the harvest is represented to me as being
glorious; while in the west, there has not been a better crop of every
thing for many years. The accounts from Northumberland, from two or
three of my friends who farm there extensively, confirm the preceding
statements, in regard to the bulk and general yield of the corn crop.

I may also mention, that the samples of wheat, and oats, and barley,
presented at the Highland and Agricultural Society's Show at Dumfries,
along with the grain in the straw, were really admirable.

With all these attestations from so many parts of the country, that
are known to be good corn districts, I cannot doubt that the crop is a
good one on good soils."

* * * * *

So much for the quantity, which, after all, is the main consideration.
The above account certainly gives no indications of famine, or even
scarcity. It contains the general character of the weight of the
harvest in the principal corn-growing districts of Scotland, and we
have no reason whatever to suppose that worse fortune has attended the
results of the husbandry in England. The next consideration is the

QUALITY OF THE CROP

"Not the entire crop, but most of it, is inferior in quality to that
of last year. The barley and oats are both plump and heavy, but there
is a slight roughness about them; and yet the weights in some cases of
both are extraordinary. Potato oats were shown at Dumfries 48lb per
bushel--3lb above the ordinary weight. Barley has been presented in
the Edinburgh market every week as heavy as 56lb per quarter--about
3lb more than the ordinary weight. All the samples of wheat I have
seen in Leith in the hands of an eminent corn-merchant, weighed from
60lb to 63lb per bushel, and it has been as high as 66lb in the
Edinburgh market. I also saw samples of Essex wheat above 60lb, as
well as good wheat from Lincolnshire.

Now such weights could not be indicated by grain at the end of a wet
harvest, unless it were of good quality.

The quality is much diversified, especially in wheat; some of it not
weighing above 48lb per bushel. The winnowings from all the grains
will be proportionally large; although, in the case of barley and
oats, had every pickle attained maturity, the crop would probably have
exceeded the extraordinary one of 1815. But though heavy winnowings
entail decided loss to the farmer, yet human beings will not be the
greatest sufferers by them; the loss will chiefly f