ENGLISH AGRICULTURAL INTELLIGENCE. [From the Leader, December 30.]

Nelson Examiner and New Zealand Chronicle, Volume XXX, Issue 75, 17 January 1872, Page 5

ENGLISH AGRICULTURAL INTELLIGENCE. [From the Leader, December 30.]

Our files of English agricultural journals to hand by the mail contain an unusually large and varied store of interesting matter. In commencing our gleanings we are struck with the remarkable similarity which still continues to develope itself between the character of the present season with us and the past English season. The summer was wet and changeable, but in the month of August remarkably hot weather set in, which brought crops forward with unexampled rapidity, in some, and especially late, districts ripening the whole of the grain almost at once. This, with the experience of the past week, should serve as " a word to the wise " among our own farmers resident in late districts of the colony, to hold themselves prepared as well as circumstances will permit for making short, sharp, and decisive work of cutting down their crops. In theLothians of Scotland much grain was shaken by high winds, but the loss occasioned there would be as nothing to the havoc that two days of hot and high winds would play with ripe crops here. Statements in reference to the yield of the late harvest in England — and in which we have an interest, from the fact that if all goes well we shall have grain for export — are somewhat conflicting. A farmer, in a letter to the Times, from returns and other intelligence, derived from various sources, estimates the average yield at only twenty-one | bushels per acre, and the. entire crop at 10,000,000 quarters, which, taking out I,ooo,oooforseed,leaves9,ooo,oooquarters for consumption. The quautity that will be needed to meet requirements during the current year is estimated at 22,000,000 quarters, thus leaving a deficiency to be made up from foreign markets of 13,000,000 quarters, or 104,000,000 bushels. The estimated deficiency of the wheat crop of 1871 in France, as compared with the wheat crop of 1862, is put down by the Mark Lane Express at 10,145,050 quarters. Whilst such is the deficiency in England and France, the Minister of Agriculture and Commerce in Italy, after investigating returns received from all the provinces, had arrived at the conclusion that at least 2,000,000 quarters of wheat will require to be imported to meet the deficiency occasioned by the failure of the harvest in that country. Added to this, it is said that the stock of breadstuff's in the European markets was perhaps never much lower than it was this season just before harvest. From this it will be seen that to make up the estimated deficiency of the past season's wheat crops in the three countries named, no less than 25,000,000 quarters, or 200,000,000 bushels, will be required from other parts of the world. Under these circumstances, and considering the high price Australian wheat always commands in the English market, any surplus we may have to spare would in all prubability bring a good figure. At all events, the prospect is such as to offer inducement to merchants to ship, and so prevent ruinously low prices from ruling in the colony, as they otherwise would do if the market were not relieved. Tet notwithstanding the large deficiency of grain, prices during the month of October were falling and a brisk demand was not expected to set in until after Christmas. Heavy arrivals chiefly from Russia, were the cause of this. By this time, however, it was reasonably anticipated that the Baltic, the Azof, with a portion of the Black Sea and the American canals, would be frozen up, which would enable holders to clear off their granaries, and reveal the actual necessities of Frauce. Preserved meats, one of our staple products, were coming into more general use at from 5f d. to 6|d. per lb. Stalls for the sale of it have been established in Smithfield, Manchester, and other large towns, and have been thronged with customers. In connection with this, Mr. Edward Wilson, who describes himself as now a farmer in England, and having no interest in Australiau meat preserving companies, has been illustrating by a little experiment the difference between the cost of butchers' meat and preserved meats imported from Australia. He purchased a leg of mutton at a cost of 9|d. per lb., which, before roasting, weighed 9 lbs. 10 ozs., after roasting 6 lbs. 12 ozs., and when deprived of bone the weight of cooked meat was 4 lbs. 13 ozs. In this

way he shows that the cooked slice of mutton costs about 9d. per lb. On the 30th of October, in London market, best Cork butter ruled at from 1295. to 1345. per cwt. American cheese from 48s. to 645., the best factory dairies bringing 58s. to 60s. per cwt. — a price, it is said, lower than they could be imported at from New York. The market for dairy produce of all sorts was dull, and the tendency of prices downwards. Turning to other topics we find that foot and mouth disease is engaging the serious attention of agriculturists and others interested in stock. At a meeting held in Plymouth to consider the best means of checking the " lamb disease," which was ravaging the flocks of the country, Sir Massey Lopes, Bart., M.P., said: — "It was a serious fact that the foot and mouth disease at this moment existed in no less than seventy-three British counties, and he had been informed officially that at the present time there were 25,000 cattle suffering from it. This was a very serious matter, and required that the most careful attention should be paid to it. They all knew that pleuropneumonia and the foot and mouth disease had been imported into this country by foreign cattle, and he strongly felt, as he always had done, that Government had not been sufficiently alive to the injuries and dangers that were inflicted upon agriculturists by these two diseases." From this it would appear that our own Government in taking no steps to prevent the introduction of the malady into the colony, are only following the example set in older communites when they neglect the vital interests of the state. The farmers in England, however, have organized a cattle defence association, and are adopting vigorous measures to prevent the introduction of foreign cattle, or at all events to compel the slaughtering of imported animals at the port of debarkation. In Hertfordshire the disease was takiug an alarming turn, and not only beasts, sheep, and pigs, but also children, were affected to a fearful extent. A meeting of the Chamber of Agriculture was held to devise means for checking the spread of the disease; but it has now spread to such an extent throughout England, Scotland, and Ireland, that this will be a difficult matter to accomplish. " Prevention is better than cure." Our stockowuers should combine to prevent the entrance of the disease into this country. The lamb disease that has been afflicting flocks in the west of England, would appear to be something similar to the worm disease in sheep, from which flockowners have suffered in New South Wales daring the present year — a parasite iufestiug the stomach aud lungs. It is said to owe its origin to the lambs feeding on wet herbage and undrained land. The laud question, strange as it may sound to colonial ears, has become a fruitful theme for discussion in England. At the Social Science Congress, held at Leeds, several papers on the subject were read. A Land Tenure Eeform AssociaJ tion has been started, and a few years will, no doubt, see changes little dreamed of in the past brought about the transfer of land, and also in the relation of landlord and tenant. Lord Leicester has taken a step in accordance with the spirit of the times on this question, as will be seen by the following extract from a speech made at a farmers' meeting in Norfolk :—": — " Ido not believe that agriculture will ever attract that capital, that skill, and that energy which are required to bring it to perfection until am pie security is given in the form of a lease to the occupiers of the farms, and from that lease many unnecessary restrictions which exist in ninety-nine leases out of one hundred are omitted. I found that in the lease in use on my estate there were many restrictions — such restrictions as I should not like to be bound by were I tenant of a farm. I have, therefore, with the assistance of my agent and my tenants, deviated from the beaten track, and endeavoured to frame a lease more in accordance with the spirit of the age, avoiding all interference with the capital of the tenant, removing all clauses that dictate as to the cropping of the soil or as to the sale of the produce, and, as far as I can, giving him security for the capital invested. I have endeavoured to place my teuants in that position which I should like to hold as an occupier of land, and in doing so I am satisfied I have studied my own interest as well." On the subject of sugar beet growing,

Mr. H. Biddle, of Lavenham Hall, has published a letter, in which he strongly recommends its cultivation. After three years' experience he gives an estimate of the total cost of producing an acre of sugar beet at £11 155., and the receipts at £15 7s. per acre, thus showing a profit of £3 12s. per acre over and above interest on capital. As to the state in which the land is left after the crop he says : — " I have grown sugar beet side by side with beans, and have not present noticed any appreciable difference in the after crop." The conclusion he has arrived at is, that when a farmer is situated within two miles of a sugar factory, it will answer his purpose to place a portion of his arable land under sugar beet. This, it must be borne in mind, is a recommendation made to farmers in Suffolk, but we give it for the benefit of those who may contemplate the growth of sugar beet for manufacturing purposes in this colony.