The Sun.
London, England, 1870-06-02 00:00:00

AGRICULTURAL PROSPECTS.

The April report from the agricultural department re-
lative to the appearance and condition of winter wheat
and rye pictures a small and slow growth, thinned in
places by winter-killing, weak and unthrifty in spots
from loss of vitality by long exposure under ice or to
freezing winds ; but with these exceptions, vigorous, of
good colour, and ready to start under the influence of
a genial spring, into luxuriant and healthful growth.
The appearance of wheat is not as promising as it was
last year at this time, but this is due rather
to late planting than to any positive injury
which the fields have sustained. In New England the
little winter grain which was sown is doing well, though
the frost has visited with unfortunate results some of
the northern counties of Maine and New Hampshire.
In more than one-half of the counties of New York
the reports are favourable, and the same is the case with
New Jersey. In Pennsylvania the growth is more back-
ward, and in many sections of the State the wheat was
winter killed. The returns from Delaware and Maryland
are meagre, and report some damage to grain from ice and
cold. From the Southern States the reports promise a
crop of wheat on the whole above the average. West
Virginia presents the worst account of damage from the
winter frosts. In Kentucky the harvest promises to be
much larger than usual. Ohio, Indiana, and Illinois re-
port the growth as below the average in a majority of
counties. The fact is explained by late planting and
backward germination, and it is thought that a warm
spring may improve the appearance of the winter cereals.
The other Western States seem to expect about an ave-
rage crop, though some of them, as Kansas, send the most
cheering returns. The report taken as a whcle is to be
regarded as favourable.—Boston Advertiser.

OUR SCANDINAVIAN IMMIGRATION.
Among the many new features that have marked the
enormous influx of people from European countries to
the United States during the last three or four years the
augmented number of Scandinavians is especially re-
markable. The Swedes, indeed, figured importantly in
the early settlement of Eastern Pennsylvania, and
our aspiring sister, the city of Philadelphia, traces some
of her oldest family stock to Scandinavian origin ; but
during a whole century past the delegation coming to us
from the shores of the Skagerack and Cattegat, the
Sound and the Baltic had been comparatively feeble until
within the last ten or fifteen years, when Danes, Swedes,
and Norwegians began to appear in goodly proportion on
the lists at Castle Garden. Quite recently their numbers
have increased so rapidly as to merit special remark, the
quota coming in during 1869 amounting, in various chan-
nels, to morethan twenty thousand. Hitherto lowa, Wis-
consin and, above all, Minnesota have been the States
most favoured by their choice. The latter beautiful region
has been the particular pet of the Swedes, who find in its
noble pine forests, its romantic hills, its rich verdure and
its numberless sparkling lakes, enchanting reminders of
Sodermania and others of the middle provinces of their
own picturesque country. Now the compatriots of
Gustavus Wasa and the descendants of the ancient vikings
are looking nearer to the sea coast of our Northern States
for their new homes, and, as we noted a few days ago, a
very considerable colony of Norwegians will this summer
settle in Maine. Meanwhile other projects are on foot to
bring out hundreds of families direct from the Danish
ports to New York, and thence convey them westward
and northward together. A Norwegian line of steames,
just started and running from Christiana to Havre, France,
will largely feed this channel of immigration. Only last
week more than 1,500 Swedes and Norwegians landed at
this port, and during the summer the aggregate will be
raised beyond any previous season. In these facts we
find a fresh source of congratulation. Throughout
Scandinavia, but particularly in Norway, the system of
popular education is such that ignorance of the rudi-
ments is an exception, and these sturdy Norsemen come
to us, not only with the hale, hearty constitutions of their
northern clime and rugged nurture, but intelligent and
'well informed mentally; sound and clear in morals and
politically imbued with an unconquerable love of free
institutions and manly independence. They are seldom
without a fair supply of means for immediate establish-
ment and rarely linger in our great cities. In fine, they
are most worthy, desirable, and welcome citizens. Be-
neath skies less stormy than those that inspired the tradi-
tions of Thor and Odin they will find a broader develop-
ment for the solid virtues that have ever distinguished
the old Nprse race, and no doubt while largely augment-
ing our material wealth as a nation will discover incentives
enough to put forth the same scientific, literary, and
artistic genius which has made the Universities of Lund,
Upsala, and Copenhagen renowned, and has given to
modern times a Linmus, an CEhlenschlager, a Thorwald-
sen, the graceful pen of Christian Hans Andersen, and
to merica the practical skill of Ericsson, the engineer.—
New York Herald.