AGRICULTURAL AFFAIRS IN GREAT BRITAIN.

Otago Witness, Issue 1813, 20 August 1886, Page 7

AGRICULTURAL AFFAIRS IN GREAT BRITAIN.

(By Ovb, English Aobicuxubal Cokrespondenot) London, July 2. A FORECAST OF HARVEST. When bummer weather is delayed till past the middle of June the full fruition of vegetation cannot be expected, and I fear that the harvest of 1886 will not rank among the fat ones. Whether it will be a tolerably prolific one or not remains to be seen. The weather of the last 10 days has been all that could be desired for the maturing of the crops, except when they are in need of rain, as they are on all light soils ; but the happy change has come too late to Bave large areas of wheat, barley, and oats from irreparable deterioration. Inexperienced observers are to.) apt to suppose that fine weather can work miracles. A plant that has been stunted an weakened by unfavourable climatic influences during three-fourths of its period of growth to maturity cannot be made normally productive by a few weeks of warm and sunny weather. In the south of England too much of the corn has shot into ear on extremely short and weak straw, and where that is the case no great improvement' in the crops is possible, for in such fields the yield must inevitably be small. In tha North, where corn is late, there is a better chance for improvement, which, indeed, is to bo noticed everywhere except where earing has commenced, or where crops in light soils have suffered from the scorching drought. There U more than the usual variation in the. condition of tho ooreaU this season. Ou naturally rich or weU-f.mnocl land, not too light or too, cjM, the crops are strong and healthy, and in such ca ios the recent weather has been entirely beneficial ; but there aro too many light and thin crops in all parts of the country to allow the experienced observer to anticipate an average produce all round. By common consent the wheat crop has been declared hopelessly deficient, and barley and oats Buffered so severely from tho cold winds of,, ■pring and early summer that few qualified judges venture to predict an average yield from either of them. For once the delicate pea crop is the crop most generally well spoken of, while beans aru extremely variable, spring varieties promising best. The history of the crops is such that the only wonder is how they can have grown ns well as they have grown. Wheatsowing last autumn was either frequently interrupted or prevented by almost incessant wet. weather, and winter had begua before

the greater portion of the crop/could be planted. Then followed a long period of severe weather, so that the late-sown wheat never had a fair chance of planting well, a great deal of it not being able to come up till the end of February, after lying more than two months in the ground. Under such circumstances no farmer was surprised to find thin wheats the rule rather than tho excoption. A wet March did not improve the appearance of the crop, and there has not been any weather likely to help it much until within the past few weeks. For spring corn the season has not been so entirely unfavourable, because the frosts of winter pulverised tho soil and made excellent seed-beds for barley and oata. But that is about all that can be said for the season up to the middle of June, for, from the time of sowing until recently there had not been a complete fortnight of genial weather. Cold I winds, with occasional night frosts, lasted through the spring, and the deluge of rain that fell in tho latter half of May was followed by more cold weather which did an immense amount of damage, spoiling the appearance of many fairly promising crops. The earing of corn is about three weeks later than usual, not yet being general even in the southern half of England. Harvest, therefore, must be very late, and under existing circumstances, it is but desirable to have the crops hurried" on to maturity. For this reason a hot drought is to be dreaded, though the temperature cannot well be too_ high if showers fall with sufficient frequency. It id very seldom that a late harvest is a prolific one, because crops are early after a geniaal spring, and spring is the psriod in which the ears are found far down in the stems. But, when circumstances have once niado the crops late, it is not at all desirable that they should be forced into sudden maturity, and a severe drought like that of last July would do a great deal more harm now than it did then. I ara glad to *,be able to congratulate the farmers upon one beautiful crop, well secured in some districts. Meadow grass is abundant, and clovers are moderately heavy. Haymaking has been in progress for more than a fortnight, and tho hay, as a rule, has seldom been gathered under more propitious circumstances. Rootcrop 1 ! were generally sown late, the hot weather in May having caused delay in the planting of turnip -s, which now need rain badly, while mangolds have been rejoicing in the hob sunshine For potatoes the season has not been propitious, but the tubers will be matured well if the warm weather continues. Hops, generally robust of habit, are improving under the influence of the sunshine, and at present promise well. Reports on the fruit crops are so conflicting that it is not easy to generalise upon their prospects. Strawberries, gooseberries, and cherries, are generally abundant, and currants will come to a fairly good crop. Plums are scarce, aud apples and pears are plentiful in some districts, and rathor thin on the trees in others. In the gardens, flowers, like everything else, are late, roses being only just in bloom on an extensive scale. Turning to foreign countries ifc is to be noticod that in the west of Europe generally the conditions of the season have been similar to those which have prevailed here, and the crops are late and generally rather below than above the average. In eastern countries, on the other hand, especially in Southern Russia, drought has been the chief source of complaint. Harvest in the United- States commenced a fortnight earlier than usual, and the winter wheat crop is now nearly all harvested. It is estimated at barely an average crop, while spring whe^at, npt yet mature, has been more or less seriously injured in nearly all the States by drought. The American wheat yield as a whole, however, will bo much larger than bhe meagre produce of last year. Other crops in the States have suffered from drought, so that the general harvest is not likely to be a very good one. 1 How will the harvest affect markets ? Wheat is now, as it long has been, so extremely low in price that one season of comparative scarcity wduld not do more than bring values up to a remunerative scale for growers in any part of the world. Thero is no fear of actual scarcity, but when it is borne in mind that the Australian and New Zealand harvest was one of the most deficient ever gathered, and that in South American countries (or at any rate in the River Plate) the yield was smaller than usual, while the latest official reports show that the Indian crop has not turned out equal to that of last year, it becomes obvious that we shall not havo a superabundance of wheat in the world for tho coming cereal year as we term it here The weather up to the end of harvest, however, will have a great influence upon the effective supply of wheat, as quality | has almost as important a bearing upon the I flour-making capacity of a wbeaii crop as quantity has. Even if the price of wheat should go up to the extent of 10s a quarter — which is not likely — few people would regret the rise, as the public cannot be benefited in the long run by paying less for wheat than the cost of production. j COLONIAL AND ENGLISH WOOL SALES. No doubt the welcome intelligence of the rise in the price of wool at the Colonial wool sales, just held in London, has reached New Zealand flockmasters long before this, by telegraph. It is not a little remarkable that arise of 3<l per lb in merino wool has not yet been followed by any quotable rise in English wool, though sellers are holding firmly for a rise. At the groat Leicester Wool Fair, hold on Tuesday last, there was no rise as compared with last year's prices, though trade was much more active than it has been lately, as may be seen from the following report .-—The total pitch was 8865 tods 51b, or a decrease on the previous pitch of 2994 tods 211b. However, the show was above the average, and, with the exception of the fair of 1885, tho largest during the last five years, the quality generally was described as about equal to that of last year. Many representatives of Yorkshire firm;; "attended. The first test of prices was supplied by a sale by auction by Mr H. T. Hincks of about 3000 fleeces of Shropshire Down and other wool, when thorG was some good competition. About 33 lots were sold. The bfit;t price was lOd per lb, and this was realised by a fine lot of 201 hog fleeces of Shropshire. The other prices realised in succession were ShrooshiiM aud long wool B|d, Shropshire B^l to 9|d, Chsviots Bsd, long wool and hnlf-bred 9d, Leicesters 9rd, long wool and Shropshire 9-} d, long wool and half-breds 9^d, long wool anil Hampshire 8f d, cross Hampshire and Leicpsters B=frl, long wool aud Shropshire and half-breris tigd, long wool aud cross Lincoln and Shropshire 9^i, long wool and Shropshire Down Qhd, mixed 9-y-d, long wool 9d and 9Jd. Lincoln 8 : 'il. long wool and half-bred B{.d, cross Lincoln and Shropshire Oil. In fcho npan mat'kffc ii.st'lf tlio. prices at first ranged from about 20.5, to 23s per tod. It was officially reported that n, fair lm-jiuess had been done afc about these quotations, and that values were, on the whole, about the same as last year, average lots, which made about 21s Gd last year, changing hands at precisely tho same figures this year. (To be continued.)