The Sun.
London, England, 1867-08-26 00:00:00

IIAILIVAY INTELLIGENCE.

The Western Railroad began on Monday, July
29th, to run its eastward trains over the new track
between Washington and Becket.
The track of the Troy and Greenfield Railroad is
laid from the latter place to Bardwell's Ferry, and
the bridge over the Deerfield at this point will be
completed in about three weeks. It is expected that
the cars will be running to Shelbnrne Falls in two
months.

In the reconstruction of the Troy and Greenfield
Railroad for the six miles between Greenfield and
Shelburne Falls, 2,000 feet of trestle work, origin-
ally put in by Haupt, was taken down and solid
earth embankments substituted.
The contract which the State has made with
Dull and Gowan of Chicago to complete 7,400 feet
of the Hoosiae tunnel at the eastern portal, the rate
of progress to be 100 feet per day, and to complete
the central shaft, was to go into effect on the Ist
of August. In nineteen days of July 98 feet were
made, and in June 102 feet. At the west shaft they
are running both east and west in order to make a
drift to run off the " porridge" and stone debris,
and it is necessary to advance 1,500 feet more to
accomplish this.

The claims for land damages by the Lee and
New Haven Railroad, between Lee and the State
line, have been settled, with the exception of two
cases, for $20,000, or less than half the estimate of
the engineers.
Work on the European and North American Rail-
road has so far advanced that the company is en-
titled to the first instalment of the Government sub-
sidy, and all the heavy work of the road between
Bangor and Lincoln, except laying the rails, will be
completed this month. _ _ _

The negotiations between the officers of the Wes-
tern and Boston and Worcester Railroads, looking
to a consolidation of the two corporations, are still
in progress, but so many and difficult are the con-
flicting interests to harmonise, that no plan of union
has yet been formed. The stockholders of the Bos-
ton and Worcester Road have already held a meet-
ing, and instructed their directors to ascertain what
terms of consolidation could be agreed upon, and
the Western Road will probably take similar action
some time this month.

At the annual business meeting cf the Old
Colony and Newport Railroad, at Boston, on
Thursday,
July 25, the old Board of Directors were
re-elected, with the exception of Alexander Holmes,
who retired, and was succeeded by John S. Brayton,
of Fall River. A vote was passed,
authorising the
issue of $1,500,000 worth of bonds, payable in 20
years or less, at interest not greater than 7 per
cent., for the purpose of taking up or renewing the
outstanding obligations of the Corporation, funding
its floating debt, and completing its works.
The stockholders of the Connecticut and Pas-
sumpsic Rivers Railroad held their annual meeting
at Newport on Wednesday, July 31. The 22d
annual report shows the receipts of the past year to
have been $493,705 and expenses $309,053, leaving
a balance of $184,652. The bonded debt of the
road has been reduced in the year $31,900, two
3 per Cent. dividends, amounting to $115,080, have
been declared, and $64,000 has been paid for inte-
rest ou bonds and to the trustees of the sinking
fund and $2,672 for interest on notes. The road
is 110 miles long, is well stocked, and efforts are
now being made to build the Massawippi Road from
the terminus of the Passumpsie to some point on
the Grand Trunk near Lenoxville. This will in
fact add thirty miles to the Passumpsic Road, and
open a country of great richness in both mineral
and agricultural products.
The correspondent of the Standard says:—" Hotel
cars," as they are called, have been introduced on
nearly all the Western Railroads. In these ears
one finds not only a passable, bed but all the advan-
tages of an ordinary restaurant. Chops, steaks,
vegetables are cooked, and cold cuts furnished in
3f indigestible trash at a way-side
the train—so that there is no stopping for a five
minutes' gorging
impatient Western
Yankee,
satnk a t ieoe n, .
though' '
r rh
i togland the " im-
provement"is as yet unknown.
The new steamer Adirondack; built for the shim
suits
of the
New I';n
Bur-
lington
and Whitehall line, at an expense of
$250,000, is said to be the most elegant boat on
American waters. She made her trial trip on
Thursday, August 8, and on Monday began to run
regularly.
The steamboat competition between Hartford and
New York has been ended by the withdrawal of
the Merchants' line, to run their boats between
New York and the Delaware river. The fare,
which for some time has been 50 cents, has been
put back to the old price of a dollar.
The New York Central Railroad earned
of $57,000 for the
decreaselllinois Central gained
$8
alm,Be7Bm,ooonOthinlaJstulyye,ar a.
The
$30,000 in traffic the same month, and about 65 per
cent. in land sales and collections.

7HE GRAIN AIVD CO7 TON CROPS.

(New York Daily Republican.)

The season has so far advanced that we are now
in a position to predicate, with intolerable accuracy,
the result of the crops of 1867. In the Southern
States the harvest, with the exception of corn and
cotton, is already secured ; while in the 'Western
States the work of reaping is still in active progress.
The accounts so far from the. South, with regard to
bread-stuffs, are all that could be desired. The
yieldtin lisroebxatbrelymely
avoided the errorinof dmeavnoytinygeaalrls
average of roost prosperous years. For' the first
favourable and fully up to the
t ht he
iorse energies States t
ob a
thev e
cultivation of cotton. Taught by a bitter experience,
planters and farmershave discovered that it is not pro-
fitable for them to purchase the corn and pork they
require for consumption. They have therefore
very sensibly devoted a larger breadth than ever
before to the cultivation of wheat and corn, and
the weather has been so favourable for these pro-
ducts that the total results are likely to exceed all
former precedent. In Mississippi it is calculated
that this year's corn crop alone would support the
entire South for two years. From Alabama and
Georgia the accounts are no less favourable. From
Texas the reports are most cheering. A Houston
(Texas) journal, after collecting reports from all
parts of the vast State, concludes that it only re-
quired a few weeks of fine weather to render the
corn crop of the State all that could be desired.
Texas suffered least of all the Southern States from
the war, and has therefore recovered more quickly.
There has also been an extensive influx of Northern
men and capital during the last two years, and
favourable crops were all that was required to secure
to that magnificent portion of the country the ele-
ments of an enduring prosperity. •
From the other Southern States the accounts of
the corn crops are generally satisfactory. Florida,
next to Texas, is probably the most flourishing
State in the South. At leait it has received large
accessions of capital, and of both white and coloured
labour, and the results are apparent in the in-
gathering of a most bounteous harvest. In the
Carolinas and in Mississippi, 14911i5i5" and Ark"'

sas, the grain crops were favourable. In all these
States an unusually large breadth of land had been
devoted to the culture of corn, and the South
which, before the war, was dependant upon the
West for food, will this year not only have enough
for home consumption, but, for the first time, may
even enter the world's grain market to dispose of
its superfluous products.
With respect to the Southern cotton crop the
reports are less conclusive. It is, of course,
however, too soon to predicate anything respecting
the probable yield. The unusually large quantity
of corn planted, and the unfavourable condition of
the cotton in some localities may prevent the in-
crease that might otherwise have been expected.
From South Carolina we hear that the Sea Island
cotton has been seriously injured by the rain. Rains
and floods have also seriously injured the prospects
in North Carolina, Georgia, Texas, Louisiana, and
Mississippi. But even now, with fair weather, a
crop may be secured.
Turning to the Great West, we find that we are
fully warranted in anticipating a corn and wheat
crop largely in excess of the most prosperous year

that has ever been known. The season has now so
far advanced that no unfavourable contingencies
of weather or crop diseases are likely to diminish
the estimated supply to any considerable extent.
In the great wheat growing region, comprising

lilinois, Indiana, lowa, Wisconsin, Ohio, and
Minnesota, the average sown is largely in ex-
cess of former years, and in quantity and
quality the products are all that could be de-
sired. It is estimated that the supply will be 40 per
cent. in excess of the prosperous season of 1360.
The hot weather that followed the rainy season,
upon which so many injuries were apprehended,
stimulated the growth to an extraordinary degree.
From the same causes corn will be most exuberant
in all the States named.

In this and the New England States the corn and
wheat crops promise remarkably well. California
has secured a magnificent harvest, that will enable
that State to sustain her newly acquired reputation
as a grain exporting country. Indeed the grain
crops in the golden State are so largely in excess of
the wants for home consumption that the only
difficulty seems to be to obtain remunerative markets
for the superfluous stock.

In certain localities in the various States the re-
sults may vary. But we feel fully warranted in
the assurance that the corn, wheat, and cotton
crops in the whole country will not vary to
any considerable extent from the conclusions
now presented. The harvest is bountiful beyond
all reasonable expectations. Anxiety upon the
subject may be dismissed. We have been
spared the painful consequences of indifferent
crops, at a time when a full harvest is of
the most vital importance, owing to the exceeding
short supply on hand. It is estimated that when

the new harvest came in there was not in the whole
country two weeks supply of food. What might

have been a terrible calamity (for who can estimate

the painful consequences to the nation and to in-
dividuals of a short harvest?) is turned into
Heaven's choicest blessing. Owing to the short
supply in the hands of farmers, millers will for
some time to come be chiefly. employed in work for
home or local consumption and the actual supplies
of breadstuffs at the great commercial centres may
be deferred to an unusually late period of the sea-
son. But the certaiuty of a bounteous harvest is
telling rapidly upon prices, and the market is
downward, with a demand limited to the supply of
the immediate wants. In due time, however, the
mass of consumers will realise the advantages of a
probably large and permanent reduction of the cost
of the chief staples of life.