The Liverpool Standard and General Commercial Advertiser.
Liverpool, Merseyside, England, 1843-06-13 00:00:00

feet in height

~sive rains, which
ns, :er of considerable anxiety, the price
the incre.. The meadows on the banks of
awing Avon," from Pershore to Tewkesbury, are
• the waters of the Severn are still lyiog
each side of its banks between this

Dr:sequence of the exec

of flour is on the inereast
the "soft n• -

on much of the land c

city anti
to the or
ba-

,ects of a good harvest, as well of grass,

as of the grain crops ; but we trust in a good Pro-
vidence, and " hope all things."—Worcester Journal of

Thursday

Tun EAT.Amt.---.--At the last meeting of the Horticultural
Society, it was stated that the quantity of rain for the mouth,
from the 2d May to the 6th June, from the register kept at
the gardens at Chiswick, was 6.56 inches. The proportion was
equally large in many parts of the country during the month
of May. At High Wycombe it was 5.89 inches, Uckfield,
in Sussex, 5.f," ' Bath 4.10 inches, Clathick in North

0 inches

'imam 3.60 inches, W atworLo o:zi incites, I nwaite m 01111011 E
3.21 inches, and Hereford 3.47 inches. The average number
of rainy days was twenty% This succession of rains has been
very injurious to gurdentng produce, particularly to pease,
.
whilst dahlias and other plants which have been turned out
have suffered severely. Early potatoes have been destroyed
in many places, and many forest trees have been severely in-

n), being swelled by the late very heavy ruins, over-
flowed its banks to such an extent as completely to destroy
all the corn and grass on its bunks. The loss to the neigh-
bouring gentry and farmers is immense, and may be estima-
ted at several thousand pounds—whole fields of wheat, bar-
ley., oats, hay, &c.,having been entirely swept away ! The
turnpike-road was completely inundated, so that the mail-
coach was obliged to change its route to Cardigan. and, in-
stead of passing through Llechryd, took the upper road by
Cawrcuse and Llangrawis. The booth in which the Druids
dined on Thursday was very nearly covered with water. The
flood reached so high at the village of Llechryd, that several
houses were tilled with water, and their inmates obliged to
force their way through the roofs to save their lives.—Swan-
sea Journal.

?Loon.—On Saturday 1

st the river Tivy

(Cardi

Tim LATE FLOODS.—The heavy fall of rain on Friday last
caused the rivers in 'this neighbourhood to swell to an unu-
sual degree. The river Gwilly in particular rose to such a
height, that such an overflow has not taken place before
within the memory of man ; the consequences have been
most calamitous. A .man named Thomas Richards in at-
tempting to cross a bridge over the river Gwilly was swept
away by the current and carried a mile down the stream.
His body was afterwards found. Troedyrluw bridge was
greatly injured, Cwnigwilly mill bridge, being a wooden one
was carried away, and the timber floated down to Glangwiily
bridge, where they got across the arches, and in a few mi-
nutes the water accumulated to such an extent that that
bridge also was entirely swept away by the mighty torrent,
and not a single vestige was left to denote the place where it
stood. A culvert ou the east side of Abergwilly bridge was
also partially destroyed ;. but the bridge firmly withstood the
force of the raging element. Several farmers in the neigh-
bourhood have sustained severe losses. The Amman river,
in the parish of Llangadock, removed stones of four tons
weight with the force of its waters. On Carrogsawnde com-
mon, near Llangadock, two foot bridges, of considerable
length, were carried away by the Sawdde, whose waters came
down with greater force than in the memory of the oldest in-
habitant. Timber, of a ton weight, were borne down with
its force. One of the bridges was only erected about six
weeks ago, at the sole expense of a benevolent and philantro-
pic individuo, who does good in private and blushes to find
it fame. - In the Usk, 40 sheep were found drowned on the
c onfines of Llauddoysuut parish : but whether accidental, or
the wilful act of maliciousness, is yet a mystery.—Cartnar-
' then Journal,

SPECULATION IN THE CORN TRADE.—Speculation in
foreign wheat is again showing itself, in consequence of the
passed month having been wet Who ever heard of a drip-
ping May detroying a crop ? Why, rain in May, followed
by fine weather, is an essential element of a great crop.
When wheat is in flower, or ripe, the plant is, indeed, ex-
tremely delicate, and susceptible of injury from rain ; but un-
til then it is extremely hardy, and stands so much badgering
as to have been compared to the cat and its nine lives. The
breadth of wheat is unusually large—the seed was very supe-
rior—the growth at present so thick and luxuriant, though a
little tinged, as only to require suitable weather to yield, per-
haps, the largest crop ever produced in this country. Some
sanguine sparks, the more effectually to delude themselves,
nourish the notion that the farmers' stocks are exhausting.
Now, what says " The General Agricultural Report for May"
on this subject ?—" In addition to upwards of 700,000 quar-
ters of foreign wheat already in the country, and on the in-
crease, the stocks of wheat in the hands of the farmers are
more than an average for the time of the year, whilst the
quality is unusually fine ! ! !"—a statement which gains cor-
roboration from the very large supplies last week at Mark-
lane. Not our merchants, but, as last year, mere jobbers
seem to be the prime movers in this dangerous game—the
parties competing with each other in foreign markets, as at
an auction, which shall pay the highest price. Whether the
corn be wanted or not, it is already on the way : should wea-
ther favour the harvest, and it be not wanted, supply will
exceed demand, and ruin again overwhelm the trade.

THE WEATHER THROUGHOUT THE COUNTRY : HURRI-
HAIL AND THUNDER STORMS, Ste.—Frocu all
parts of the kingdom complaints of the ungenial weather
have been abundant during the past week. The accounts
from Ireland state that the stock of grain and flour is excee-•
dingly low, and already the corn and provision markets are
advancing. Even a partial failure of the crops would be a
great calamity under present circumstances. Very. little in-
jury has yet been done; but a week or more of rain might
produce well-grounded alarm. In the district of Ulster the
level lands in the neighbourhood are flooded, and fears arc
entertained that the seed in the grotind will rot, if the water
be not quickly dried up or carried off. Similar accounts are
given from Limerick ; in the west of Ireland ail agricultural
operations are at a stand. Cork was on Monday ast visited
by a hurricane. In Scotland fears are beginning to be ex-
pressed of tile effects of the present wet and inclement wea-
ther. From all parts of the north we hear of the prevalence
of easterly winds, and cold, wet weather. In the district
surrounding us rain has been almost incessant, with frequent
heavy gales of wind. The crops, however, with the exception
of potatoes, look well and promise abundance. The potatoe
.sets have been greatly injured by the wet. On Monday last,
about three o'clock in the afternoon, Altrincham was visited
by a very severe hailstorm ; the hail stones were of an oval
shape, and nearly as large as marbles. The storm, which
only lasted about a quarter of an hour, has done much dam-
age to the early potato crop. A terrific thunderstorm, ac-
companied with hail and rain, passed over a portion of our
county on Thursday last. At Standish Lower Grounds, a
little more than two miles from Wigan, an oak tree was
struck by the electric fluid, and a portion of it rent away :
one of the top branches was struck off, and the lightning en-
tered the trunk, and tore away the bark, and a shred of tim-
ber, about ten yards long, loosening the bark round the whole
of the trunk, and making a large hole in the earth, close to
the root of the tree. Six men were standing for shelter a few

yards from the tree, at the time it was struck, but they sus-
tained no injury. At Newton the electric fluid fell on the
railway close to where two of the mesi. were at work. It tore
up the ground. The men were greatly alarmed, and one of
them much stunned. The quantity of rain that has fallen
within the past month, or from the 2nd of May to the 6th of
June, seems unprecedented for many years. It was not less
than 6'36 inches. The range of the barometer was also great,
being the highest, or 30*184 inch on the 11th of May, and the
lowest, or 29'22,1 inch. The thermometer was highest on the
2nd of May, being 69 degrees F., and lowest on May 7, when
it stood at 29 degress. These observations were made on
an open space on the grounds at Ghiswick.
TrIE POTATO Cwor.—Rumours of the failure in the crop
of this important article of food having been for some time
current, we have taken a good deal of trouble to ascertain its
extent, in so far as that can be yet known; and, as our in-
quiries have extended to about thirty miles to the west, and
about twenty miles to the east, of Edinburgh, we have no
doubt that the result is fairly applicable to East Lotian,
Mid-Lothian, Linlithgow, and the eastern district of Stir-
lingshire, and at least a considerable portion of Fifeshire.
On some farms, so entire has been the failure, that whole
plantations, of twenty and thirty acres, have been ploughed
up, and the land prepared for being sown with turnips. On
other farms the failure is more partial, extending from a third
to an eighth of the sets. A few farms have as yet escaped ;
and in a few more the planting has been too recently finished
to admit of any opinion being formed on the subject. On
the whole, the already ascertained loss cannot be at less than
from 20 to 25 per cent. of the seed planted. It must not be
suppoSed, however, that the loss will affect the produce of
the land to anything like that amount. Where whole plan-
tations have been ploughed up, the lund will be occu-
pied with turnips ; and, where the failure is partial, many of
the farmers are making up the blank by planting new sets
with the dibble. In so far as we have been able to learn, no
satisfactory cause has yet been assigned for this extensive
loss. The whole Of the potatoes grown last year upon an
extensive district we have heard of, were sold for seed, and
in every instance the failure: has been complete. On some
lands the sets have simply rotted in the ground, without
showing any symptoms of germination. On others, the eyes
have pushed up to the surface; but so sickly, weak, and at-
tenuated, that, in general, they languished and died. In
other cases the sets seemed to possess a greater vegetable
power ; but they were no sooner an inch or two above the
surface than their groWth was arrested, and a small tuber,
generally of the size of a sea, sent forth in the top of a stalk,
which thenceforth withered and perished. In this' latter
case, nature, on finding herself checked in her appointed pro-
gress, in the desire so constantly manifested to continue the
species, in an expiring effort, sent forth her fuit with a degree
of precocity, which, by accelerating the death of the parent
plant, defeats her own purpose. As the land, however, will
not be unoccupied, the loss will fall rather on the farmer than
on the country ; for although he may raise a smaller quantity
of potatoes, the loss will in• a considerable degree be com-
pensated by the substitution of turnips, which will augment
the supply of beef.-=Observer.

A BREAK-NECK AFFAIR.—On the afternoon of Friday
last, as a gentleman connected with one of the sporting Sun-
pay papers wa:i returning from Windsor to Ascot (where he
information
had been for of a sporting nature) in a single-
horse chaise,. he unfortunately (if not somewhat clumsily)
drove bang against the turnpike gate (at Blackness, close to
Virginia Water) in endeavouring to " clear" it, causing the
breakage of both the shafts, and throwing out the driver with
considerable force into the road. The horse, with the broken
chaise dangling at his heels, galloped off at a furious rate,
tumbled headlong into a deep' ditch, with the chaise uptni
him, and broke his neck. The gentleman' who had met with
so narrow an escape, was taken back to the George Inn, at
Eton, and reached the otlice of the paper in safety the same
evening, travelling from Slough to Paddington by the railway.
The horse which belonged to Mr. C. Wise, livery-stable kee-
per. at Eton, was worth between £4O and £5O. The late
Mr. Pierce Egan met with precisely a similar accident, at the
same spot, a few years ago, and upon that occasion his horse
was also killed.

DISGUSTING EXIIIIIITION.—One of those revolting de-
velopments of human depravity,
which schock those who
have the fear of God before -their eyes, by the hardihood
with which a sinner can venture to dare the judgments of
the ALMIGHTY, was
perpetrated in the town of Warminster
on Monday last. A man, who keeps a little bread and gro-
cery shop, caused his coffin to be paraded through the streets
to his house, at the broad daylight hour of eleven, this being,
as we understand, a stipulation in the treaty for this encase-
ment of his mortal remains, when the cold hand of death,
whom he assumes to mock,' shall lay his iron grasp on this
jester with the King of Terrors. It is said that the pro-
grarnme of the exhibition included a delivery of the coffin at
a public.honse, where its future occupant was to adjust its
prop9rtions with his living length and breadth, by getting
into it, and drinking R quart of beer; but the landlord,would
not allow the indecent exhibition to be perpetrated, and the
coffin passed on. In all human probability it will not be a
lengthened this, period before one of the last requisites of
humanity, will be needed; but, before that day arrives, may
the braggart spirit which hasso impiously defied Him who
bath the keys of death and hell, repent, and to be ashamed
of a proceeding, in the doing of which he had no sympathisers
—the very poorest shuddering and stigmatising IL—Devizes
Gazette.