Although the results are not yet authentically known, the fate
of the harvest is now pretty well decided ; and, balancing the fluctuating and contradictory reports, the most probable conclu- sion is, that although the harvest will not be so abundant as the last two, or as this once promised to be, it will not be alarmingly deficient. The potato-crop is abundant ; and on the whole the quality of the root appears to be good ; but in many districts throughout Europe and America a peculiar disease has visited the flourishing plant, and spoiled a fine crop. An ingenious con- jecture imputes the disease to too much animal manure : the potato has, like all civilized creatures, (except the Irish, if they come under the term,) been diseased by over-feeding. And the worst of it is, that the diseased particles are supposed to be highly deleterious to the human constitution. No doubt, many discreet families will suspend the use of potatoes ; and the price of corn is likely to be influenced by the greater resort to bread and flour. Meanwhile, it is curious to see new ideas breaking out here and there among the agriculturalists—new at least to them, though old enough to others. Lord Stradbroke lectures the farmers of Suffolk on the benefits of leases, and on the need for intelligence and diligence in farming ; and the listeners heartily applaud. Captain Rous, also applauded, follows, with a discourse on the increase of population and the necessity of free trade in colonial produce ; which, of course, though he does not seem to have said so, should include Australian wheat. Although, therefore, there is not positively a deficient harvest, in the strongest sense of the term, there is enough of difficulty and doubt to give a new impulse to the Corn question next session.
