The Sun.
London, England, 1860-09-04 00:00:00

HOP INTELLIGENCE.

WORCESTER, Sept. I.—Our duty to-day finds no
support at £4,000, the cold nights being fatal to the
late burr, and to the developed hop acquiring
weight and condition ; and altogether we must call
our prospects decidedly worse. Prices very firm,
with advancing rates for fine 1855's and 1856'5.
MAIDSTONE, Aug. 30.—The hop plantations
generally are in a very precarious condition. The
reports that reach us from almost every quarter
in this district are so unfavourable as to lead to
the conclusion that very fear hops can be grown
this year. The continued wet and boisterous
weather, the excessive quantity of vermin with
which the plant is beset, the mould and honey-
dew to be found in many of the beit-looking
plantations, together with the unhealthy condition
of the burr, render the possibility of anything
like an average crop out of the question, even
should the weather now clear up and set in fine
and dry. The duty is going back in nearly every
parish, and it is the prevailing opinion that it
will not exceed £40,000, even should it realise
that amount.—Sussex Express.
ROCHESTER, Sept. I.—lu a few of the plantations
hop picking has commenced, but the hops are in
the worst possible condition, and in many places
will not pay the expense of removing them from
the poles. The present is, probably, without ex-
ception one of the worst hop seasons ever remem-
bered, and the duty will only reach a few thou-
sands.

EDENBRIDGE.—FIRST SALE OF HOPS.—On
Wednesday last, Mr. Thomas Shorter, of Lingfield
Lodge, sold to Mr. Thomas Alexander, of Hasted,
his growth on the poles, set at one ton, for £2OO
clear, the buyer to pay the duty and expenses. Last
year Mr. Shorter grew on the same land, about five
acres, over five tons.
HEREFORD.—The blight in the hop plantations
may now be said to be confirmed. As a whole,
we never before saw them in so miserable a plight
as then are at present. In some frvoured few there
are a sprinkling, and some growers are sanguine
enough to believe they shall have a fourth of an
average crop, and lucky growers will they be,
should their hopes be realised ; but, under any cir-
cumstances now the crop must be small and must
lack quality ; the weight therefore will suffer.
The duty for this distaict is called at £5,000, which
many of our largest growers consider too high by
£2,000. The low temperature and cold winds must
retard the growing of the wheat, which would be
inevitable with a high temperature after so much
rain. The hop duty for the whole kingdom is
called at £50,000, with shy backers at that amount.

ON SAVING CROP.S OF CORN IN WET

W.EATHEI?,

Mr.Wakley, in a letter to a contemporary, says :
Allow me to suggest a new application of mechanil
cal power with a view to the saving and preserving
of ripe crops of corn and other vegetable products.
At the commencement of last week the accounts
from all parts of the kingdom with regard to the
harvest were dreary and alarming. Having long
been of opinion that mechanical means, which have
been so liberally and skilfully employed by our
agriculturists for producing crops, had not been
adequately used for saving them when produced, I
determined, if it were possible, to get a drying-ma-
chine manufactured for the purpose of experiment.
Accordingly, on Wednesday last I consulted Mr.
Savage, engineer, of Eastcheap. I explained to
him that my object was to cut and dry sound ripe
corn, whatever might be the fall of rain. To attain
that object I proposed that after being cut the corn
should be received under cover, and where the pre-
mises were sufficiently capacious, the sheaves should
be subjected to the action of a drying-machine,
worked either by hand, horses, or steam ; or that
the ears only, separated from the stalks by being
drawn through inverted metallic combs or hackles,
might be so treated. Mr. Savage is a "coffee-roast-
ing machine" manufacturer, on a large scale. He
considered that the plan I proposed was quite prac-
ticable, and, on seeing him again the following
day, he stated that the more he reflected on the
subject the more fully he was convinced that the
proposal could be carried into effect. By this gen-
tleman I was kindly referred to the manufactory of
Mr. Lloyd, engineer, of No. 79, Guildford-street,
Southwark, and also to the office of Mr. Davison,
No. 8,: London-street, Penchurch-street. Having
explained to these gentlemen the object I had in
view, they both expressed an opinion that the plan
was easy of adoption and might be carried into
effect with perfect facility. At Mr. Davison's the
operation of drying different substances had been
already carried into effect te, an extent of which I
was entirely ignorant. At.i!,lr. Lloyd's manufactory
I found that, by a simple contrivance, air had been
driven through a machine, under the influence of a
six-horse power, to the extent of 10,000 cubic feet
a minute. Here was a corn-drying machine already
made. But at Mr. Davison's, in London-street, I
saw the model of a dessicating machine manufac-
tured and used by that geritleman. I found that
he employed such machiiaes for roasting coffee,
cocoa, and chicory, and drying flax, cloth, feathers,
malt, wood, and even bridis ; but not one of them,
strange to say, had ever been used for drying corn,
either in the sheaf or in the ear. The drying powers
of these machines appear to be almost fabulous, and
Mr. Davison stated that he could evaporate from
wet substances as much as four tons of water in
eight hours. Mr. Davison does not entertain a
doubt that these machines may be used with extra-
ordinary results for the drying of ripe corn, wet
from the field. In his machines artificial heat may
or may not be used. Mr. Lloyd, of Guildford-
street, Southwark, is a fan-blowing machine manu-
facturer. The machine that I saw at his premises,
through which, by a six-horse power, he could pro-
pel 10,000 cubic feet of air per minute, occupies a
space of only five feet square, and its cost would be
about £4O. Having. advanced thus far into my in-
quiries, I determined on consulting Mr. Alderman
Mcchi, to whosr..iabilly, energy,
and enterprise the
public are so deeply indebted for a vast number of
improvements in agriculture. I saw that gentle-
man on Friday last, and in less than five minutes
he pronounced the proposed plan not only practic-
able, but highly useful and important. The Alder-
man remarked that wind is an excellent dryer,
and added, " At my farm yesterday we had one of
your machines on a grand scale ; we had a brisk
breeze, and consequently carried a stack of wheat.'
On leaving Mr. Mechi he stated that he should at
once go and see the instruments I had mentioned.
That drying machines may be used beneficially
for other purposes than saving crops of corn is quite
obvious. During the last winter thousands of tons
of mangold-wurtzel and turnips rotted after they
had been stacked, housed, or caved. A similar
.de-
struction may be prevented in future by subjecting
these valuable productions in autumn to the drying
process. Possibly the decay of potatoes may be
prevented in the same manner. Within a few years
it is, I think, probable that the application of me-
chanical skill with a view to the saving of ripe
crops of corn in wet weather will be generally
adopted when necessary throughout the kingdom.

TO THE EDITOR OF THE TIMES.
Sir,—Great fears are expressed for the harvest
of this year. As I have lived in one of the most
fertile corn-growing districts of the midland coun-
ties for 30 years, and as I have from habit and
in-
ehnation watched the phases of every harvest during
that period, I venture to give an opinion as to the
present agricultural prospect.
First as to hay and root crops. The cold and
backward spring reduced the stock of hay to a
minimum. The heavy rains of May and June forced
an unusual crop of upland, meadow, and artificial
grasses, which were, as a general rule, remarkably
well got in in the unusually fine July ; the wet
August forced a second crop, and established the
root crop where the activity of the farmer enabled
him to take advantage of the alternations of the
weather. To what extent the meat market would
have gone up in the ensuing winter hut for this
timely supply of food for cattle it would be hard
to imagine. It is true that much hay was destroyed
in the valley of the Thames and its tributaries;
suffice it to say, that the state of the Thames as a
main outfall and carrier for the drainage of a large
part of Midland England is a disgrace to a civilised
country. The farmers in the valley of the Thames
tried to beat out the sediment of the floods by pass-
ing their hay through a thrashing•machine, and
they may have to repeat the experiment if the
landowners will not combine to improve the water-
way of the father of English rivers. Now as to the
corn harvest. My own observation, and such in-
formation as I can gain from others, lead to the
conclusion that there is no deficiency in any grain
crop. The wheat was thin in the spring ; a piece
which I condemned to be ploughed up will yield
nearly, if not quite, four quarters per acre. The
barley and oats were sown under very favourable
circumstances; the time was favourable for the
wheat blossam. The ears are full, and all that was
wanted was fair weather. If the weather had been
hot, as far as we can judge, the corn would have
ripened short of its maturity ; as it is, though slow,
the maturity is satisfactory. As yet, hereabouts
nothing has been spoilt. Last year early in
August the wheat and the barley had sprouted, the
latter especially ; up to the present time nothing of
the sort has been seen ; and, comparing the two
years on my own small farm, composed of soilsvary-
ing from light gravel to clay, the value of the corn
crop is at least 10 per cent. in favour of 1860. Here,
at least, we have neither cause for fear nor com-
plaint. The quantity of rain has been, month by
month, about equal tolBo2, the wettest year I ever
remember. Heavy rains just now would give us an
excess not to be expected. Wheat, barley, and oat
ricks are springing up to-day in this parish, and,
with the blessing of a fortnight's fine weather, the
harvest of 1860 will be abundant and well secured,
—I am your obedient servant,
Abingdon, Sept. 1.

J. C. C.

MR. LINDSAY'S MISSION TO AMERICA.—The
following letter has been addressed to the editor of the
Times.—Sir,—l am sorry you did not ascertain the facts
connected with my visit to the United States before calling
attention to it in your leading article of Saturday last.
state that I do not visit that country in any official But, as so much has been said about it, I think it right to
capa-
citytMyre.arCdo_b-
whatever, and that the Government will not be re-
sponsiblelf I wished office,
which I do not, I should certainly not
.sir, your obedient servant, Me,
aspire to that of
for anything I may say or do.
Cob-
den might have written as much
the head-quarters of
‘S‘.Bl3LeieNi aDlseAnyv.oyS, *AU! tai nmfr, la rs ,
Times.
It is stated for the information of our iron and
steel merehants and manufacturers that there is to be an ex-
hibition Sept.i s date3-lEas*
these' oods in France, which will last from the sth instant
at St. Dizier, in the Marne.
till the Ist October. As it is known that the manufacturers,
founders and others from the Marne, the Ardennes, and the
Moselle are resolved to endeavour to shdw on this occasion
that they are equal to us in every respect, an opportunity is
presented for our makers from Birmingham, Sheffield, &c.,
to prove their superiority- It appears that the exhibition
is to be held in a productsar, and that it is also to include a
great variety of the of France and a succession of
fetes. Particulars may be obtained by writing to the Sec-
retary of the Exposition, St. Dtzier, Prance.
for the a
The trade reports E Pst week refer to the
suspension of Mr. B. Om yre,
of
Sheffield, cutler, with
liabilities for about Xrio and assets £15,000 ; and of Mr.
William Banks, of Bitiss
en,
.m.nmaster, also with liabilities
of £90,000, and failure
isitaismated to exceed that amount.
To-day a s'l'all being that' been announced in the wine
so of M I' • and Grant,
essrs. eretre trade, the 114/net ; Mr. Al 11 .11 aly is the acceantant. About
of Tower-esroeund is
expect,:d.
10s. in th° RI EDAL „Glaze S FOR RIFLR "V OLUNTEERS.—The
, tition of rifle h • s ooting wl.tch took place at Wimbledon
00'14-et time sine
short ~ e has bee, followed by contests in many of
a corps .nrougliout cue country.
th"of skill instituted
trials
and the resit has been to cause increased attention to be
paid
rile
shooting. For the purpose of providing some
y recc,rd for the most successful shots, a very neat
medal has just been produced by Messrs. Pinches and Co.,
the eminent medallists, of Oxendon-street. On the reverse
of the medal is the figure of a rifleman, kneeling, in the act
of firing, and on the obverse a laurel wreath. The centre
affbrds space for engraving the name of the winner, the
regiment or corps to which he belongs, and the locality or
occasion on which the competition took place. The medal,
which may be cast in gold, silver, or bronze, is attached to
a plain green ribbon, with a metal band bearing the royal
initials. The three medals in gold, silver, and bronze, con-
stitute a set of first, second, and third prizes, and the honour
of winning one or other of these medals is well worthy of
being eagerly contested, and we should be glad to find that
every Volunteer corps in the country had among them
three men entitled to wear these graceful recognitions of
their skill,