The Sun.
London, England, 1834-09-25 00:00:00

HARVEST ON THE CONTINENT.

A very remarkable circumstance, and which has bad
great influence on the harvest of the year, was the extra-
ordinary heat almost throughout the northern hemisphere.
It is believed that this heat and the great storms in the
winter are closely connected. Upon the great heat followed
in many places a ruinous drought. Looking at the re-
gister of the thermometer, between the beginning of May
and the end of August, there can be no doubt that the
average heat this summer has been about six or eight de-
grees above the average heat of summer. There has been
then a complete change of climate, which must have had
great influence over the growth of various plants. In the
middle of July grapes ripened in Germany, and they are
now to be found there of a goodness and size equal to those
which are usually obtained three or four degrees further
south. We only refer to this to show the probable influ-
ence of the weather on the harvest. The summer of 1833,
owing to a wet July and wet August, did not ripen the
winter corn perfectly, and consequently the seed corn was
not strong, and it suffered considerably from the snowless
winter. It was mild and wet, and the winter corn began
to vegetate by the end of February, and recovered much
from the defect of the autumn. The great heat began at
the end of April, and the corn grew more in one week, as
the ground was wet, than in two weeks at other times. In
the high lands, however, the corn did not acquire its ac-
customed weight, and those who supposed it did, found
themselves deceived in the harvest. With the increasing
heat the drought increased, and those who had not, or could
not sow their spring corn in time, suffered great loss.
Moreover, the rye, which was not in general good, suffered
severely in the end of May and beginning of June, particu-
larly in low pieces, as in Moravia, Bohemia, Silesia, and
Poland, from frosts which fell with the greatest injury upon
the best fields. This was in some places so severe that the
rye was not worth gathering. Seldom, as the harvest came
on, have we known so many contradictory opinions. From
some places an abundance was announced, and in the very
same neighbourhood people predicted a total failure. All
the reports, however, agreed that the sheafs, or in the straw,
did not in general exceed above half the usual crop, or,
wlicre it was very good, two-thirds. Hilly countries were
better off than plains. It is, however, to be remarked, that
in many places the corn yields well, where it was not ri-
pened too soon by the great heat, so that four bushels this
year yield more and better flour than five bushels in an or-
dinary year. '[his is not-universal, for where the soil was
very sandy and dry, or where no showers fell, the corn was
ripened too soon, and gives comparatively little and bad
flour. As the showers, which were the only rain, were
partial, we can understand why one district rejoices in
abundance, while another is afflicted with a dearth. On
the whole, throughout Germany
areany nothe ohladrysteosctks oisfn n
arhabedlo: a v
an
aaveragesione,and if
price must be the consequence. The other
countriesgretrise in
of Europe seem in a similar situation. The har-
vest is abundant in the northern provinces of Russia, but it
is a total failure in those of the south, approachinc, that of
last year.—Allgemeine Zeitung.