The Press. SATURDAY, FEBRUARY 13, 1893.

Press, Volume XLIX, Issue 8097, 13 February 1892, Page 4

The Press. SATURDAY, FEBRUARY 13, 1893.

In our issue of Wednesday we referred to the hazards the agriculturist has to run, as exemplified by the experiences of the present) season, to show that the lot of the farmer in New Zealand is nob altogether to be envied. There are some in New Zealand who agitate for a single tax, or in other words, that the land should bear the whole of the taxation—but the advocates of suoh an impost are only found amongst men who know nothing whatever about farming, its difficulties and hazards. Then, again, the so-called unemployed, whom we from time to time hear about and who are constantly clamouring to be put on the land little realise that if once they were there they would not be able to limit their work to a Government strike of eight hours a day, for if they did they would miserably fail at their new occupation. To be successful at farming it is necessary to work as long aa there is work to be done, and that often means from dawn to dark, aye,.and many a time and oft the work is continued as long as the light from the moon will permit; of it. But in additiou to the arduous labour which falls to the lot of the agriculturist, there are his anxieties and losses, wnioh are scarcely even realised by those who follow many other callings.

We have been impelled to make these remarks after personally inspecting a large area of wheat now in'stook in this provincial district;. There are those who tUiok that with a continuation of the present five weather the gloomy anticipations of Monday and Tuesday last will not be realised, that the grain in stook will dry, and that the damage wrought by the rain will be reduced to a minimum. But after a careful examination of a large quantity of grain, we are reluctantly compelled to realise that mucn of the Tuscan and Hunter's White wheat, which was in stook during the recent rains is more or less permanently damaged. In fields where there has been a considerable undergrowth—which, by the way, has been one of. the features of the,season —the damage. will be greater than on the lea lands, and where the ground has been comparatively clean. The velvet chaff and pearl wheats have not suffered bo badly, at any rate on those farms where the stocks have been well set up and attended to; but unfortunately these descriptions represent but a small proportion of our wheat orop. The careful farmer, as is always the case, suffers the least. His stooka have been well set up, and with a continuance of the present dry weather, damaged though it may be, his grain will in many cases be practically marketable. The extent, however, of the damage has been very variable. For instance in the Cheviot country little or no harm had been done, as no rain to speak of has fallen since Saturday last. In the Culverden district a large area of wheat was secured before the bad weather set in. Coming towards the Ashley district we find that there also a considerable quantity of the crops had been secured before the recent rains, but that left in stook has been seriously injured, whilst a few heavy crops of uncut wheat have been laid as flat as if a roller had passed over them. In the. neighbourhood of Christchurch and in the Ellesmere district a fair proportion of the crop is safely stacked, and, even much of what was in stook will not be greatly injured if further damage is escaped. But the Ashburton county has suffered severely. Not only did the rain fall very heavily there on Sunday, but it continued more or lees without intermission on Monday and Tuesday, thus aggravating the damage which the wheat in stook bad already sustained. In a few cases, luckily, some of the farmers near the hills have not finished cutting their wheat, 90 that should we be favoured with fine weather henceforth the crops in these cases will be saved. - From South Canterbury.the reports are simply heartbreaking. We. have been shown samples with sprouts an inch in length, and from what we are advised, the wheat crop in that district ia praotioally ruined. The lot of the farmers there ii indeed pitiable, as they will, in a very large number of cases, lose the whole of the reward they anticipated for the year's labours. Fortunately oats have Buffered only slightly, as it takes an immena* amount of wet to seriously injure that crop when properly etooked. Barley, again, was, mostly in stack before the weather broke, but what was left out must have been badly discoloured, and cannot therefore be fit lor making prime malt. Having dwelt at some length on the condition of the crops in the Canterbury district, it may be interesting to touch upon the future proepecU of the grain market. It will be noted that our cable news have advued us that there sore 2,908,000 quarters of wheat and flour afloat for the United Kingdom, and 1,156,000 quarters for the Ooßtiwent, whilst toe estimated visible supply of American wheat was pub down a* 66,600,000 bushels. From these figures it would appea> that Europe is still ft long way off from a* wheat famine. From India we have advices that shipments of the old crop are praotl«ally,cver, end that all ,that is ia weeviled and so unfit for shipment, But the new crop,

which will be ready m MattiTS? to be a large one, and ft that there will be some twenS s ff* cwts of wheat available for exnS a say one million tons. From q T Auatralia we learn that the c?o D th J leaves them with 110,000 shipments, against which eugteio3 have already been made ffsoS? tons. In Victoria the now cSf? estimated to leave from l«>oftS * 150.000 tone for exp Or t, shipping engagements to theexteS , nearly 60,000 tons have bew a i« ? completed. But of lhab it is estimated that about 10 onn , of old wheat were still 00 gS had to be reckoned with. '

It would, therefore, aeem ffi the alarmist statements which »T freely made some mouths anT? to the probable bread Europe have beea overdW But as ye indicated days ago it is scarcely possible 1C there has beea no truth iv the Jw that supplies must be light before thl next harvests ia Europe and AmerW are ready As we write, we l earn th * private cables are to hand advi ß i ug &n improvement of 6d per quarter faTfcS English market, aud it would » O w appear to be almost certain that pre sent prices will at leaat be xnaintaLi till the fate of the next crop t Europe and America i e tamed. The spring wheats i n the United States are not sown until March, and it ia May or June before anything like a decided opinion as t« their probable yield ia made, h California, of course, they begia t 0 harvest their crop iv J UQe> SR( j althongh iv Europe it is August or even September before the wheat k fit for the reaper, yet by May or Ja aa the probabilities of the harvest are fairly well ascertained.

Oα the whole, it will bo gather**} that we are of opinion that prices ia Europe are scarcely likely to fall mmh below their present level before May or June, let the next crop be ever go promising. Oa the other baud, it i 8 quite possible that if discouraging accounts are received there may be &? advance.

There is very little to guido us a* to the future of the oat market, The duty of 10d per lOOlba imposed iv New South Wales appears to havo practioally olosed that market for, t&s time being. All the same, stocks are very low iv that colony, and if the horse feeders there want oats, they will i have to pay the duty themselves, sw our farmers will not be content to do so. In Victoria, although prices are low and the demand exceedingly dull and aluggiah, stocks are also very slender; and what is more, it is estimated that the new crop just harvested shows a falling off of from 600,000 to 700,000 bushels as compared with laas year. And were it not tor the commercial panic which now exists in that colony there is very little doubt that speculation would have come to the rescue of the market, and prioes would have ranged much higher than they do now. Ib appears, however, almost certain that Victoria, New South Wales and South Australia will have to import from Hew Zealand before the year is over. Moreover, as the area sown with oats in this proviuce during the past season has been loss than usual, the probabilities are tb&t we shall see an improvement in &a prise of this cereal before' the fak ends.

Barley, aa a rule, is an early crop, and consequently the bulk of wb|t has been growu here was stacked before the rain Bet in. But so little was sown during the past season that the crop in the provincial district of Canterbury at any rate most be the lightest tor many years past. Then again it is certain that the crop in Victoria is barely oue-h&i! what it usually is and, as stocks are very low, the brewers in Victoria, South Australia and Tasmania will cor* tainly bo looking to How Zealand to complete their requirements. Hcacd it seems almost certain that thos9 of our farmers who have been fortunate enough to secure a fine sample of malting barley will be able to cou? mand a good price for it.