ENGLISH AGRICULTURE.

Press, Volume LI, Issue 8929, 20 October 1894, Page 7

ENGLISH AGRICULTURE.

■ .;■ i»' ■— ■ - The Times of September 3rd deals at considerable length with the crop prospects ia England and Wales. The following extract will be of interest to oar readers: — The completion ot the cereal year 1893-94 renders, it possible to make a comparison between the quantity of wheat, estimated to be grown in England and Wales and the quantity returned as .sold at the statutory markets. . . . The total quantities of native wheat, barley, and oats returned as sold in the 195 statutory markets of Bagland and Wales duriug the period of fiftytwo weeks which ended on the last Saturday of August are set forth in the subjoined table. The first column ot figures gives the officially estimated product of cereals in England and Wales for the harvest of 1i393, and in the last column we have calculated the percentage proportion of the quantities returned as sold compared witii the quantities estimated to be grown:— Cereal Year 1893-9*.—England and ■ . ,: Walks. ■ - . . ■ .. Percentage of Produce. Sales.' Produce re- . r w J-nrned as sold. Sγ!™" Qr7~~ < Wheat .. 5J954.302 2,18,\669 , 36.7 . Barley .. 6,*7iM60 2.877.551 4i;4 Oats .. 612,030 0.9 It is seen that a fraction over one third of the wheat produced, nearly one-half of the the barley produced, but only l-14th of the oats produced in England and Wales are, apparently, accounted for in the quantities returned as sold. If we go back to the preceding year, when considerably larger quantities were grown, we do not find very much difference in' the proportions sold in the cases of wheat and barley. The following are the details :— " Jj s~, CttRBAX. Yjeab. 1832-93.—England and • ■ .;. Wales. ~ _' .. . .._ , Paroentaife of — Produce. Sales. „ Produce Re- ■•■■'.- turned «s Sold. Wheat .. i.OoiM '2,67tM8i 37.9 Barley .. 7.&>7,733r 3,375.035 43.0 Oats .. 10,155.418 647.419 5.4 These figures cannot leave, any doubt that by far the greater proportion of the oats grown ia England and Wales are consumed upon the farms. With regard to wheat and barley, although all the important* corn markets are embraced in .the. returne, more than one-half of the home-grown barley and nearly two-thirds of the home-grown wheat, nevertheless, remain unaccounted for. The deficiency would be partly met by the sales effected in unscheduled . markets, by the sales which are made outside the markets altogether, and, possibly,-by the quantities retained as seed. But the fact, remains that our official average prices are based upon the reported sales of much less than one-half of the wheat and bajrley grown, though the quantities which are sold are doubtless of superior quality to the bulk not returned as sold. Iα other words, the annual average pricea per quarter would probably be even lower than they are if the whole of the wheat and barley grown in England and Wales could be valued en the same basis—price for quality—a» that minor pro* portion of each crop .which is officially returned as void. It is not at all improbable -that, in view of the present and prospective prices of wheat, the quantities retained for stock-feeding purposes at home will continue to increase, in which case the proportion sold—equivalent, as we have sees, to 36*7 per cent, in the cereal year just closedmust dwindle still further. There ia nothing obeering in. the circumstance that the cereal year 1895-9* olosed with the lowest average price oa record for English wheat, which was returned as 24« Id per quarter in the week which ended with the last Saturday in August. This makes the range in the fluctuations of the weekly average pricee ot native wheat for the cereal year extend to 3s 9d per quarter, the hiehesfc weekly average price having bean 27s 10d in the fust week ot October.