The Sun.
London, England, 1869-07-09 00:00:00

AG1?1-CULTUI?AL PROSPECTS.

The Daily Telegraph, in an article on "The Field and
the Homestead," gives its opinion on the wheat crop.
The very low temperature and the cloudy sky which has
prey ailed throughout the month have sealed the fate of
the wheat crop in the forward districts as considerably
below an average ; but the weather of the remaining part
of July and of the early part of August may yet bring the
later crops up to an average. As to quality of the grain,
we cannot look for samples comparable to those of last
harvest ; and the proportion of inferior corn must be large,
from the circumstance that so many weak-strawed crops
are storm-broken-- that is, apparently upstanding wheats
are found, upon, examination, to be deceptive, because
a considerable proportion of the stems is beaten down,
and, as the farmers say, " kinked " at the bottom. The
Board of Trade, following the lead of Mr. Caird, find that
the corn producing and the grazing provinces of England
may be divided by a curved line running in a direction
generally north and south, having the principal wheat
districts on the eastern side and the more pastoral coun-
ties on the west. In the former, one-fifth of the acreage
under crop is in wheat ; in the latter only one-
tenth. It is, therefore, the cc ndition cf the
wheat crop in the eastern division of England
that is most important in determining the abun-
dance or deficiency of our harvest. In the East
Riding of Yorkshire the wheat is now in bloom ; on the
nest lands the crop is expected to be an at•erage ; but so
many crops have a weak straw, broken by the rains, that
the general result will be below an average. Barley is
injured by the cold and wet, and will probably be less
than an average crop ; but oats are expected to yield
well. Harvest will be late. In Lincolnshire the
wheats are light upon the clays ; poor crops upon the
light lands, but bulky and promising in the
fens. Barley will be a short crop, and oats
not above an average. Harvest must he late. In
Nottinghamshire the wheats appear considerably below
an average, but are very variable ; both barley and oats
are short crops, starved, and thin on the land ; and harvest
will be later than usual. In Leicestershire the wheat may
be an average, but the barley is much below, and good
crops are rarely to be found. In Northamptonshire the
wheats are reported to promise average yields on the strong
lands and on the fens, but considerably less than an
a:•erage on the light soils. Barley threatens a
still worse result, and oats, too, are not well spoken
of. In Huntingdonshire wheat promises to be
about an average ; barleys have improved, and,
like oats, may probably produce an average. In
Cambridgeshire the wheats are extremely variable, but
generally the crop is not expected to exceed an average ;
and the barleys are backward and defective. In Norfolk
the wheats are for the most part weak and the ears small,
and the harvest will be late. The barleys cannot yield
more than an average produce. The Suffolk reports tell
of .wheats and barleys coming very irregularly into ear,
and only on the best-farmed lands bidding fair to
equal an average. And harvest there will also be late.
On good soils in Essex the wheat is expected to yield
a full average, but the plant is very thin upon the
gravelly soils, and there the produce must be
poor. Barley looks well on the good soils, but
on poor land the yield will be very much short of an ave-
rage. Harvest is late. In Bedfordshire there is more
than an average wheat crop upon well-farmed heavy
lands, but on the light soils below an average. Barley
will probably be an average. Buckinghamshire sends a
similar report. From Oxfordshire we learn that the very
variable wheats and barleys both promise to come some-
what short of an average. In Berkshire both wheats and
barleys have been so injured by the rains and lowness of
temperature that the straw is weak, the ears are
small, and the yields must fall short of an
average. Oats promise well. In Hampshire the wheat
crop is bad upon wet lands and poor thin clays, and far
from good upon the loamy and gravelly soils, though
better upon the chalk. The produce must be under an
average, and reaping-time late. Barley looks like an
average, and oats above an average. In Sussex the wheat
is reported so deficient that much of it will not be over
half a crop ; but it is hoped that the later wheats will
turn out better. Barley will scarcely give an average
yield ; but oats are good and promising. Kent reports
wheat crops injured by the low temperature ; on sands,
gravels, and chalk there is a very deficient crop ; the
straw is almost everywhere short, and the ears are small.
Barley promises little better. Thus, the prospects of both
wheat and barley upon the principal corn-growing areas
of England certainly indicate deficient production; but,
at present, it is too early to form anything like an esti-
mate of the proportion of the deficiency.

CHEAP MATRIMONY.—A country clergyman says
he has married but one couple in a year, and that they
paid him nothing, stayed to dinner as it was a rainy day,
and then borrowed his umbrella when they left, which he
has never seen since.

THE HALFPENNY POSTAGE.—The Irish Times
professes to give some of the details decided upon in
relation to the halfpenny postage. The halfpenny is to
suffice for any weight. The stamps may be either im-
pressed or adhesive, and the latter will be obtainable at all
places where newspapers are sold. The stamp, however,
will be obliterated on the transmission of any newspaper
once through the post office. The rule which prohibits
the delivery of newspapers bearing an impressed stamp
within the limits of the town in which it is published will
be abrogated.

It is believed by many writers that no word is
more frequently omitted by authors, and its absence over-
looked by printers, than the important syllable "no."
A curious and early illustration of this idea presents
itself in an old tract, of which there is a copy in the
British Museum Library, "Sir C. Lucas his Last
Speech," E. 462-20, which appears to have been pub-
lished by authority of the Long Parliament, and con-
tains the reply, by "0. R.," one of Fairfax's officers
at the taking of Colchester, to the last speech of Sir C.
Lucas when about to be shot by the conqueror's order. The
knight complains of his sentence, as contrary to the con-
ditions of surrender, which, as he alleged, promised or
implied that quarter should be given without reserve. On
the other hand, the officer is reported to have said these
conditions were, "that you should be rendered to us with
(no) certaine assurance of quarter, so as the Lord General
may be free to put any of you to the sword." The inralu•
able little word "no" was, strangely enough, left out of
the report of thin apeeoh the ooilltcxt oleAr4 akely4 ybat
WALMAtt