The Sun.
London, England, 1869-08-24 00:00:00

THE HARVEST

The Magnet says :—" Considerable progress has been
made with harvest work in the Midland and Southern
counties, and the weather having been dry and favourable,
the wheat has been generally got in in good condition.
We regret to state, however, that our remarks in respect
to the probable extent of the yield are likely to be sub-
stantiated. There in an abundance of straw, but the ears
are of light weight, and when thrashed out, the result
affords a decided proof that the yield will turn out
to be beneath the average, and mach less than last
year. This is doubtless owing to the cold ungenial
May and .Time succeeding the mild winter, and to the large
accumulation of moisture, but at the same time there
will be great disparity in the yield and quality. In some
parts of the Southern English counties the crop is consi-
dered to be good, whilst from others complaints of
undeveloped ears and damage sustained by rust and
mildew are current. The benefit derived from a week of
fine weather is generally admitted, and a continuance of
the same is urgently required, as it improves the crops still
standing, and enables farmers to proceed with their out-
door avocations unmolested, and to carry their pro-
duce in good condition. The barley crop looks well
on the whole, notwithstanding that there will be a simi-
lar variety in quality and yield as in the case of wheat.
Oats, however, arc hardly so well spoken of as for-
merly ; nevertheless a fair crop is expected.
Beans and peas, owing to the ravages committed by
insects, will be only a moderate crop, notwithstanding
that a larger than ordinary acreage has been planted.
The root crops, generally, look well. The symptoms of
disease recently noticed in 1 otatoes have almost en-
tirely disappeared, and, although additional moisture
would be of benefit to swell the tutars, the yield will
certainly be a full average. Sanguine expectations
are entertained of the turnip crop ; but more rain will
be necessary in order to bring the crop to its full develop-
ment. The other root crops also look well. The pastures
and meadows are in good condition, and a fair second crop
of hay is expected. From the Continent the accounts
shew no further change. The yield of wheat is variable ;
but the falling off noticed in France, the northern parts
of Germany, and Italy, is about compensated for
by the large yield obtained in other quarters. Advices
from New York remark that the substance of the reports
from the spring wheat sections is to the effect that the
farmers are surprised to find that the rains had caused
such slight injury to the crop, and the opinion is very
generally expressed that the excessive moisture really did
much good in destroying insects—a compensation as nn-
looked for as it is gratifying.

The Limerick, Clare, and Tipperarr Farlncril
Club hits gel( cted Mr. Iran Butt ns a candidate for Tippe-
rary, in the room of Mr. Moore, dccenscd.
It is unfit rstcod that d Winchesti r
will n lain Fari.bvm Caatlo, as Pr. 13:oi1flold reta'ned Fulham
Palace on ids reignation of ti.c di( CCFC of Loudon.
Evid( nee was given cn Monday at the Norwich
Elect:en C, mmishion as to trawl y at the Truro/ et public-
house at the la-t el, ct:on. One complained of hav-
ing been mob steel in rons, quence of his statonn n tr.

'I be high rate of mortality among children in Bir-
mingham has induced a benoTolent geLtleman to (Ten a day
nurs2ry similar to ill( se ni.ich t svc Lc en so succ( ful in the
met ropoliel.

Joseph Hatton, (ditor of the Goitionan's l'ogazine,
Blanchard Jerrold, Walter Maynard, and William Sawyer,
will, it is 6tati d, 1 e on tho writing staff of the lilustratcd
Midland Nora. John Leighton will be amongst the artists
specially retained.

The City of Paris, with Prince Arthur on board,
made the passage from Qneonstown to Halifax in six cloys
twenty-one hours and a half, after allowing for differenec of
time. The voyage was performed at the rate of thirteen
and a half knots, or fifteen and a half miles, per hour.

Dr. Lush, one of the mcnibtrs for ;Salisbury, has
contradicted the report that he had been nominated by the
Government to the office of a commissioner in lunacy, and
would conFequently vacate his rent. Dr. Lush has no in-
tention of resigning his rent in Darlinment either now or at
any other time so long ss he is enablcd to preserve the con-
fidence of his constituents.

The Liverpool Mercury is alarmed by the announce-
ment that a budding in the town which hes hitherto been
used as a Methodist chapel is about to be turrod into a ca-
sino. It is the first attempt in Liverpool to establish such
a place on a largo sale. Liverpool ii already bad enough ;
bat it will be made by establishments of this kind is not
bard to see.

Twenty thousand persona were present at the
Drogheda Fenian amnesty meeting on Funday, headed by
bands from Dublin. The multitude wore green decorations
of various kinds. Fenian airs were played by the bands
Rosolut'ons were adopted, declaring that the detention of
the Fenian prisoners by Erglish statesmen is unwise, im-
politic, and inconsistent.

A correspondent of the Pall Mall Gazelle says that
no attempt was made at the conforeace between Elul Mayo
and Share Ali to obtain a treaty from the latter. Shore
Ali himself was anxious for alliance with India, so anxious
that he would probably have sacrificed a portion of his in-
d(•pt ndenee in order to gain this end. But the British Go-
vernment wisely deprecated such interference in Affghan
affairs, and presents were accordingly given to Shere Ali
without conditions (f any kind. It is hereved that Russia
and England will come to an understanding involving the
neutrality of Afighanistan.

A notice has just been issued ant ouncing that the
intended miners' conference will take place at Dudley on
the Gilt of September, ashen delegates are invited to meet
ft deputation from Lancashire and North and South Wolff.
In tho notice miners are thus addressed :—" The present
degraded and unenviable condition in which the miners of
the above places aro now found, is proved to arise mainly
if not entirely, from the practice so prevalent,
not only in South South Staffordshire and East Worcester-
shire, Lut in all parts of the British Isles where coals are
being raised, viz.: Over-production' aril the' Long-hour
system.' This is to call upon you to arouse yourselves and
to join your fellows in Lancashire, Yorkshire, Derbyshire,
Cheshire, North of England, North and South Wales, to re-
move these pernicious evils, and thereby to secure to your-
selves a higher rate of wages."
Mr. Bentinck, 11. P., at the meeting of the Cum-
lerlend and Westmoreland Agricultural society, made a
long Teed), the purport of which was that Protection had
evived, and that its principles were once more becoming
popular. He pointed to the debate in Coventry and the
French Treaty, to the "Reviver" meetings which have been
held in the metropolis, to the propozals for the Government
to g:vo scientific education to workmen, and to the
comparison instituted between Switzerland and Ire-
land by Professor Playtair, in proof of his asser-
tien. Far bo it from him (he said) to reflect upon his
Irish fellow-countrymen, with whom he was connected in
more ways than one; but there was one obvious answer
there are fewer Irislanen in Switzerland than there are in
Ireland. Switzerland is under the strongest protective laws,
and Ireland has none. Now, ho would not himself express any
opinion upon this subject at present; but he bad always
had the strongest sympathy with the agricultural inte-
rest, and he believed the agricultural interest—the
tenant farmer—to bo the backbone and sinew of the
strength of England ; and he was sure, if we do return
to the discussion of free trade and protection once more, the
agriculturists would behave as they did before in a most hon-
ourable and independent way, and not for one moment hest-
itato to sacrifice their kriyitt I,4tFitgAiklhe rual twit
o 1 the oeuntrYs: