BRITISH AGRICULTURE.

Otago Witness, Issue 1856, 17 June 1887, Page 7

BRITISH AGRICULTURE.

(By Our English Agricultural Correspondent.) London, April 20. A BETTER TRADE FOR WHEAT. The closing grain markets of last week showed a better feeling, foreign wheat mak,ing a little more money where sales were effected, while barley was firm, and oats sold at an advance of 3d to 6d a quarter. There was no further change on Monday ; but if we can once see the upward movement fairly started, it will probably last. THE MEAT MARKET STILL DEPRESSED. There is no chance of an improvement in the cattle and meat trade till feed has had time to grow. On Monday business was vGiry/ bad. New Zealand mutton sold at 2s IQA to. 3s 2d per 81b, as compared with 3s 6d. to 3s. 8d at the corresponding period of last year. " COMPETITION IN WHEAT GBQTKING.'* Under this title an article in the " Quarterly Review," published to-day, enters at some length into the condition* of wheatgrowers in this country and in q\\ the principal producing countries of the world, the conclusion being that growers, everywhere, with tb« possible exception of the ryots of . India, hav<v been losing money by growing wheat toi sell; in this country at" the prices of the last two or three "years. Evidence is first cited to show that the cost of producingan aereof wheat in England is, or was, till Recently, about £8, but that if rents were suJMentty reduced, 1 tenants' improvements

fully secured, freedom of cropping and sale of produce allowed, and local burdens reduced, the crop might by grown for less money, and sold with a fair profit at 40s to 45s a quarter. At less than such a range of prices, it is contended, the wheat average of this country will not be kept up to even its present low level, whereas with such a range, the area would be considerably increased. Lest readers should conclude that this is a verdict of extinction for wheatgrowing in England, the next step in the argument is an attempt to prove that the supply of foreign and colonial wheat, which we require, will not be kept up at a lower range of prices. In support of this conclusion a great deal of evidence from all the chief exporting countries is given. With respect to the United States, the opinion of Mr Dodge, Statistician to the Department of Agriculture, is quoted to the effect that, even in 1884, a great crop year, only those American farmers who grew 20 to 25 bushels an acre made a profit at the prices then current. Now, even in this year, only one whole state — Colorado — produced an average of 20 bushels an acre, so, according to Mr Dodge, there was no profit in any other state, as a whole. One state gave only five bushels an acre, five gave less than seven bushels, and eight in all Jess than nine bushels. California, with over "3,000,000 acres, gave an average of 13*2 bushels ; Illinois, 11*6 ; Minnesota, 15 ; Indiana, 12-5; Ohio, 15-3 ; lowa, 12; Missouri, 11*8 ; Kansas, 16-5 ; Nebraska, 14*5 ; Michigan, 16-5 ; Dakota, 145; Pennsylvania, 13"6 ; Wisconsin, 14 ; Tennessee, 17 ; Kentucky, 10' G. These are all the states which grew over a million acres each, ranged in the order of the greatest wheat, area. According to Mr Dodge, wheatgrowing did not pay in any of them, but only in Colorado, where the cost of irrigation almost certainly ate up all the margin that, without the necessity of irrigation, might have been profit. It is further shown that the wheat acreage of America has ©decreased since 1880, though only slightly, in the face of a great increase of population, and in spite of the breaking up of some millions of acres of fresh land on which wheat has been grown, as a matter of course, to begin with. After a number of balance sheets of the cost of. wheatgrowing have been referred to, evidence showing the impoverished condition of American wheatgrowers is cited from American sources. It is concluded that the loss on the American wheat crop has been about £1 an acre in recent years, or about £37,000,000 per annum. The terribly imjpoverished condition of the wheatgrowers in Eussia is then referred to, and statistics showing the decreasing wheat acreage of Australasia and Canada, with other signs of the unprofitableness of wheatgrowing, are given, and the insignificance of the contributions to the European supply from Chili and the Argentine Republic is pointed out. The whole article is an amplification of argument given in brief from time to. time in previous letters. To me the evidence appears overwhelming to the effect that the world's wheat supply will not be kept up unless wheat sells in London at 40s a quarter at least. With respect to India, the depreciation of the gold value of the rupee complicates matters, acting as an equivalent to a handsome bounty on the export of wheat. AGKICULTUKAL IMPORTS. The Board of Trade returns show a great increase in the imports of wheat and flour during the last three months, bringing the total for the seven months of the cereal year ended on March 31 higher than that of the previous year or the year before. Still, in comparison with our extra requirements, the imports are small, and they will have to be much more liberal during the rest of the cereal year. The quantities are as follows : — Imports of Grain and Fiour, September 1 to March 3L

For the first quarter of the calendar year our receipts of other principal agricultural commodities from foreign sources have been as below : — Othks Pbincipal Agricultural Imposts, Three Months.

Fiorn the figures relating to cattle, sheep, ] and meat, it is obvious that our home pro- \ duction. has increased, or that the consumption has decreased. Probably both results 3iave occurred. It is true that during the past three months we received nearly 100,000 more sheep than in the corresponding period of 1885 ; but this makes up for only about ane-third of the decrease in cattle. A decrease in imports of all kinds of cattle together, from nearly 75,000 in the first quarter of 1885 to less than 31,000 in that of 1887, is noteworthy, especially when it is seen that the amount of all kinds of foreign and colonial meat is also less by a small quantity— about 45,000cwt, though 200,000cwt, in round figures, in excess of the in the first quarter of 1886.

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lOOD. JLOOU. XOOI . Oxenand bulls ... No. 53,879 36.506 26,390 Cows ... » 12.307 7,697 8,755 Calves '.V ' ... .. 8,675 4,339 5,590 Sheen . 105.190 152,877 205,080 Pigs ' ...» 370 263 890 Beef, fresh ... Cwt. 261.701 196,516 184 444 Ditto, salt 57.886 54,920 66,668 Mutton ... 150,202 152.72* 153,977 Pork: fresh • ... „ 24,241 34,227 49,566 Ditto, salt 117,617 99.168 99,(307 Bacon ... 954,132 85(5,664 911,947 Hams ... ... „ 253,677 208,342 273,724 Meat, preserved ... „ 107.363 81,046 135.921 „ unenumerafcel „ 8,664 15,906 14,748 Butter ... „ 400,850 380,410 382,602 Butterine ... „ 238,871 284,267 313,734 Cheese ... .. 219,237 25R.045 220,270 Hops ' . 34,912 59,942 33,428 Potatoes... ... - 179,313 167,197 268,768

1004-D. iOOO-O. Wheat ... Qrs. 6,476,542 6,624,947 Flour as wheat „ 2,785,197 2,073,011 JLPOO-<. 6,978.511 2,960,555 Total as wheat Barley Oats Peas Beans Maize „ 9,261,739 8,697,958 9,939,068 „ 2,941,660 2.116,516 3,315,100 „ 2,312,536 2,007,331 3,009,569 „ 270,346 259,088 329,035 „ 497,479 438,955 357,252 „ 3,379,382 3,789,843 3,661,812