London, July 5.
Most of June was very fine and very dry; the reservoirs falling, the farmers lamenting; and columns in the papers, about the need' for economizing in the use of water. Towards the end of June and all the beginning of July, more or less constant rain; no more talk of drought; farmers perring with pleasure; townsfolk commencing to look gloomy; holiday makers asserting that the downpour was getting a "bit overdone." Truly we are never satisfied with what we have. Yet it has been a godsend to the country. The wheat crop never looked better and, though the rain comes teo late to save the hay crop, which ie poor, it will give a superb yield of all roots. Vegetables have at last dropped to reasonable values, though. oddly enough both eggs and milk have gone up in price.
The farmer has not much whereof to complain, hig chief uneasiness being the amount of disease which seems ineradicable, both swine fever and foot-and-mouth disease still causing great uneasiness to the Ministry of Agriculture. For the Jatter, we can find no cure. We put bacteriologists on a ship off the coast to study the disease and trace its causes; they have iven the job up. Still the Royal Show at Cambridge this week was a great success, though marred by the weather. The entries were never so great nor the prizes so Thera is a steadily growing "back to the land" movement. The allotment thirst seems insatiable, though it is most noticeable among townsfolk. Small holdings are less easy to secure and they pay indifferently. Specialized farming—pigs, poultry and the like—seems more remunerative. For all farms there is great competition and the recent high prices of land have caused many landlords to take advantage of the market. Yet the "owd Squire" is disappearing; he finds life too costly, just as do the old aristocracy. The Duke of North-cumberland is trying to let Alnwick Castle, and the vig establishments are the very cheapest to lease. You can pretty well get a baronial hall for nothing if you will undertake to keep it up adequately. Keep off it! Few want to enter service in any capacity nowadays and the country is only a lure to those who want to make money out of it. Every one waits for the Jeisured person or business man with money made in town and, like vultures, they descend on him and "skin" him.
Text read from the printed page and cleaned; old type leaves the occasional error.