The Sun.
London, England, 1834-04-01 00:00:00

It

and

C :1-1.-.':',, oki

Jn 7; •11 my or!
forefathers attacned to the circumstance of a dry
March. And they were undoubtedly in the
right, for the natty,: of the soil then chiefly under
cultivation made Mardi, due still more essential
to them than to US, their descendants. They
almost exclusively tilled the lOW, Misr, or strong,
ipretentivenimplements
soil,ts c 0 uul
dpthe work until rains
neither
of winter had been evaporated from the substia, .
tum, and the surface and the atmosphere had
become free from moisture. Since modern im-
provements in husbandry have extended tillage
over lighter and more porous tracts, the, same
degree of dryness is not perhaps absolutely
tenacity of the soil requires to be corrected by
re-
quisite in these situations ; yet still the wintry
the 'chastening influence of sun and wind. Never
was this ameliorating process more necessary
than in the past month, after so long a conti-
nuance of previouS 'het weather, and Providence
has kindly vouchsafed to bestow
it upon us under
its best-form in that golden mean :F-hich consti-
tutes the chief perfection of all temporal bless-
ings. There have been no winds of excessive
harshness, nor suns of scorching brightness; to p
bind and bake the furrows into stony hardness,
but, instead thereof, gales, which though gene-
rally drying; and sometimes very cold, have at
others been accompanied by a gentler April
atmosphere, and occasionally light drizzling
rain, relaxing again the indurated surface, as well
as by some nightly frosts, a few of. which have- .
been of sufficient sharpness to shake cars
ble ci,
ble the " clod of the valley," or upland. In a
word, it has been a beautiful season, causing the
ground to work admirably. The only fear
that for the latter oats it may have beef: tod
friable and light, a state of the soil better
adapted in semblance than in reality to the re-
ception of the seed of this grain. Barley is
going into the ground under every favourable
circumstance that could be wished for, except
that, in a multitude of instances, the previous
turnip-crop has either been entirely wanting, or
too light in bulk- to afford much manure. The
clovers and grass-seeds too will have every
chance of striking favourably in the well-pul-,
verised soil to which they are committed. The
sudden influence of the nightly frosts, thotigh
of no very severe character, have had a most
obvious effect on the colour of the growing
wheats ; gross, succulent, and luxuriant as they
generally were, unchecked in growth, and un-
hardened in fibre by previous frost, the check
which has come upon them has operated with
much severity. In many places their blades
become blue, brown, or yellow, and indeed, al-,
most any colour except the cheerful, healthy
green, in which they were not long ago arrayed
This check would have been serviceable in the
earlier vegetation of the wheat, and during the
period of winter ; but it is to be feared than the
season of the year, and the growth of the plant,
are now too far advanced to admit of such a chas-
tisement being inflicted without permanent injury
resulting. The most forward, and the most
thickly planted, seem to have suffered most, and
unless a very genial period for recovery should
eaue, it is to be feared that in some cases the
ultimate state of the crop may be affected.
Turnips are fast disappearing from the fields,
and should a harsh and cutting period come on,
it is difficult to say how the ewes and lambs in
many districts are to be supported. In the grass
countries it has grown all the winter ; but it is
not in such situations that the failure of the
turnips has been so extensive, or their want so
generally felt. The lambing season, on the
whole, has been a good one, particularly as far
as weather has been concerned, and the health
and growth of the young lambs has been ma-
terially forwarded thereby. Still, the complaints
of losses among the ewes are frequent, although
they too, where well kept, are looking healthy
and good in coat. The demand for ewes and
lambs, and sheep of all descriptions, continues,
both to hire and to purchase ; because while
there are wide tracts where not a turnip is to be
seen, yet there are also favoured spots, to a small
extent, where there is almost a superabundance,
without sufficiently usual and ready means of
communication to make the plenty of • the
small oasis known over the extensive desert.
The state of the wool market, too, has
rendered every one anxious to maintain or
extend the number of his flock, for although
there appears now to be a stagnation in the
trade, yet there -is also a prevalent opinion
that prices will not materially decline. It seems
almost impossible to imagine that the ensuing
clip of wool can command any thing like the
price it has done, relatively to corn, yet manu-
facturers having a demand, seem unwilling to
relax their exertions, and the spirit of manufac-
turing and commercial adventure once awakened,
is frequently carried by competition beyond the
bounds which any sober man, a stranger to the
ferment of the trading leaven, would ever ven-
ture to calculate upon. Under any continuance
of foreign demand, therefore, there is little doubt
that high prices will be obtained for the clip
which we are looking forward to ; and indeed
many forehand bargains, as they are called,
have already been made on terms which must at
any rate well remunerate the grower. In the
mean time the corn market continues in nearly
or quite the same depressed state. Barley, n-
deed, is more in demand, and for good samples
somewhat advanced ; but the high season for
sowing has taken a considerable portion out of
the market for seed, and given a temporary
check to the supply ; and wheat is dull, with
even perhaps a tendency to sink in price.

iayin

CHARMING A SNAKE.—On the morning
of the 3d of December we awoke early, when I was
much surprized by my friend Lieutenant Baillie call-
ing out, " A snake, a snake I look at the snake !"
We all stared at him, lying in his hammock, and, to
our astonishment, beheld a monstrous serpent twisted
round the rope which supported his hammock, with its
head at some distance above my friend's, darting out
its forked tongue, and examining him as he lay
stretched below. " Lie still," cried the fiscal, "he
won't hurt you
_." and calling in two or three of the
natives, he pointed it out to them. One of these men,
advancing towards it, caught its eye with his own : the
animal now appeared to move its whole body with fear
or pleasure. The native stepped backwards, without
thetra ground, turning the sight of his eye from the fierce orbit of his
uncoiled coiled
moved his
slowly body
enemy ; and, as he kept backing, the snake, with his
head
wholeadsteabodild, advancing,iliyyng gradually
on
from the rope round which it was twined. At length
its
along after this coloured man—eye fixed upon eye—
until a youth, making a dash from behind a bush, in
an instant flattened the head of this dangerous mon-
ster with one blow of his club; and, although the body
still undulated like the waves of the sea, it was now
perfectly harmless, not being able to seize with its
inouth. They immediately hauled him up to the branch
,f a tree, and, as our cooks in Europe serve an eel,
hey skinned him whilst the poor animal was writhing
,n the agonies of pain. This snake was called the
Libre, and measured nineteen feet and a half in
iength.—Colonel St. Clair's Residence in the West
Indies.