The Liverpool Standard and General Commercial Advertiser.
Liverpool, Merseyside, England, 1841-09-03 00:00:00

.GRICULTURAL REPORT FOR AUGUST.

(From tke Morning Herald.)

At a period of anxious suspense, when there has been in
good truth ample causes for complaint, which have been
worked up by interested parties into prognostics of famine
and desolation, it becomes the peculiar duty of the candid
reporter to search for evidence. We have done so, and hav-
ing obtained it—clear, impartial, and extensive evidence—we
give a positive denial to all the assertions of injury, and also
boldly affirm that there exists at present no cause of alarm ;
that the crops are one and all good, sound, prolific, and in
all probability will be found ultimately productive beyond
the average. Having so far dealt in assertion, we proceed
to adduce our authorities.

Essex is one of our primest wheat districts, and now, in
reference to it, let the following extract suffice to show how
excellent are the crops :—" An extensive farmer, who culti-
vates nearly 1,000 acres in that county, states that the wheat
in sheaf is beyond his expectation, and has ripened with a
fine yellow tint. Full half of it is secured in fine order. The
improved weather will certainly make the crop above an ave-
rage. Barley and oats are heavy crops : beans and peas are
great crops, and potatoes very abundant." The same re-
marks will hold good with Kent.

We have ourselves, in succession, visited a considerable
part of Buckinghamshire, Middlesex, and Hertfordshire.
The weather, it is known, continued cold, sunless, and very
wet until the 16th August, whence nearly a week of powerful,
brilliant sunshine set every farmer to work. The operations
were simultaneous, and most rapid, for the crops turned off
at once, and strange as it may appear, though the cold had
protracted the harvest till a period so comparatively late, no
sooner did the rain abate than it became apparent that the
reapers must be in the field. True it is some barleys remain
stunted, and are over-topped by the clover and herbage that
did not suffer from the unseasonable drought early in June,
and some fields are laid ; but there appear neither sprouting
nor discoloration. The following letter, written expressly
by a bailiff over 1,200 acres, will exhibit a true picture of
the condition north of Wycornb and in mid Bucks :

" August 18. lam happy to say that the weather has
taken a favourable turn, and that the sickle is in operation in
every direction. The crops in general in this district are
everything the farmer can desire ; and should the weather
prove fine for two weeks, the greater part of the harvest will
be over. Stock of all sorts is in a flourishing condition, and
the after-crops of grass are abundant."
But the fine weather gave way on the 22d, and the rain
of three following nights certainly produced stagnation. The
temperature, however, was fortunately low, and as soon as
it began to rise to a degree which might have caused sprout-
ing, the sun broke forth again, a brisk air played among the
sheaves, all hands were at work, to move, reverse, or expose
them in one way or other (this we saw), and vast breadths
were carrying on the 26th. Three perfect days have fol-
lowed, and thus advances have been made of every kind, and
in all directions. One homely remark made to us personally
by a neighbour, who had put up three great ricks, and whose
sheaves, in one connected breadth, would suffice to make as
many more, will show how he had changed his opinion :
" I have," said he, " been threshing all day as well." But
how does it turn out? "Oh good, very good indeed, quite
dry ; comes out like a shot." He had, weeks before, said
how "rough" the sample would be! We could cite other
similar examples.
From Scotland nothing direct has been communicated ;
but we are informed by a native, competent to give an
opinion, that every thing in the north was in a prosperous
state.