Five to one on the duck-though the odds are against her; or, for the sake of a bet with you, gentle reader, five to one against the duck. Don't bet? nonsense! Why, it is well known that, previous to the Derby, not only you, but members of the Royal Family, the clergy, in fact, of every profession and sect, laid their heads on the pillow and we trast soundly slept regardless whether bets went with the stakes or the first past the post. Then, what is life but a game of chance, like that of the ducks in our plate, where every leaf, like evergreen beaux, is trying to excel the ether in freshness, flower with flower, as beauties strive, while each ear of wheat is racing to be above and greater than the rest, and scarlet runners to get to the "top of the stick "first? All the world's a course, the men and women merely "platers," and each man in his time runs many races (uphill and down), wherein some are so badly trained, or backed, or get so badly off at starting that they are out of the race with those who make the most "noise" before they reach the brow of the hill, though some occasionally creep to the front and distance all competitors; while others get off with a clear lead but cannot hold it. Some run on the wrong side of a post, some hugging the rails get forced over them, and some ONE. bolt; others are attacked with megrims, break down, or are savaged by ill-tempered brutes, and so put out of their stride, crossed and jostled, or ran into by the impetuous trying to get through the ruck which brings a lot to grief. Then, when nearing home, rounding Tattenham Corner into the straight, hope forsakes some, though going well, and they collapse, while others struggle gamely on though they have but the shadow of a chance, as there are really only two in the race, and as the one who has been cutting out all the work increases his lead, the air is rent by the shouts of thousands, "Gladdy wins! Gladdy in a canter!" But when within a few lengths of the judge's chair something ruffles his temper, and he swerves right across the course, and in a moment his defeat is proclaimed by a book maker with a shriek-"Dizzy, by Jove!" Then, like everything else, such is the uncertainty of popularity, those who cheered on Gladdy now hurrahı Dizzy. But to our bet, reader-the duck and green peas, which we know when it does come off you are more than a match for, if not for that wicked little duck, in a sweet, darling, duck of a bonnet, we saw you sharing a Hansom with on the Derby day, and who called you Ducky." 66 ther, with plenty of hot sunshine, would' do much to ret ieve the mischief, but it is unreasonable to suppose that the wheat crop can possibly be as good as it promised to be a month ago. One highly im, portant change has recently occurred with which the farmer is powerless to deal—at least in a direct manner-namely, the presence of red rust. A great proportion of the yellow discolouration.now to be observed on the wheat braird is the early stage of #trichobasis rubigo-vera, or red rust, which, in due time, will most of it develop into another stage, in which it appears as dark-brown or black streaks on the straw and leaves, being then known as -puccinea graminis, or corn-mildew. It is worthy of notice that this fungus his steadily increased in Australia during the last ten or twelve years, and on the continent of America it causes considerable damage, a report from Tennessee 'dated May 22 - stating that its appearance there this season is cusing some apprehension. The Royal Agricultural Society of the Colony of Victoria has organised a committee to inquire into the cause and nature of this farmers' pest, and accordingly a number of circulars were issued and returned by the colonists, but they are no wiser than they were before as to its cause and its nature, neither the committee nor the farmers appearing to understand with what they have to deal. Without giving a botanical description of this fungus we may mention for the benefit of - such of our readers as may not have devoted any particular attention to the subject, that this red rust is but a form of corn mildew, which is not Correctly termed a mildew-but that does not affect our subject. The fungus is dimorphous, that is, it presents distinct forms at two independent stages of its growth. Its first form is the yellow streaks and blotches on the leaves-and-stem-chiefly < on the leaves, and these deepen in colour as the spores ripen and burst through the outer skin of the plant. These spores are one-celled, and the fungus which is thus perfected so far as this single stage is concerned is trichobasis rubigo-vera, or red rust. But these one-celled-spores, germinating on the same or on adjacent host plants, produce the dark-coloured streaks and blotches on the straw and leaves, especially the straw which when ripe, burst in the same manner, their spores being two-celled. This is the second stage of growth, and is called puccinea graminis, or corn mildew. It is quite possible it may be one day found that the red rust is not the first stage of this fungus; for De Bary succeeded in producing the cluster-cup fungus of the berberry, acidium berberidis, from the resting spores of corn mildew. This would be of importance to agriculture, as it would probably facilitate means by which the evil could be combated. As it is, however, we know that this identical parasite attacks many of the grasses, and that nearly allied species-some of them occupying several host plants-may be found on nearly every wild plant in our fields, hedgerows, roadsides, and ditches. There can be little doubt that, as in the case of ergat, the fungi infesting our cultivated plants are nursed and perpetuated on wild plants of the same natural order, and sometimes on plants of a totally different order; and our object in thus calling attention to the prevalence of rust this season-if-cur readers will take the trouble to examine the wild grasses in their ditches and hedgerows they can judge for themselves-is to urge the necessity of clearing out these ditches and hedgerow bottoms during the early summer, and again before autumn. We feel tolerably sure that this course is about the only one, combined with effective drainage, which the farmer can pursue with any chance of practical success against parasitical fungi. No doubt such a plan as that we have suggested, if vigorously carried out, would meet with very considerable opposition amongst keepers and game-preservers, especially those middle men who rent shootings. But nests can be cut round without being destroyed; at all events the object in view is of far greater consequence than and whilst we would do all in our power to preserve the partridges we would not hesitate to destroy or check the ground game in this or any other way. Not only would the close trimming of hedgerow bottoms, ditches, and all waste places at this season, and again later on, serve the purpose for which we especially advise it, but it would at the same time greatly check insects, weeds, and vermin. game, It may be well to bear in mind that no check can be given to rust by pickling the seed, as in the case of the nearly allied fungus, bunt (tilletia caries), which attacks the grain itself, and its spores are disseminated amongst the corn by the thrashing machine, and in other ways. The spores of rust germinate on the flag, or leaf, and on the stem or straw of the plant, and although in Australia they also affect the chaff-scales of the ear itself, they do not affect the grain directly; but by debilitating the host-plant they indirectly affect the grain to a very serious extent. As in the case of the potato disease fungus (peronospora infesans), the greater the luxuriance of the host-plant the greater scope there is afforded for the ravages of the fungus, and it cannot be too carefully borne in mind that, so far as our present knowledge of the rust fungus will warrant our speaking, there can be no remedy looked for in respect of pickling the seed, or in any form of management of the wheat crop itself, although it is worth mentioning the fungus may be combated-it has to do with that Mr. Clark, F.L.S., has suggested that the the effect, not the cause. We can only advise the softer-stemmed wheats are most liable to its attacks. indirect course of action to which attention has This has been proved to be correct, and the sug- already been called, with the hope that greater gestion is valuable so far as it goes; but it does light will be thrown on the subject hereafter. not, in itself, point to any practical way in which AGRICULTURE The condition of the agriculturists of Bavaria, pourtrayed by Mr. Cope in one of the latest publications of the Foreign Office, presents a striking analogy with the experiences felt in our own rural districts, whilst a study of the results may be productive of advantage and encouragement at the present time. In Bavaria it appears that a very large proportion, fully sixty-five per cent., of the population are engaged in agriculture, the tending of cattle, &c.; and the great variety of agricultural products makes so many demands on the weather that there cannot well be a year in which all crops succeed alike. The year 1875, except in so far that it was a good hop year, was an unfavourable one for agriculture. The scarcity of workmen had reached its culminating point, so that the proper complement of workmen for the harvest was not even to be obtained for high wages. The general rise in wages was a serious thing for the farmer, for the having to pay more to his farm-servants and day-labourers was not the worst part of it; he had also to pay for all utensils and their repairs at a much higher rate. Smiths, wheelwrights, harness-makers, rope makers, masons, carpenters and joiners, in fact, all the people he was obliged to go to for indispensable work, greatly advanced their prices. The farmer could not turn the tables on them and raise his prices for corn, cattle, &c., owing to the competition of distant markets, and the low freight charged on through goods by the railways bringing corn from the east of Europe, the improvements in the the transport of meat being, at the same time, not without its effect in preventing him from running up the prices of fattened stock. The General Committee of the Bavarian Agri- | cultural Society in their Report for 1875 take an exceedingly sensible view, and are not in any way carried away by the labour-question panic. They say that they consider that the scarcity of and difficulty of getting workmen has reached its highest point, and that matters will doubtless get into their proper order again in time, and they appear from subsequent favourable reports to have been justified in their supposition. The financial condition of the farmers was far from satisfactory, for many were obliged to dip into their capital to meet their current expenses. From some parts of the kingdom there were reports of the splitting up of landed estates. This was no doubt owing in a great measure to the increased rate of wages and difficulty of obtaining workmen, the farmer who suffers most from this being he who has too much land for himself and sons to work, and not enough land for it to answer his purpose to supplement labour by machinery, or capital enough to tide over hard times by working his land for a season without profit from it. The land of such a man, if a proprietor, is at such times nearly sure to come, wholly or part of it, into the market. A proof of the hard times the farmers were passing through in 1875 was the circumstance that the artificial manure factories did a very bad trade. In the following year affairs had taken a favourable turn. There was no Rinderpest, though its existence in other countries, and the precautionary regulations that it gave rise to, were felt by the cattle breeders of Bavaria. The visit of the phylloxera, which was much dreaded by the winegrowers of the Palatinate, happily did not take place, and Bavaria was free from this plague, but has not been so lucky in escaping the "Kleeseide" (dodder), which did a great deal of damage in many places to the crops of clover, lucerne, &c. The Agricultural Society desires that the non-destruction of this weed should be made punishable by law, as it is propagated entirely through the carelessness of the small farmers, who let it grow, and its seed get mixed with the clover seed. The Agricultural Society calls attention to the fact that it is easy for the farmers to escape this plague by growing their own clover seed for a few years, and taking care that there be no "Klee seide" in the patch of ground they reserve for this purpose. As to the financial condition of the farmers, reports were sent to the Bavarian Agricultural Society from all the provinces that this was in a favourable state. Credit seemed good, and as capitalists had burned their fingers lately in bubble, loans and speculations, and were looking about for - safe investments at a less inflated rate of interest, those proprietors and yeomen whose land was free from debt found they could get money on mortgage on tolerably easy terms. Forced sales by auction seemed to be on the decrease, and to have been in general few and far between throughout all the eight provinces in the year 1876, an increase in these being reported only from four districts of Lower Franconia, though throughout the rest of that province there was a decrease. It is well known that hops form a very important crop in Bavaria, especially in Middle Franconia, in which province in the years 1875 and 1876 there were so many as 23,239 acres cutivated as hop-gardens. In an article by Dr. E. Pott, in the monthly publication of the Bavarian Agricultural Society for the month of July last, it was stated that up to 1875 there were in the whole world about 245,000 acres under hops, which in an average harvest yielded 1,309,000 cwts.; that of this number 93,637 acres were in Germany, with an average harvest of 477,111 cwt., and of these 43,751 acres were in Bavaria, with an average harvest of 212,556 cwts. It is calculated that on an average of the last ten years Bavaria required, for her own breweries, 80,000 cwts. of hops, so that, except in such years as there is a very poor harvest, hops form a large item of export; and taking a low average and the round number of 100,000 cwts. as the surplus for exportation, this would give the sum of £830,000 as the value of the exported hops. It is remarkable that although Middle Franconia is the great hop-growing province of Bavaria, it is beaten in productiveness per acre in this crop by four other provinces-viz., the Palatinate, Upper Bavaria, Suabia, and Lower Bavaria. Probably in consequence of the very large acreage in Middle Franconia under hop cultivation, there is a good deal of land used for this plant which may not be exactly the best hop ground, whereas in the other provinces only that which is very suitable for hops is brought under that crop. Before closing this notice of Bavarian agriculture Mr. Cope remarks that the disposal of the sewage of towns has occupied the attention of the Bavarian Agricultural Society in its late meetings, and has been a subject of a good deal of correspondence in its monthly publication. The municipal authorities of large towns have shown an inclination of late to get rid of sewage by turning it into rivers, and this has happily been protested against by two parties, firstly, by the agriculturists and landowners, who exclaim against such a waste of good manure; and secondly, by the medica! profession, who protest against the fouling of the streams from a sanitary point of view, and refer to the mistakes made with regard to the Thames. The difficulty is to find a means of transporting sewage at so cheap a rate as to put it in the farmer's power to bring it into use on his land at a proportionately cheaper price than the purchase and haulage of guano and artificial manures. With the present system in vogue, that of removing sewage in air-tight casks, there is a tendency to pour sewage on the lauds near towns, whether actually much required or not, whilst lands at some distance do not get their proper share of it, owing to the haulage. The expense of arranging a sewage irrigation system in the neighbourhood of Munich, and the severity and duration of the frosts, have caused any attempt on that system to be condemned; but an experiment is made of railway transport for the sewage, and hopes are expressed that it may be attended with success, and that useful matter may be cheaply deposited in the right place. A project for transporting sewage by rail, however, will seem strange, and not very promising, to English readers. THE IMPORTATION OF LIVE STOCK. The decrease in the export cattle trade of France with Great Britain has been cited as an instance of the effect of restrictive measures-of slaughter at the ports of landing--by the Marquis of Ripon, who quoted facts and figures supplied by the Duke of "Richmond to the House of Lords last year. Thus, "During the six years ending 1869 this country imported from France 112,618 cattle; but in 1870 France was placed in the scheduled countries, which meant that all animals coming from France had to be slaughtered at the port of debarkation or undergo a quarantine; and those restrictions were so stringent that the in seven years following 1869 the number imported was only 24,095, showing a very great distinction between the two periods." Now, it will scarcely be necessary to call the attention of any ordinary reader to the difference between the six years preceding 1869 and the seven years following 1869 as affecting the cattle export trade of France. The war, and the Cattle Plague visitations following the war, in 1870-1-2, when there was an estimated loss of over 100,000 |