THE ENGLISH HARVEST.

Evening Star, Issue 3078, 31 December 1872, Page 3

THE ENGLISH HARVEST.

A recent issue of the A'jriridln red Cnzettc contains the following interesting information Most of the returns tabulated in the following pages are at least ten days old ; and the storms of both August and July have laid the corn excessively. So far, therefore, from agreeing with a correspondent in another column, that the estimate expressed is below the honest truth, we fear that it will probably prove too high. Moreover, a late harvest is rarely a satisfactory one, especially as regards wheat, and tins year’s crop is, and has been, certainly a week to ten days later than it generally is. Of the 26*2 reports of the wheat crop given in the following columns, 135 state it to be an average crop, 98 put it at below, and 29 above an average. Of the 255 barley reports, 111 pronounce it to be an average, 95 below, and 49 above an average. Of the £O2 returns of the oat m op, 129 declare it to be an average, 20 below, and 107 above an average. Of the 180 returns of the bean ciop, 94 put it at an average. 9 below, and 83 above an average: and of the 187 reports of the pea crop, 100 put it at an average, 38 below, and 49 above an average. Of all these crops, then, the oat andean crops may be pronounced decidedly above an average The pea crop also is unusually good. W heat, on the other hand, must be pronounced decidedly below an average crop on the whole, and barley, too, is barely an average. If we take some of the best wheat counties, it will be found that the returns of the wheat c rop are even less satisfactory. Thus in Essex and Kent, where we have fifteen correspondents, seven may be said to state the crop at under an average, five say it is an average crop, and only three put it at over average. Take, again, Lincoln, Cambridge, Norfolk, and Suffolk. Of twentypight reports, no less than seventeen are npder average, nine put it an average, and only two are over average. It is plain that these returns are much more important as re"apds the wheat crop than those of Scotiisli, Welsh, and Irish counties can be. We notice that in Hertfordshire the wheat is declared to be a full average, by which wc understand more than an average. M r Lawes joins all our other correspondents in that county in giving this account. We presume, however, that bis, like the others, is strictly a local report, and does not give any estimate of the returns from his variously treated cornfields, the annual yield from which has hitherto corresponded very closely in its variations to those ©f the general crop of the country. The returns need to be read with careful regard to the quarters from which they respectively come, and, notwithstanding, that on the whole, and when collected in the following table they give a tolerably encouraging picture of the harvest, it might, we fear, be concluded that wheat will not yield an average return, nor barley a full one ; oats and beans and peas, upon the other hand, are unusually good. The following is the tabular statement Cron Returns. Wheat. Barley. Oats. Average 135 111 120 Below average ... 98 95 26 Above average ... 29 49 107 Totals 262 255 262 Of the other crops it may be said that we possess, this year, an extraordinary quantity of all kinds of succulent growth. There never was a greater quantity of grass in our Helds, and large crops of hay have been made, some of it, however, in very poor condition. Haymaking has been late, owing to deficient hands, and lack of laborers has been apparent in the case of other crops as well. We suppose fallow crops, as a whole, never were fouler than they are this year, owing to want of hands with hoes. Probably the unsatisfactory relationship of master and servants in many districts this year, is responsible for many a complaint, for which we have not had room, of the “ filthy ” plight in which a good deal of the turnip and mangel crop at present stands. We regret to report that complaints of |be potato disease are unusually early and unusually prevalent. The agricultural correspondent of the Indetendance Belfje at Paris classifies this year’s harvest as follows —England, below the average : Germapy, tolerable ; Austria, Russia, Scotland, and the Danubiau Principal ties, middling; Belgium and Turkey, average; Spain, very good; United States, somewhat above the average; France, exceedmgly good ; Ireland, middling good ; Italy, above average ; Switzerland, good.