23 AUGUST 1851, Page 10

THE HARVEST.

The accounts of the harvest and crops from the various districts of the kingdom continue favourable : a good average crop may be expected, but hardly a superabundant one. We cull some particulars from the provin- cial journals.

In Berkshire, there will be a good average yield : within ten days a great quantity of wheat was housed. In Devonshire, the harvest has progressed with almost unexampled rapidity. From Oxfordshire the re- ports of all crops are favourable. In Northumberland, wheats are light on the heavy secondary soils, but highly satisfactory where the land is good. Wilts now wears a more promising aspect than it did recently : some portion of grain has been carted, and is likely to prove of superior quality. In some districts the yield will be short ; on the whole, "a mo- derate average." In Cumberland and Westmoreland, on most lands the produce will be first-rate in quality, and quite an average in quantity. Turnips get on well ; the potato-crop is splendid, though in a few places the disease has appeared to a small extent In the neighbourhood of Chichester, the crops are everywhere good. From Kent come accounts' that vary with the locality ; crops generally about an average. Harvest has commenced in Yorkshire : in many places the wheat is splendid, in others the crops are of an ordinary description ; on the whole, a fair average. In Hampshire, the crops ripen so fast that farmers hardly know which field to cut first. Nearly an average crop is expected in Lanca- shire, but less than last year. In Gloucestershire, the quality promises; to be very fair, and " above an average cast." Throughout the Principality of Wales, the crops are in a very promising condition, particularly the grain harvest ; and there is every prospect of au abundant yield. The hay throughout has been secured in excellent condition. It is generally considered that the crops are remarkably healthy, and that wheat and barley are particularly free from smut and rust. In a short time the sickle will be in general operation. Hops have for some time been expected to turn out a small crop. The last accounts from Kent and Sussex are of a very various character : in several places the growers despair ; in others, the crop will be light ; but from some districts the reports are now very favourable. The probability is that there will not be half a crop this year. The duty is placed at less than 100,000/ From Worcester recent accounts are rather unfavourable

duty, 18,0001.

From Ireland comes the welcome news that the alarm for the potato crop is subsiding : the information received from many quarters shows that the disease is very partial. The Dublin Daily Express thus reports— "A gentleman who has travelled within the last three days over the greater part of the counties of Galway and Mayo, and through the Midland counties, assures us that he does not rementh:er to have ever seen a more luxuriant or healthier-looking crop than the present. The indications of the rot are scarcely appreciable. In the county Dublin, South of the city, we ourselves observed, on Saturday, a few fields presenting here and there patches of withered leaves and blackened haulm ; but the roots, in the nu- merous instances in which we turned them up at these spots, were found to be quite sound. Every day's experience strengthens the probability that wholesome potatoes will be abundant and cheap throughout the year." Mr. Tuite, of Sonna, writes to the Evening Mail— "The produce is not only sound and abundant, but also farinaceous, whole- some, and well-flavoured. For miles around me, I hear only the one ex- pression of grateful acknowledgment, God be praised for the same ; the po- tatoes are restored to us in real earnest: " In Scotland, of course, the harvest has not begun so soon as in South Britain. About Edinburgh crops have been much laid by heavy rain. Around Glasgow they look well, but have not yet changed colour. In East Lothian, " the oats are very short in the straw, and none of the crops are bulky ; but it is thought that the yield will be good, and the quality fine, provided the weather continues favourable." Potatoes are healthy ; turnips, notwithstanding the depredations of "the worm," will be " a good crop." In the neighbourhood of Aberdeen the crops are almost everywhere looking well.

A Huntingdonshire miller, who gives us the guarantee of his name and address, has sent us a letter in reply to that which we lately printed by a " Country Miller from Boyhood." Our present correspondent writes in the moderate and well-weighed tone of a trustworthy man, of knowledge and judgment. He has used the patent five years, in the same mill, as we understand his letter, with stones still managed on the old plan. In point of speed, his stones, on the new plan, grind "nearly double the quantity they ground on the old plan." In point of quality of workmanship, they enable him to turn out a sack of flour " superior in strength and colour to one made from the same lot of wheat ground on the old system." While, there- fore, declaring that he is not prepared to go the length which some articles already published have done,—thinking, in fact, that those articles have discredited the invention by attributing to it qualities and power which it does not possess,—he thinks the invention a really useful and valuable one. He has sent us samples of bran, the result of grinding by the two- systems. That made by the new mode is almost the finest English bran. we ever saw; resembling scales of gold, for breadth and brightness. The other is strikingly inferior to it both in grinding and dressing. Yet the character of our correspondent assures us that the two specimens had fair play, and even skill and care, in the production of them. He mentions the name of a miller at Banbury, in Oxfordshire, who has been to inspect his works ; and he states that his friend was surprised at the colour of his flour and the breadth of his bran. In conclusion, he observes—" There are certain alterations to be made in the works and dress of millstones, to make it [the new plan] do its work to the best advantage ; but they are nothing more than any practical miller will readily perceive and adopt."