AGRICULTURAL AFFAIRS IN GREAT BRITAIN.

Otago Witness, Issue 1777, 12 December 1885, Page 7

AGRICULTURAL AFFAIRS IN GREAT BRITAIN.

(By Our English Agricultural Correspondent.) London, October 23. FIELD WORK AND LIVE STOCK. After a prolonged rainy period we have now dry though generally cloudy or foggy weather, and wheat sowing is gpuing on rapidly. It is much in arrear in the late districts for the latter part of October, by which time a large proportion of the wheat seed is often in the ground. Still, if we get two or three dry weeks now, sowing will lie completed quite soon enough, late-sown crops, especially on heavy land, commonly turning out the best when fairly put in. The land works beautifully, having dried on the surface very quickly, on account of the sul soil, after a long summer's drought, being equal to the absorption of almost any quantity of win. In fact it is scarcely too much to say that wheat has never gone in better than it is going in now, the seed-bed being just moist onotigh for a good tilth on a solid bottom to be obtained with very little' labour. Nearly all the potatoes and most of the mangels are now safely stored. Roots have grown moderately since the wet weather of the first three weeks of October set in ; but the crops of turnips, as well as of mangels, arc below average, and winter-keep for stock will be shorter than usual. Partly for this reason and partly from the poverty of the farmers, the prices of store stock, both cattle and ftheej), have been getting worse and worse. A Sussex farmer, writing to an agricultural .paper last week, declared that store cattle and .sheep were selling at one-third to one-half less than at this time last year, and he included well-bred Southdown sheep in his statement. In Hampshire, again, an experienced flockmaster says that lambs have been selling at half the money they would have realised a year ago. It is the .same all over the country. A butcher, who does a good trade in a fashionable town, was rash enough the other day to give an auctioneer a start of 30s a-head for some fine fat Shropshire ewes, whicb under ordinary circumstances would have sold at 50s. There was not another bid, and the sheep were knocked down to him, so that, as he says, some of the pooplo of this town will have to eat live mutton for two or three weeks. At Dorohester last week there was a draught sale of Jersey cattle from a rather noted herd and the range of pi-ices was £9 10^ 'lo £l4s 10s. At the Birmingham s,W thorn show and sale, also held last \\ctSk, the bulls and some of the cows no\<\ fairly considering the depression, but ?« large number, of heifers were not sold W'cause the low reserve pri^ were not reached. As for Irish stom cuttle, they are selling at £3 to £5 a hea.?l toss than last year's prices. Fat cattle soil better, or not quite so badly, though at ;>«nrly Id a pound loss than at tin's lime iasii year. The fall in. })it sheep is 1M to ixl per lb. In both cusps 'l refer to pr'.ca by the carcase, sinking tho ofFah Of course the prices of New JZeulajul mutton arc effected by the gene.v«wdulbj,Pss of l>rado>arwl I the returns of cavyoes recently rnooiyoO ran sparccly bo raniuyjrafcivo to sh's^ov; puop u0 circular of the New Zealand Moycuuiiio Agenev, which goes out by ovpry w-n), gives such full details of tho pvto«S vo.dfeoit for each cargo that it is quite uiiUweosMiry for me to enter into particulars in my letters.

nUAIN, HOI'S, AND DA IKY IMfOIHJCB.

After a vise in the price of wheat of from 6d to Is per quarter on Monday week, dullness once

more reigned supreme. On Monday, at the London Corn Exchange, sellers asked more money, and this checked trade. I did not hear of any instance in which even 6cl per quarter was given for wheat on spot. The bulk of tho English wheat crop is now worth 30s to 335, fine samples only selling at 355, which is also tho top price for New Zealand wheat. Oats sell better in proportion, prices for New Zealand being 31s to 32s per 3841b, ex ship or ex granary. Good malting samples of barley sell moderately well because they are scarce ; but grinding and second rate brewing qualities are a drug in the market. We are used to this miserable trade in grain, and comparatively little is said about it ; but the drop in the price of live stock and most other kinds of agricultural produce isfelt by farmers as a serious, and, iv too many cases, as a crushing blow. Look, for example, at the prices of hops, which range as widely as from 22s to £7 per cwt. These are. extremes ; but 2Ss to 35.-! are not vpry uncommon prices, and considerable quantities have changed hands at »M> to 50s. Indeed, factors in the Borough market declare that it is quite difficult to make over 40s for tho discoloured, but still useful brewing hops, which make up so large a proportion of the supply. The top price noted above has been realised only in a few instances for very choice lots, and growers who sell at £3 to £-1 are regarded as very fortunate men. It was supposed that the good American crop would compete seriously with the English growth. As a matter of fact, however, American hops fit for our market are selling at 11 cents per lb in New York, which is equivalent to 65s per cwt in London— a great deal more than they would be worth. The present foreign supply comes from Germany, Holland, and Belgium. From the Ist of September to .the 17th of October we imported 15,045 cwts, against 10,535 cwts in the corresponding period of last year. Dairy produce has been looking up after its temporary depression. Milk and butter both sell well now. Usually butter is worth 124s to 132s per cwt • English fresh, 12s to 15s per dozen pounds! These are wholesale prices. For the very best fresh butter we have to pay Is 7d and Is Sdper lb at retail shops. Irish butter, iv firkins, ranges from 54s to 127s per cwt, the best being so mild as to be nearly equal to fresh. Cheese has pretty well recovered from its recent heavy ' drop, and 40s to 50s per cwt are ordinary prices while first-rate Cheddar makes as much as 70s or even more. AGRICULTURAL IMPORTS. From the Board of Trade Returns, issued a few days ago, I have extracted the principal agricultural imports for the nine months ended on September 30, converting cwts of grain into , quarters, and flour into its equivalent in wheat. The quantities, compared with those of the corresponding periods of 18S4 and 1883, are shown below :•=—

It is satisfactory to. notice that the proportion of flour to wheat imported has decreased, as it appears to show that British millers are holding their own better than previously against the sharp competition of American millers'. As the quality of the new American wheat crop is inferior, they will have a chance this year of beating their American competitors The machinery in the large English mills has been greatly improved during the last two or three years. The decrease in the imports of live stock and the increase in meat imports, noticed on previous occasions show up clearly in these returns. Butter imports, it -will be seen remains nearly stationary, while those of chees& have decreased since last year, though a littlem excess of the quantities for the nine months, of 1 8S3. COMPETITION OF DAIRY HKRDS. The prize of fifty guineas offered by LotcJ Vernon, President of the British Dairy Farmers 1 ' Association, for the best herd of dairy cows in, England or Wales has been won by Mr Hotbersnll, of Bronghton, near Preston, Lancashire,, who also won the fkst prize given by the Royal Agricultural Society last July for t?ze best dairyfarm uwior 100 acres in Lancashire and the neighbouring counties, in connection with the Preston show. The following record will be interesting to dairy farmers, as indicating thw points on which the award was made :— '

Mr Hothersall gained five pointy as compared with l-h t the highest number jguj'nqd by any of his competitors. It is clear '^jab he must use m good deal of purchased fc\v-u', as he has so very, small an average acreage ok -land per cow. THE 'SILVEH QDE^fION. AND INDIAN WHEAT. In my last letter I referred to the low exchange y^up of the rupee as having the effecfcof a \>^*ttiyon the export oS Indian wheat. Iti

has been objected that the purchasing power of rupee has fallen in India ; but the statement is sufficently disposed of by a valuable article in Saturday's Economist, showing in a set of tables the quantities of wheat, rice, millet, and salt which a rupee would purchase iv each alternate year from 1870 to 1884 inclusive. The result in each case is to show that the purchasing power of the rupee, instead of having diminished, has increased. In the case of wheat 16.6 seers (of 22051b) could be obtained for a rupee on an average in all the districts in 1884, as compared with 12.5 seers in 1870, before the depreciation in exchange value had set in. The quantities in the intervening alternate years were — 16 9 in 1872, 14.9 in 1874, 17.2 in 1876, 10.4 in 1878, 12-8 in 1880, and 15.2 in 1882. It is further shown that in England the average price of wheat was 22per cent, lower in 1884 than in 1870, while in India it was 25 per cent, lower, thus proving that the purchasing power of the rupee in India, measured in wheat, has increased more than the purchasing power of gold in England, also measured in wheat.

A BOOK ON PABM LIVE STOCK.

Professor Wallace, the new occupant of the Chair of ■ Agriculture and Rural Economy at at Edinburgh University, has just published an excellent manual on " Farm Life Stock." Edinburgh—Oliver and Boyd; and London — Simkin, Marshall, and Co.). There was a great want of a good manual on the subject, the ouly comprehensive books on live stock previously published being large and expensive works, more or less out of date. Professor Wallace's book is at once comprehensive and condensed, giving a great deal of information upon the points of animals of the various breeds, their selection, breeding, and management. The subject-matter has been selected and arranged with the main object of making the volume a student's text book,, giving particularly such information as is necessary in its special branch for the examinations of the three great national Agricultural Societies, the Colleges of Agriculture, and the Surveyors' Institute. Breeders and graziers, however, will not on that account find the book less valuable to them. Mr s Wallace is an experienced farmer and stock manager, as well as a professor, and he has verified in his own practice or observation most of the lessons which he teaches. He has very properly dedicated the work to his predecessor in the Chair of Agriculture, the advantages of whose teaching he acknowledges. I do not know the price of the book, but suppose it is about 5s or 6s by post to New Zealand.

THE APPBOACHING ELECTION.

It has been announced that the present election will take place about the 17th of November, and politicians are now at it " hammer and tongs." The laud question continues to be the prominent subject of platform speeches, and the Radicals have a trump card in then- proposal that local authorities shall have power to acquire land at a fair price, compulsorily if necessary, to let in allotments and small farms to labourers and others. Of course this tells well with the new voters, who belong to a great extent to the classes to be benefited. The Conservatives go a little way in the same direction, but stick at compulsory sales of land, and draw the line at allotments. Mr Chamberlain is the most prominent advocate of the scheme, and he is now the best abused man in the United Kingdom. The general impression appears to be that the Liberals will be returned to power by a large majority.

BUTTER FEOM NEW ZEALAND.

Some interest has been excited here by the report of a newly-invented glaze for butter firkins, or leather for boxes to take the place of firkins, patented in New Zealand. If the experiment turns out to be a success, and the glaze will prevent 'the butter from acquiring the flavour of the wood of which the boxes are composed, a new opening for New Zealand enterprize will have been made.

ENSILAGE.

Mr Peel, clerk to the Privy Council, stated the other day at an agricultural meeting that there were 1181 silos in Great Britain, as compared with 610 in 1884. This shows a satisfactory advance in ensilage.

THE BEFOBM OB BUIN OF AGBICULTUHE.

Under this title Mr James Howard, M.P. (of "the well-known Bedford firm of implement manufacturers), reacLa paper at a meeting held by the Farmers' Alliance yesterday. A full report is sent by this mail, as the paper is too full of interesting matter to be condensed in a mere note. Repudiating Protection, under which formers suffered severely in the first half of the present century, Mr Howard advocated certain reforms, the chief of which are embodied in the following resolution prepared by him: — "This Conference is of opinion that in order to avert the ruin of the present race of farmers it is imperative that owners should, without further delay, reduce rents to a point which shall no longer trench upon the capital of their tenants ; that all existing restrictions as to cropping sfnd sale of produce shall be abolished, or so far modified as not to cramp the enterprise of the tenant ; and in order to call forth the full energies of tenant farmers in effecting improvements and in increasing the fertility of the soil, the Legislature ' should forthwith bring in a measure to provide against arbitrary eviction, for an indefeasible title to all improvements, and against the liability at present incurred by improving tenants of having their rents raised upon their own improvements." This did not go far enough for the majority of those present, and the following amendment was carried in the proportion of two votes to one : — " That the following reforms are imperative in order to avert the further decline of British agriculture : — (1) A general revision of rents made by competent authorities; (2) Complete security for the tenants' capital by -continuity of tenure, with free sale of his interest in the holding,"

. :Tr : l. ::: » ' -'■mo..i-;m cc -i j Acreage. \A cs£!2&jg gfc '^ ( '" Dn ' »">' Cmv.* . . ' I cntci'Cil. C Jl ii ~t Q j^ «o^o< Average ot Acre» \wv Coa\ . j Xo. ot Covisin-Milk-i % - o 2,fllll — CC W IO i 5 IO IO to to SSS2ggis2£S Total Solids. ccT<»"cp~Qo"bo oo co""cfi"bo go S^ShSS^J* Water. o o £ -J> o ci> oo i ii -i :2 ii •^ C: C. ~J IC U« l\i O. CQ Fat. C»Cf>OOCf~ICEGpOoOpCO (Jasein mid Milk o & 0000000000 -IMG". C ID rf» >— « - XJ -1 to •£> J> I Jlineral Matter.

. . >»c Months ending Sept. 30. Import*. 183:5. 1884. 1885. Vheafc ... ... cji-s 11,520,063 8.(399,803 11,141,374 Hour as Wheat, .. .-5,498,(589 3,246,107 3,526 862 B-w'ley 2,013(5,020 2,549,72!) 2 439 787 • lfti 2,719,722 4,-138,172 3 812 131 ' eas - 307,-131 353,130 225825 " ea . nti 338,652 024,587 491,769 ' C -Vti ii- v " S'l3S ' 135 ' lnß 4.438,843 5,521800 Dxen and Hulls., No. 278,735 251,268 '29 505 U™> 17,9(59 r,0,885 39^60 Dji'ves ... 39,367 47,560 40 330 Sheep and Lambs „ 88(5,448 7'»0,86t> 577 20(5 ' fj'« s ; . ••• t 33.3£>1 22,594 14,431 Beef, iresh ... c\\\, 5(59,181 U17.310 681419 •> » M , 207,081 156,833 183!20(i Mutton, tresh... „ 138,527 363,392 444 802 Pork, tre«h 27,279 32,390 38!564 '- 210,422 21(5,403 258 063 Bacon „ 2,2f1f»,808 2,095,595 ? 413,405. Hanib 410.751 492,43(5 '694 976 Mcat.uiienumntd. ., 29,695 13 188 21 6^S preserved „ 4(52,025 337,003 58 7 ,210 Butter and Butter- - n , ille .- 1,(538,012 1,817.8i5 1,818,134 Cheese „ 1,367,213 1,135,72s 1394 477 \}°p s t .. 31,395 132,47.3 95 923 ~ Potatoes. 4,i69,5!)l 2.231,305 1.927 529