The Sun.
London, England, 1870-06-23 00:00:00

THE WEATHER AND THE CROPS.

The Libertl, a Paris paper, observes that the French
temperament is irritable, mobile, and easily accessible to
panics. "It is for us and not for our neighbours, that
Rabelais wrote his admirable chapter on the sheep of
Panurge. This irritability and absence of sang froid
count for a good deal in the rise of the price of provisions,
especially in the rise of flour. Paris is, in a measure
the regulator of the European grain market,
and because the drought has effected the har-
vest, every one hastens to exaggerate the
evil, and to buy at any price, as if the famine were at our
doors. Thanks to this panic, the price of bread has
reached 45c. the kilogramme. Foreign markets, where
cereals abound, are increasing their demands every day,
owing to the chorus of lamentations in Paris. In 1785
the crops of cereals were seriously affected, but the
drought was excessive, not one drop of rain having fallen
in the months of April, May, and June. Wine was
plentiful, and of excellent quality. There are other
examples of extremely hot summers, from which we may
infer that before the harvest is seriously affected the
drought must last three months." The Alsace papers
announce that every evening sheets of rain fall
in the Vosges and the Black Forest. At
Arras there has been rain, but of insufficient
quantity. In Augouleme there has been a heavy storm,
which has done great damage. The zinc roof of a ware-
house was torn off, and flung on the highway. The loss is
estimated at 10,000 f. The neighbourhood of the Orleans
railway and of Balzac have suffered severely from storms.
The Journal Of/iciel publishes the following inform-
ation :—ln Southern Russia, the fields are magnificent,
and prices have slightly fallen at Odessa in
consequence of the good yield promised by the standing
crops. In Belgium, Holland, and Prussia, there is sup-
posed to be sufficient to meet the requirements of the
population without having recourse to importations.
Advices from Bohemia in relation to the prospects of this
year's harvest state that, after a severe drought of more
than three weeks, there have been copious falls of rain,
and that, in consequence, it is now believed a better crop
on the whole than that of last year may be secured.
The Minister of Agriculture in order to reduce the current
reports to their real value, is preparing a report on the
state of the crops which will shew the public the true
state of the case. We may say that up to the present
time the deep soils and those that are well manured have
not suffered at all. On the light soils the returns will
perhaps be a third less than that of the last harvest.
Whatever comes, however, it is likely that the highest
price which flour will attain has been seen last week, for
free trade and other causes will soon effect a reduction.
The Cowrrier de Saone et Loire says that on all sides
there are complaints of scarcity of water and fears of a
continued drought. In 1775 there was also a long
drought, and the wells were dried up, but the rain fell in
June, and crops of all kinds were plentiful.
The Phare de la Loire says that it believes the har-
vest is saved. In some places the rye is ripe, and ready
to be cut. In spite of the great drought which has pre-
vailed, the wheat has preserved its fine appearance, and
where it was forward it has nearly reached its full growth.
In Albi the harvest is in process ; the stalks are not high,
but the ears are very full and a magnificent harvest is
expected.
From Clermont (Oise) we learn that great uneasiness
has been felt, but it is hoped that the crops will be less
seriously affected than was anticipated. Here, as else-
where, the deep soils have not suffered, but the cereals
sown. on light lands will be very poor. The Union, a
paper of la Reole, gives a favourable account. The harvest
is just about to commence, and the crops are expected to
be very fine. The wheat is expected to be of the best
quality. In the Dauphiny fields, near Lyons, the
rye harvest is completed, but it is poor, and it
is feared the wheat crop, which is about to be
gathered, will not be much better. The ears are thin, and
the stalks not more than 20 or 30 centimetres in height.
From other parts of the country the accounts are very
similar. Forage crops are the great failure. In Moulins
(Allier) they are very scarce, and oats are seriously
affected, but the wheat looks well. In Toul (Merthe) the
forage crop is very unsatisfactory, and the best that could
be ped is that it will be one-third of the usual amount.
From Algeria, on the other hand, the accounts are most
encouraging. The European grain is splendid, and
in some favoured spots they return 25 grains for 1.
The oats are also very fine, and will be the best of all the
cereals. The rising price of oats in France has stimulated
their cultivation in the colony. Barley is also good, and
Algeria promises, as during the Crimean war, to supply a
great part of the deficiency of Europe.

COMIC PAPERS.
(From Punch.)

NEW DIVISION OF TIME.—" The Rest of the week."
Sunday.
A PROVERB OF NO VALUE IN JUNE, 1870.—" Make hay
while the snn shines." Can't.
GRINNING AND BEARING IT.—" We all owe something
to our country," said the Briton who went abroad without
having paid his income tax.
Astronomers are the sun's "good-natured friends."
They are never tired of talking about him, and pointing
out his black spots.
PEERS PECKING AT PEERS.—EarI Granville, the other
day, had occasion to remark that thelaw lords always had
a tendency to pull each other's bills to pieces. -Doves bill
and coo ; but a different sort of billing is natural to birds
of prey.

LONDON ANATOMY.—The Metropolitan Railway will
now take country visitors into the very " heart of Lon-
don." Not much to be gained by that, even if it exists.
At all events, so many things have run right through the
heart of London ere now, that it ought to be pretty con-
siderably like a dead heart by this time.
MRS. RAMSBOTHAM ON LAws.—A gentleman of repub-
lican tendencies observed to Mrs. Ramsbotham that in
England there was one law for the rich and another for
the poor. "Of course there is," returned Mrs. Rams-
botham, who has been lately reading history, " there's
the Poor Law, and the Sumptuary Law ; and quite right
too."