The Sun.
London, England, 1868-06-27 00:00:00

In an article on " The Field and the Homestead." in
the Daily Telegraph, reports of the Prospects of the
harvest in various localities are grouped together. In the
West it is stated corn crops of every sort are doing well,
green crops growing beautifully, hay bulky and well got,
and pastures magnificent. Latterly, in some parts-,
the drought has done some mischief. A letter just
received from Herefordshire says : " The country
is sadly parched ; but we had a glorious fall of
rain on Sunday. Our wheats are first - ohms,
clovers and hay very good, mangold going on
well ; swedes not up, but soon will be." The
Gloucester report speaks of the wheat crop as uninjured
by the drought, but other crops suffering, and the hay on
the uplands very scanty. A Worcestershire account says
that the wheat has gone off, and will yield less by three
or four bags per acre than was expected three weeks age,
The mischief of the drought has been extensive in the
south. In Hampshire the wheats are good on the stony
land:, but thin and light on the chalk. Spring corn is
everywhere slightly dameged ; oats extremely deficient;
pulse crops short in straw and badly podded. In Sussex
the wheats look well on the good soils, and may produce
an average yield. On the stiff land of the Weald the pro.
miss of the wheats is not quite so favourable. Barley
and'oats, e::cept on the very best soils and where got in
very early, are short in straw, and must be deficient in
yield. The oats on the Weald clay will be, to a great
extent, a failure. Mangolds look badly, and swede:
have not grown at all for want of rain. In the North
there is the same lament for the absence of showers. In
the North Riding of Yorkshire, the wheats, while fair on
the good soils, promise below an average on dry and pooz
land. Oats, barley, and beans are short in straw, and can.
not yield well. The same state of things obtains in Durham,
parts of Northumberland,Westmoreland, and Cumberland.
A report from Cheshire praises the appearance of the
wheats. Potatoes, of which a greater than usual breadth is
planted, will probably be small, and the yield below an
average. All through the Midland counties the dry
weather has had the effect of injuriously forwarding the
wheat crops. " Wheat," says a Warwickshire farmer,
" was looking remarkably well, end more forward than
I ever remember it ; but lately it has so gone off
that it cannot yield an average produce. Pulse crops
extremely short in straw ; barley and oats several bags
per acre short of an average, excepting, perhaps, on very
highly-farmed and good lands. A Nottinghamshire report
speaks of
_wheat looking well on the clays, but being only
half a crop upon light soils. The early-sown barley is fair,
but the late-sown wretchedly bad. The most doleful
accounts come from the eastern counties. In Essex the
wheat on all the light lands and on some of the clays
has a short straw with a small ear, and promises
several bushels per acre less than it did a mouth
ago. Both oats and barley must be very light and
defective crops, the barley coming prematurely into ear.
Peas and beans, too, will yield below an average. The
hay is slighter than for some years past. But in Suffolk
and Norfolk the aspect of affairs is still more serious. On
some of the light lands the farmers, despairing of the
short barleys ever coming into car, have turned their
sheep into the fields ; and a late advice from Suffolk
estimates the promise of the wheat crop at twelve
bushels per acre less than it was a fortnight before.
A Lincolnshire report says : " We: have been without
rain, with trifling exceptions, for about eight weeks. The
corn crops have gone off surprisingly, more especially
during the last fortnight. What were full crops a month
ago now show the drill-rows from end to end. Excepting
on the very highly-manured potato land, the produce must
be deficient, and we now estimate a loss of eight bushels
per acre below the promise of a month back. The spring
'cropping is in a worse state."