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It is very remarkable that none of these assumptions have been verified -on the contrary, they have all been contradicted by the events of a bare seven years. And yet when we survey the enormous mass of documents, both private and official, from which the deductions were collected, and how perfectly the conclusions were drawn from the premises, the astonishment is that such extensive and carefully collated evidence should be so entirely brought to nought.

Mr. Jacob, however, was not satisfied with thus strongly pointing out the danger under which the country stood. He entered into a calculation, and he gave the whole process with the utmost fairness, to show that in 1816 the stock in hand in England was upwards of six millions of quarters of wheat. He computed the quantities of every succeeding harvest, deducting for seed and increased population; and in 1828, he concluded not only that the whole of the stock of six millions of quarters had been exhausted, but that, going back to 1823, even with the Irish and colonial supplies and an average annual importation of 300,000 quarters of foreign wheat, the country had consumed in the five years about seven millions of quarters more than it had produced. Had this approached the truth, it is difficult to discover how England could have escaped positive famine ! !

We need scarcely remark that the last two years have shown the entire fallaciousness of these computations, for there has been no quantity of foreign corn important enough to affect the consumption brought upon the English market. We have been fed by the Irish, the colonial, and the home growth. The supply has always more than met the demand, and the price has fallen some shillings below forty-eight. The price of wheat in the northern ports is at this moment little more than half forty-eight. The refutation of all Mr. Jacob's inferences is complete; and the reasonings founded by Mr. Maculloch and other writers upon these the most copious and authentic materials, of course fall to the ground. Yet it is on them our later legislation has been constructed!

It is thus seen how little confidence can be placed upon the most uprightly conducted, and the widest researches. Common prudence then warns us to implore indulgence in regard to the speculations we are about to hazard.

The coming and proximate prospects of the farmer must in a great degree depend upon the crop; harvest is much, three weeks at least, before the general period; and if the representations of persons employed all over the country in making reports are to be relied upon, it will be abundant. The wheats are, even upon the light soils, heavy in the ear and great in bulk. Late as they came, the fine showers which have fallen, partially as to time but generally on the whole, during the last ten days (July 21), will plump the grain and give it additional weight. In a word, everything up to the present moment indicates at least an average and perhaps a more than average production. If this be so, couple the fact with the results of the last two years, and it will be manifest the farmer has no chance of any elevation of price; on the contrary, the early period at which the new samples will come into the market, and the almost certainty of a more than adequate supply for the year, backed by the grain in granary, will probably drive it down to the very lowest. The distress will rather be increased than lessened, especially since from neither of the sources promised by ministers-the commutation of tithes, which cannot pass this session, and the Poor Laws Amendment Bill-it is to be feared will there be any the least relief. The old alleviations, abatements and returns of rent, and in some cases of tithes, will be granted by good landlords and clergymen; and with these the farmer must be satisfied to drag on another year-no very cheering alternative. Here ends for the present our political exposition. Turn we to that which is strictly agricultural. The deficiency of the hay crop, greater perhaps than was ever before known in the light land districts, will, it is hoped, be compensated in some

degree by a large turnip 'year. Even during the severity of the drought upon the driest soils the plant has come up well and escaped the fly, and there can be no doubt that the rains which have already penetrated to a good depth will be in the highest degree beneficial. In some places children have been employed to take up the plants infected and to destroy the wire-worm, which is found by the sickly appearance of the leaves. The potatoes, which have hitherto been very backward, will be saved by the same bounteous agency. The barley will be short, but not so materially as was at one time to be apprehended, and the quality is certainly better, the skin finer and more transparent. The demand for manufactures still continuing, and indeed a new prospect of regaining the Portuguese and Spanish trades having opened through the late changes in those kingdoms, wools continue high and in full demand.

At the great Suffolk and Norfolk fairs held at Ipswich and Thetford, the prices asked in the room by the growers were generally rejected, but a good deal of business was done out of doors at from 42s. to 46s. for ewe, and from 56s. to 628. for Hogget wool. Mr. Coke obtained 50s. and 64s. for his fleeces. Farmers have held off buying their full proportion of lambs from the scarcity of feed, and the price is moderate, being from 18s. to 21s.; but as soon as the fields get cleared it will probably advance.

An experiment of much importance has been prosecuted on the estate of W. E. L. Bulwer, Esq., of Heyden, in Norfolk. Mr. Hickling, one of his tenants, remarked amongst his crop three ears of wheat of an extraordinary formation. The kernels appeared to be much closer set and much more numerous than in the common wheats, the stalks stiff as reeds. He saved and sowed them in 1830. They produced three pints. In 1831 the three pints produced three pecks. In 1832 the three pecks produced thirty-six bushels. These were planted, and are now growing upon eighteen acres of land of inferior quality, and so rich is the crop that the most respectable judges have made many bets concerning the quantity. They vary in their estimate from twelve to fifteen cones per acre. But all gree that the crop will greatly exceed the average, probably nearly doubling that of such land. Mr. Richardson, of Heyden, to whom the public is indebted for a very excellent and practical treatise on the effects of the poor laws, has purchased the crop at a price somewhat exceeding eighty shillings a quarter, in order to ensure seed to the rest of Mr. Bulwer's tenantry and the neighbourhood. The crop has created great curiosity amongst the best judges in Norfolk; and if, as is averred, it does not degenerate, it is a most important discovery to the kingdom at large. We have inspected samples, and they fully bear out what has been stated above.

RURAL ECONOMY.

Ornamental Forest Trees.-The Birch.-Few trees are more graceful in their general appearance than the common birch (Betula alba). Its shining silvery bark, its delicate and slightly fragrant leaves, and its taper branches give it claims to rank among the most elegant productions of the vegetable kingdom. It grows rapidly in favourable situations; and it is so hardy that it is found on mountains in a higher elevation than any other vegetable product. There are nearly twenty different species of birch trees, besides several varieties. They vary very much in size and appearance; some of the American species being from sixty to seventy feet high, while some of dwarf kinds seldom exceed three or four feet. The smallest is Betula nana, a native of Scotland. Some kinds are distinguished by the colour of their bárk, as B. alba, B. rubra, B. lutea, and B. nigra, and one B. papyracea, or the paper birch, by the remarkable paper-like appearance which its outer

bark assumes. The most beautiful wood is produced by the B. lenta. This tree, which is sometimes called the mahogany birch, grows rapidly in valleys, and its leaves, which are very fragrant, when dried, make excellent tea. B. pendula, or the weeping birch, is, however, the most beautiful of the genus. There is a particularly fine variety of this species in the Knapshill nursery, near Bagshot, which has large shining leaves, and forms a most graceful tree.

The Willow.-There are nearly two hundred different kinds of willow; the greater part of which are to be found in the Salicetum, at Woburn Abbey, Bedfordshire. There are also extensive collections in Mr. Donald's Arboritum, Goldworth Nursery, near Woking, and in the Oxford Botanic Garden. Though there are so many species of this tree, there are very few that could be distinguished as such by any but a practised eye, and consequently there are not many that are generally desirable for plantations. The swampy situations which are most congenial to them are also unsuitable for pleasure grounds; so that an extensive collection is rather an object of curiosity than one of general interest. The most distinct sorts are the weeping willow (Salix Babylonica); Napoleon's weeping willow from St. Helena, which some gardeners make a distinct species, and a fine specimen of which may be seen at the Surrey Zoological Gardens; and the Salix annularis, or ring-leaved willow, the narrow leaves of which curl round in rings. This species is more singular than beautiful. Of the other kinds the silvery (S. argentea), the white-leaved (S. bucophylla), the hoary-branched (S. hirta), the yellow-branched (S. vitellina), and the golden-flowered (S. chrysanthos), are among the most remarkable. Some are very low, particularly S. arbutifolia, S. herbacea, and S. retusa, which grow close to the ground. The weeping willow is generally planted near ponds, or on the banks of rivers, but it is also classed among what the Germans call mourning-trees, and which are proper to plant near monuments or mausoleums.

Gout in Wheat.-The disease which has been thus termed has appeared this season more generally than heretofore, supposed to have been encouraged by the extreme mildness of the winter. This prevalence induced J. B. Edmunds, Esq., of Wolveton, near Dorset, to transplant a few roots, containing the chrysalis, in a pan, securing them by a gauze covering. The result has answered the expectations, and flies have been produced which in Autumn deposit their larvæ in the crown of the plant, producing the magots which cause the disease. We have seen the plants with the flies on them, and are assured that the many farmers who have suffered from the disease will consider this experiment to ascertain its cause satisfactory.

The Mole Cricket.-Within the last two months, that formidable insect, commonly called the mole cricket, has been found in considerable numbers in the neighbourhood of the Brass Mills, in the parish of Weston, near this city. This animal varies in length from one inch to three inches and a half. Its head is defended by a shell-like substance; underneath which protrude two claws, which are furnished with teeth, admirably fitting the creature for the devastating ravages which it is known to commit upon certain vegetables. It is also supplied with wings; and is astonishingly active in its movements. So destructive is it, that, in the gardens where it is found, whole patches of potatoes, and of various other esculents, have been partially devoured. In the potato grounds, where it has been more particularly observed, it has been found to commence its operations by burrowing under the earth several yards in a zig-zag direction, and destroying every vegetable substance in its progress. It would appear that having sated its appetite, it then descends perpendicularly to a depth of from two to three feet in the soil, where it remains in a dormant state, probably till hunger again calls it forth to renew its work of spoliation. These destructive insects located themselves in some of the fields adjoining the above situation,

about three years since, where they remained during the summer months, and then suddenly disappeared. It would, no doubt, be gratifying as well as useful, if any of our intelligent readers would furnish a more minute description of this insect, together with the most successful method of ridding the soil of so desolating a visitant. Since writing the above, we have ascertained that several nests of these insects have been discovered during the last few days. The formation of these receptacles is truly curious. The animal works out an oval space in the soil, several inches in diameter, over which it constructs a conical roof, and beneath which it deposits thousands of its eggs, which are of a light brown colour. The mole cricket is thus briefly described in the "Encyclopædia Britannica," article, ENTOMOLOGY:- The wings furnished with a projection like the tail, and longer than the elytra; the fore-feet formed like hands, and downy. A native of Europe. This troublesome little animal frequents gardens and cultivated grounds, both of Europe and America, where it burrows below the ground, and is very destructive, eating and destroying the roots of plants. Body, dark brown, hairy; antennæ shorter than the body.”—Bath Gazette.

USEFUL ARTS.

New Locomotive Machine.-Mr. Akrill, a very ingenious mechanic of Boston, has discovered a mode by which a person may easily propel himself on common roads, at a speed of from eight to ten miles per hour, without any expenditure in material, save the cost of the carriage! The construction of the vehicle is remarkably light; the body is on four wheels, and the impetus is effected by the pressure of the feet upon some concealed machinery, the nature of which the proprietor keeps a secret, though he willingly shows the carriage to every one except professed mechanics. At an elevation of about four feet the conductor sits, and he is enabled to guide it with the utmost accuracy, to suspend the motion in an instant, to turn to the right or left, or to give it a backward progress. Besides the mechanical power, however, the inventor has called the winds to his aid, for should the traveller be favoured with propitious gales, he can, by the introduction of a common umbrella in front, avail himself of an additional accelerator, the lightness of the vehicle and the elevation of the conductor rendering the least breeze sufficient to give the carriage an onward progress. Important as the invention is, on its own account, however, it is doubly so because it contains a principle which the projector declares will nearly abolish the friction which has ever been so great a drawback to the powers of the mighty steam-engine, and the removal of which will increase the powers and diminish the cost of those engines to an almost incredible extent.-Lincolnshire Chronicle.

A new locomotive engine, from the foundry of Messrs. Geo. Forrest and Co., Vauxhall-road, Liverpool, has been tried on the railway. It made the journey from Liverpool to Manchester in 67 minutes, and brought back the first class train in 77 minutes! This powerful and rapid engine is intended for the Dublin and Kingstown railway.

Tinned Lead Pipes.-Mr. Ewbank, of New York, has invented a method of tinning lead pipes, " after they have been drawn to the proper size." This is ingeniously accomplished by drawing the lead tubes (properly prepared with rosin on their surfaces) through a bath of melted tin, kept at such a temperature as to avoid the fusion of the lead. We have seen some of these tubes, and their appearance promises a perfect protection to the lead.-American Journal of Science.

NEW PATENTS.

To George Bather, late of the Haymarket, Westminster, scale-maker, for his invention of a weighing-machine upon a new construction.

To Thomas Edmonds, of Burton-street, Hanover-square, Middlesex, for his invention of a certain process or method of manipulation and treatment for the preparation of leather, whereby it becomes less pervious to water, and preserves its pliability better during use than does leather prepared by the ordinary

means..

To Joseph Morgan of Manchester, for his invention of certain improvements in the apparatus used in the manufacture of mould candles.

To Charles Louis Stanislas Baron Heurteloup, Holles-street, Cavendish-square, Middlesex, for his invention of improvements in certain parts of certain descriptions of fire-arms.

To Andrew Smith, of Princes-street, Leicester-square, Middlesex, machinist and engineer, for his invention of a new and improved method of preparing phormium tenax, hemp, flax, and other fibrous substances, and rendering the same fit for hackling in the manufacture of linen, and for spinning in the manufacture of ropes, cordage, lines, and twines.

To Luke Smith of Manchester, cotton-manufacturer, and John Hepwood, machinemaker, for certain improvements in weaving machinery.

To Philip Augustus de Chapeaurouge, of Fenchurch-street, London, Gentleman, for a machine, engine, or apparatus for producing motive power, which he denominates a selfacting motive power, and called in France, by the inventor, voland moteur perpetuel, being a communication from a foreigner residing abroad.

To Stephen Hawkins, of Milton House, near Portsmouth, Hants, Gentleman, for his invention of certain improvements in warming-pans, or apparatus for warming beds and other purposes.

To John George Bodmer, of Bolton-le-moors, civil engineer, for his invention of certain improvements in steam-engines and boilers, applicable both to fixed and locomotive engines.

To John George Bodmer, of Bolton, Lancashire, civil engineer, for his invention of certain improvements in the construction of grates, stoves, and furnaces, applicable to steam engines, and many useful purposes.

To William Crofts, of New Radford, Nottinghamshire, for the invention of certain improvements in certain machinery for making lace.

To William Henry Hornby, of Blackheath, Lancashire, cotton-spinner and merchant, and William Kenworthy, of Blackburn, for their invention of certain improvements in powerlooms to be used in the weaving of cotton, linen, woollen, and other cloths.

To John Chester Lyman, of Golden-square, Middlesex, Gentleman, for certain improvements in hulling, cleansing, and polishing rice, bearding or peeling barley, and hulling and

cleansing coffee, being a communication from a foreigner residing abroad.

To John Bertie, of Basford, Nottinghamshire machinist, and James Gibbons of Radford, in' the same county, machinist, for their invention of an improved texture of lace-net, hitherto called bobbin-net, and also certain improvements in lace-machinery, to produce lace-net with the same improved texture, either plain or ornamental.

To George Saint Seger Grenfell, of Paris, in. the kingdom of France, merchant, at present residing at Cadogan-place, Sloane-street, Middlesex, for certain improvements in the construction of saddles; being a communication from a foreigner residing abroad.

To Edward Keele, of Titchfield, in the county of Southampton, brewer, for his invention of an improved valve and apparatus for close fermenting and cleansing porter, beer, ale, wine, spirits, cider, and all other saceharine and fermentable fluids.

To Thomas Ridgway Bridson, of Bolton, Lancashire, bleacher, for certain improvements in machinery or apparatus to be used in the operation of drying cotton, linen, and other similar manufactured goods; being a communication from a foreigner residing abroad.

To James Whitaker, of Wardle, near Rochdale, Lancashire, flannel maaufacturer, for his invention of certain improvements in engines used for carding wool.

To Mathew Bush, of Dalmonarch Printfield, near Bonhill, by Dumbarton, North Britain, calico-printer, for his invention of certain improvements in machinery or apparatus for drying and printing calicoes and other fabrics.

To James Lee Hannah, of Brighton, Sussex, doctor of medicine, for his invention of a certain improvement or improvements in sur gical instruments for reducing the stone in the bladder, and enabling the patient to pass it through the urethra.

To Joseph Jones, of Oldham, Lancashire, cotton manufacturer, and Thomas Mellodew, of the same place, mechanic, for their invention of certain improvements in the construction of power-looms. and in the manufacture of certain kinds of corded fustian, or fabric to be woven in diagonal cords, from cotton, wool, and other fibrous materials.

To Charles Wilson, of Kelso, in the county of Roxburgh, for his invention of certain improvements applicable to the machinery used in the preparation for spinning wool, and other fibrous substances.

To William Symington, of Bromley, Middlesex, cooper, and Andrew Symington, of Falkland, in Fifeshire, Scotland, watchmaker, for their invention of a paddle-wheel of a new and useful construction, for the propulsion of vessels and other motive purposes.

To Richard Simpson, of Squthampton-row, Bloomsbury, Middlesex, Gentleman, for improvements in machinery for roving and slub. bing cotton and wool; being a communication from a foreigner residing abroad.

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