At the close of the previous letter the outlook was said to be bad, on account of too early heading out of the late grain and the lack of the staples. This surmise is now confirmed. Many regions have a sandy soil, where every crop dies when it is dry, and is drowned when the rains are heavy. This year they are about right; but per contra there are numerous other districts where the soil is saline. Drought kills everything; moderate rains make a fair showing, while heavy ones bring the salt to the' surface and kill vegetation, so that there is not enough grain for taxes. If the farmers try to leach out little of the coarse, bitter salt, which is the only certain product of their farm they run foul of the salt-inspectors, gang of ruffians who in every county arrest all dealers in the contraband article, which they incidentally make a monopoly of their own. In wide regions the crops are, however, reported to be almost ideal-
of less than two months ago, when we 'y good, a great contrast to the croaking bout to starve to death, but for the timely rain of 13th July. Per contra once more, the mien-chung, or army worm, has made a tardy appearance, is vigorously attacking the late millet and corn. He if delicate in his tastes and does not ordinarily care for sorghum, beans, cotton, sweet-potatoes, or peanuts, which is fortunate. So far as can now be judged, ravages will not materially affect the markets, yet they may. There is almost no fruit for the mid-autumn festival, and what there is falls far below the usual creditable average.
Text read from the printed page and cleaned; old type leaves the occasional error.