FARM NOTES FROM ENGLAND.

New Zealand Herald, Volume XXVII, Issue 8387, 15 October 1890, Page 6

FARM NOTES FROM ENGLAND.

[BY our KNGU3H agricultural corresponDENT. ] London, August 22. HARVEST ESTIMATES.

Brilliant weather was general in the early districts of the country up to Monday evening since the commencement of harvest, the few showers that had fallen not having hindered work except for a few hours on one or two occasions. Rapid progress, therefore, had been mode, and great portions of the wheat, barley, and oat crops had been cut in the south and east of England. Unfortunately a heavy rainfall has occurred since Monday evening, and the carting of corn has been hindered, while threshing has been out of the question. At the time of writing the weather is unsettled, and it is to be feared that progress in harvesting will have been slow this week, though two or three days have been fine. In the North of England, Scotland, and Ireland List week was rainy ; but harvest had scarcely begun in those parts of the kingdom. Now farmers nearly all over the kingdom are at work on the crops when the weather permits. We only want fine weather to secure a fairly abundant harvest. Two comprehensive sets of estimates have just been published. The first is that of the Agricultural Gazette, consisting of 288 returns from various parts of the United Kingdom, which have been summarised as follows in tables showing the proportions of estimates tor the several crops marked as overaverage, average, and under-avorage in {>ercentages : — Corn Crops, 1890.

This is a very good verdict on the harvest, the only crops not above average being wheat and hay, and wheat has only a few more under-average than over-average returns. The potato crop should probably be reckoned below average on account of the prevalence of disease in certain parts of the kingdom, notably in the South of England and in Ireland. The greatest drawback is the inferiority of the hay crop, which has been in great part badly injured by the wet weather which prevailed during June and part of July. As the hay crop occupies over 9J million acres of land, or about the same area as all the grain crops together, its inferiority is a serious matter. Otherwise the splendid crops of barley, oats, beans, peas, and roots would make the year 1890 one to be remembered as a year of great abundance. I believe that the wheat crop is underrated, as most of the estimators represent it as a very heavy crop, but not well filled with grain. ' This is precisely what I have said it was in previous letters ; but I fancy that the deficiency of the ears has been exaggerated, and that there is such a great crop of straw as to render an average yield of grain about certain. An " ordinary average' yield of wheat, according to the returns of the Board of Agriculture, is 28'S bushels an acre; but the average of the six years during which official estimates have been collected is 29 - 64 bushels an acre, and I believe that the present crop is nearly equal to an average of these six crops. At any rate I estimate it at '29 bushels an acre. The area of the crop is smaller than that of last year, when it was '2,544,549 acres. The autumn was wet, and sowing was hindered, so that some land intended for wheat was reserved for spring corn. But the preliminary summary of the Agricultural Returns, just issued, will be noticed presently. The other estimate is that of the Times, purporting to be the result of over four hundred returns. The following abstract has been given, 100 representing an average crop : — Wheat .. .. 96*7 Pexs .. .. 90 "2 Barley .. .. 100'S Potatoes.. .. li*)l Oats .. .. 102*7 Roots .. .. (KJ'4 Bran .. .. 102*5 Hay .. .. 81*1 Here the wheat crop is represented as 3*l per cent, under average, barley at o*B par cent, over-average, oats at -'7 per cent, over, beans at *2"5 per cent, over, peas at 3*B per cent, under, potatoes at 01 per cent, over, roots at 3*6 per cent, under, and hay at 18 '9 per cent, under-average. I doubt whether all the reports on which these estimates are based are recent ones, and I do not accept some of the figures as approximately accurate. The barley and oat crops are probably much better than here represented, and the bean crop is certainly one of the greatest ever grown. Then, it is absurd to represent the root crop as under-average, and hay, though injured in quality, is nothing like as much as IS"9 per cent, under-average in quantity. We shall see, when the official estimates come out, how near to accuracy these estimates are. For my own part, I feel confident that those of the Agricultural Gazette are the more trustworthy of the two sets of abstracts.

The following preliminary summary of the Agricultural Returns of Great Britain for 1890 has just been issued by the Board of Agriculture. The statistics were collected on the 4th of June in 1890, as well as in each of the previous years : — Acreage ok Land in Great hi tain Under

The returns for live stock are the most satisfactory ever issued since the statistics were first collected, in 1866. The decrease in the wheat area is partly due to the unfavourable weather for sowing which prevailed during last autumn.

THE HOP CROP. According to the latest reports, the hop crop, although improved by the recent brilliant weather, will be a good deal below average. One expert who has been round the plantations puts it at only 4cwt an acre, as compared with B"62cwt grown last year, according to the official estimate, and with an " ordinary average" of 7'84 cwt. I believe this is an under-estimate, and should prefer to reckon the probable yield at scwt per acre on about 57,000 acres. Prices are likely to be high, for we have bad reports of the crop from the continents of Europe and America.

Wheat. Hurley. Oats. Beans. Peas. Over-avenge .. 17*3 37'4 44"0 60'3 'M'b Averse.. .. f.'J'u 5fl 4!)1> SO'l 490 Under-average.. 3l)'l 9'5 70 7 6 14"5 100 100 100 100 100 Hay, Potatoes, and Roots, 1S90. Hay. Potatoes. Turnips. Mangolds. Over-average .. 27'8 36 "7 »l'3 37-6 A Tonne .. .. SI'S 37'8 33 - 7 42'2 Uniler-average.. 41 "9 25'j 15'0 '20 - 2 100 100 100 100

Year. { Wheat. | Barley, ) Oats. Ipota'os Hops. I Acres. I Acres. | Acres. I Acres. Acres. 13-W.. . .1*2,564,237 2,085,501 -2,8*2,252 590,100 58,494 1880.. . .12,499,354|2,121,888,704 .079,222 .07,724 1890 .. . ,;2,380,330)2, 111,178 2,902,9.'S 529,001 54,65;. •v I 14 204' — — 1800} In. _ _ |or0*5?j - I - iooo\n« 63,018 10,352; — 49,601, 3,160 lie. nr g.g y or Q.J y\ — or y-(J »/ 01'5'5% ZZ\i - 25,017, 211,740' - ; - law J- in. _ or 1*2 % I or 0*7 % — ! — , s ,,ln„ 177 ' 901 - I - I 60,499 3.939 1 f ne. or y -/ _ I _ orio-2,/- oi%~t/„ r.MBKR op Cattle, Siikep, and Pigs in Gkf.at iiiU'l'AlN. Cattle jCowsand I | Year. heifers in Two ye'rs! Under milk or 1 old and jtwo ve'rs' Total, in calf. I above. old. | < No. | No. I No. j No. 1888 .. 2,450,444 1,434,305! 2,244,020 0,129,376 ]Ssf» . . 2,433,059; 1,45.3,8591 2,252,057; 0,139,555 1*WJ . .. 2,637,990: 1,439,119. 2,631,523. 0,508,032 1-™, (i I 104,351! — 1 279,400 309,077 lu.HJ ] in. ( or 4 3 d.c.I — orl2'4p.c..or 0*0 p.c. '• i. / -* 14,740 - I - 18891 De. -j _ jorl'Op.c.i — j — ~~T /1 87.5*01 4.814 280,897] 379,267 y J I or 3'Cp.c. p.c. orl2*8p.c. or 0*2 p.c. 1888 1 D | Z I Z 1 Z Z Sheep and lambs. Year. Pigs. .Sheep. | Lambs, i Total. j No. j No. I No. I No. 1888 .. . .15,720,947 9,530,202 25,557,149 2,404,344 1889 .. .. 15,802,132 9,709,888 25,(532, 2,«10,803 1890 .. .. 10,750,608 10,516,891127,272,459 2,773, ivwiCt,, / 894,430 740,00311,040,439] 202,800 v J I ora'Op.c. or 7*0 ,or 0 - 4 p.c. or 10'5p.c. 18891 De. | Z Z | Z j Z ison ( I ' ,029,0*21 985,CSol 2,015,310 309, v J l or 0*5 p.c. orl(t'3p.c. or8'0p.c.,orl5'4p.c. 1889 "{ Z Z Z Z