
has been dry." On the east coast it was remarked :
—" Although we have occasionally had heavy rains
during the past week, on the whole there has been
improvement. In the Lothians a large extent is cut,
but only a small portion as yet is secured. Thurs-
day was a fine day, threatening, however, towards
night, but no rain fell." Our advices from War-
wickshire on that day stated :—" Weather here has
been fine since Thursday, with the exception of Sun-
day night and Monday, when we had heavy rain for
a few hours. The ingathering of the harvest has
made very considerable progress, but opinions differ
widely as to the damage sustained by the crops.
Our own is, that the wheat harvest is fully an
average in quantity. The quality we believe to
be very inferior, to the extent of about one-half ;
nevertheless, the bulk is there, and will only
require a liberal admixture of foreign or old
English to make it usable by millers." From
Hertfordshire on that day it was stated :—" Most
of the corn in this district is now ingathered, but
much, we fear, in a condition unfit for market."
From the interior of Suffolk, it was stated :—" Since
last week we have had more favourable weather,
and good progress has been made towards comple-
tion of harvest, although some quantity of barley has
been hastily carted, and has gone to stack in poor
condition." From the same county, near the coast,,
it was remarked—" Since my last we have had no
rain, save a light misty shower on Monday, which
hung about the corn like glue. The wheat crop un-
doubtedly is in Queer-street.' Our northern mil-
lers cannot at present realise the general condition
and quality of our new wheat ; but the total cessa-
tion of shipment for some few weeks will practically
convince them." From Berkshire our advices state
—" The wheat is nearly all carried in our neighbour-
hood ; but more barley and oats have yet to be got
together, and we expect to see a great deal of corn
of all descriptions come to market in bad condition."
Friday was a fine and favourable day, and harvest
work progressed favourably in the northern districts.
From the West Riding of Yorkshire it was said—
" Since I wrote you on Tuesday the bad weather has
baen everything that could be 'desired for the in-
gathering of the corn, and great progress has been
made, and some very good dry samples of both
Yorkshire wheat and barley have been shown to-
day. A few days more of fine weather, and nearly
all will be cleared in very good order, and from what
I can learn in much better condition than in the
south." Another account from the same quarter
states—" Since Tuesday we have had fine working
weather, and the carrying of grain has proceeded
rapidly, and we have to-day had several lots of
new wheat offering from this locality, the quality
and condition fair." From Surrey, neighbour-
hood of Godalming, our correspondent says :
" Our harvest is all but completed in this locality,
and since Monday it has been well done, but last
week very badly." From Devonshire Harvest

is well nigh over, although we have not gone far
into the new crop, yet we fear it is very inferior to
last year in quantity and quality." Saturday was
a very hot day—thermometer up to 74 degrees in
the shade at midday, wind N.W., barometer 30.15
inches—and much work would be completed, and
as the farmers have had five good working days
they have pushed on fast, perhaps too much so in
the early part of the week to secure condition, but
from the middle to the end the work has been well
done, and the stacks required to be pulled to pieces
to prevent heating have been abundant, and this
process will probably have the desired effect, whilst
many must remain untouched till next spring, and
the fear is that then much now.burnt wheat will be
brought to market.—Mark-lane Express.

The Cattle Disease.

HIGHGATE.

At the Highgate Petty Sessions yesterday, before
Mr. Bodkin (chairman), Col. Jukes and Mr. Mills,
the Sanitary Inspector of the district, Mr. Farmer,
solicited the advice of the Bench in respect of the
cattle disease, which he said was spreading in the
locality. He mentioned that he had been requested
to call at a farm near the Spaniard-lane, and found
two cows which had died from the disease covered
over with some straw and unburied. He found that
their hides had been removed and sent to London
for sale. What he considered to be most iffiproper
was that the hides had been sent away for sale with-
out being disinfected. He wished to know how he
was to act. He had written to Mr. Helps of the
Privy Council-office, and he replied that Mr. Hurst,
of Hadley, had been appointed inspector, and also
a Mr. Druitt. It seemed that some difficulty arose
as to the way in which the regulations were to be
enforced. Mr. Hurst lived 12 miles off, and it was
necessary to adopt prompt measures with regard to
the cattle disease. Colonel Jukes, the magistrate,
asked whether the di: •se was spreading. Mr.
Farmer said- he believed it was spreading, and he
therefore applied to the Bench. He thought that
additional inspectors should be at once appointed,
and should visit the dairies and other places in order
to ascertain their condition. Mr. Scaife, the clerk
to the magistrates, said there were three orders of
the Privy Council in reference to the cattle plague,
dated the 24th of July, the 11th of August, and the
26th of August. He apprehended that there were
now ample powers conferred on petty sessions to
appoint additional inspe6tors, such as veterinary
surgeons and other persons, in order to inspect the
various places supposed to be infected, and to re-
move all diseased cattle. He believed the inspec-
tors had power to destroy diseased cattle. Mr.
Bodkin inquired how the inspectors to be appointed
were to be paid. He believed there was no power
to pay them, and a great difficulty would arise in
consequence. Mr. Scaife apprehended there would
be no difficulty as to the payment of the inspectors.
He would suggest to the Bench that Mr. Farmer
should bring the matter before the local authorities,
and if they considered it was necessary that addi-
tional inspectors should be appointed they could
apply to the justices, who were now clothed with
power to carry out the new regulations. Mr. Far-
mer hoped something would be speedily done in the
matter. The Chairman again expressed his doubts
that there was power to pay the inspectors to be
appointed. Mr. Scaife believed the inspectors would
be paid, and that the regulations could be enforced.
On a proper representation, petty sessions would
appoint inspectors, and means could be adopted to
prevent the spreading of the disease. The Bench
advised Mr. Farmer to submit the matter to the
local authorities of the district, and they could apply
for the appointment of additional inspectors, and no
doubt the Government 'regulations would be en-
forced. Mr. Farmer promised to /93e no _time in__
the matter, as he considered it very important.