BRITISH AGRICULTURE.

Otago Witness, Issue 1880, 2 December 1887, Page 7

BRITISH AGRICULTURE.

(By Our English Agricultural Correspondent ) London, October 5. A Fine Autumn. We have experienced two or three sharp frosts, which have turned black the tops of potatoes not raised, besides stopping the growth of grass and other feed. As the potatoes are fib to be raised thoy have not been harmod, and there is plenty of feed in the fields and pastures without further growth, which is seldom to bo expected after this period of the season. In other respects the autumn weather has been lately all that could be desired. Ifc has been dry enough to allow of the clearing up of late crops in Scotland, and of killing weeds in the cultivated stubbles. Just now the principal work of the farm is the storing of mangels and potatoes, both of which came off the laud remarkably well. Thu potato crop is probably a full average, as the tubers have swollen greatly during the last month, and there are no complaints of disenso. The mangel crop, too, is a fair one as to bulk, while the feeding quality of tho roots is excellent. Turnips havo grown fairly wuce tho rains, which set in at the end of August, came ; hub the crop is on a smaller area than usual, and ifc cannot be ?.u average one. Wheat-sowing is now commencing, and farmers in most districts would like rain to moisten and solidify tho soil, which is unusually dry and friable" for tbe time of year. Wheat loves a solid bntfcora, and the soil is seldom too wet for ib provided that the surface is dry enough for tbe harrows to gather sufficient mould to cover the seed. "Go in of a slop, come heavy a top "' is r.n old saw ourreut in the eastern counties, and ib has often been verified in my experience, though, on the other hand, I have known wheat to rnt in the ground when a wet period followed sowing. The Bniry Show. The London dairy show will bp opened tomorrow, and will probably be one of the best yet held iti .some repots. There is an extraordinary number of en f ,rit;.s of butter, 438 against 262 last vcar ; and the implements and machines will m-.ke a ;*r"»it oi<)>lay. including several novelties. The entries of cattle aro less numerous than usual, bviui,' w\\y 317, as compared with 317 in 1656 and 370 in JBS-5. For the milking trials- t.hi.re are 60 entries, against. 5S laab j^ar; in lh«« chef-Mi show 156', against ISS; and in tbe goat, classes 68, ajrainsfc 50. Among the mo-i interesting fcif ares of the show will be. tho millr'tai: trial 1 , two butter-making contests the trial of enmn *ejja rotors, and fcho demonstration <•»? fam-v chwße-making. Eight separator* are. »;nt<}re<l f" r competition. Tlic PrlcMi of WSicat. The ave.ra.jjp price of wlval last week was 28s 5d per quart-r, ihu lowest weekly average ever recorded. For th»» wf;k ending March 6, 1883, the average was 29a, ivhioh was the lowest ever experienced up to that time. Probably we havenow touched i hf lowest depth of depression ii. the wheat, marb..\-.a:)<i. iodei .'.nnimijrovemoiiu set in ou Motuw.y week, 1 ut not hxtq enough to keep the average pricw fcoai reaching the extremelylow limit- abovestated. Itissupposedtlw the demand for seed whe.it. has helped prices up ; but. prohal.lv rt. on. .-ffeH. has been urooinead by rijmiui'-lud imK". t '-. hive", by tliii reduction in th< AniCifiuau Yij-ii'li- •••.idols'-— now only o-.J,OOO.OUt ' bushels ay»iin.>'. 4 vVjIj.OOO a f . this tiro.- hist year The ofacial estimate of tl c French wheat crop much lower Th'm wnnilipul calculati"n-.. »nay a!s( have tended bo convince buyers that there is n< warrant lor ihe oKtivmely low piicjs. Ths Echo Agricole estimated the crop at 117,732,91 C

heotoi^fesyequivalentto^^W^Oq llll^" s bufr the official estimate is only 109,747,645 hectolitres, or 37,725,754 quarters. If the Jattw be approximately correct, France will need to import 3,000,000 quarters more than she was sopposed to require. The general opinion is that the official statement is too low, but it is not unreasonable to conclude that France will need about 4,000,000 quarters of foreign wheat, instead of the 2,000,000 previously reckoned ot. Toe crops of rye and meslin (wheat and rye grown together) are also rather small. The figures of the Ministry of Agriculture, converted to English measures, are as below ; — Acres, Quarter*, Wheat ... 17.4&3.43G 37,725,75-f Wheat ... 409469* 8,178,868 Bin ::: :.. «0.9» i,w^ Last year the area of the wheat crop 17,181,753 acres, ana the yield 3*87*884 rtuarters. Thus, according to the official estimate,, the yield is slightly less this year than it was m 1880— 17""3 bushels an acre against 17*8. *or M? years ending with 1885, the average area yra» 17,087,605 acres, and the average yieW 34,941,973 quarters, It will be seen that tfter Protectionist duty on trheat in Fra»ce— ss 3d per quarter up to last spring— had not much increased the growth of wheat. It was raised to 8s 9d last may, but prices have fallen so seriously that the value of wheat is still lower than it was before any duty beyond the old shilling a quarter was imposed. Still the price in France is about 10s a quarter more than it » in England, and that, of course, is the result <v* the duty. Lire Stock, Meat, and Dairy Produce, The live stock and meat markets are disappointing. It was hoped that the improved prospects for feed would have sent prices up, and sheep did sell better for a time, but now dullness reigns supreme, except for store ewes and latnbP, which are in moderate demand. At some of the sales of well-bred cattle miserable prices I have been realised. Mr Charles Howard, of Biddenham, Bedford, disposed of bis herd oi Gwynne shorthorns the other day. The strain is noted for milking qualities, and the herd was a good one in all respects ; yet the average for 36 animals was only £27 17s Id. Yet this was high compared with £16 5s 6a, the average realised by Lord Brougham and Mr Vause for 16 Aberdeen-Angus cattle ; or with £18 IT'S 4d, the average for 16 shorthorns from the herd of Sir Richard Musgrave ; or with £12 a-head for 15 Highland cattle the property of the Earl of Dunmore ; or, worst of all, £9 17s Id each, realised for a draft of 16 Aberdeen- Angus cattle froffl the herd of Mr Macrae, of Ruthven. Beef in the live stocfc market sells at the same prices as those current at this psriod of last year, which were quite low enough, the extremes being 3s to 4s 8d per 81W to siuk the offal. Fat sheep are from £d to - Ljd per lb lower (deadweight, to sink the otfal) than a year ago— that is, from 3s 2d to ss, iustead of from 3« 6d to 6s per 81b. In the carcass market New Zealand mutton is quoted at 2s lOd per 81b, inferior English being 2s 8d to 3s 4d, , and prime 3s 8d to 4s Bd. The retailers of New Zealand mutton, who sell very little at less than sd, and a good deal at 7d to od, musb be making high profits. The cheese market is quiet, but; prices are satisfactory, being in some cases higher than at this time last year, as shown below :— 1687. 1886. Cheddar, per cwt ... 60s to 76s 50s to 769 Cheshire 50s to 76s 403t0705> Wilts „ ... 56s to 64s 38stoOto Double Glou- „„ ceater „ ... 50s to 68b 383 to 64s Derby „ ... 46s to 60s 46s to 60s The best Cork butter is 120s per cwfc, against 110s at this time last year, and third quality 108s as compared with 82s. , A Wew Harvester. There is now on view at the American Exhibition in London a machine which, according to representations, fills a long-felt want. For a long time makers of Bheaf-binding reapers have been endeavouring to perfect a machine to bind with straw instead of wire or twine, and Mr Walter A. Wood, the well-known American manufacturer, claims to have solved the difficulty. He has brought out a machine which binds with straw twisted into bands as it cuts the corn. A bundle of straight rye or wheat straw, which has not been through a thrashing machine, is carried on the harvester, so little being required, it is said, that & bundle 10in in diameter serves for binding an acre of corn. It is estimated that half an acre of rye straw will suffice for binding 300 acres of wheat or other corn. If this be true, and if the machine will work well, there will be a great saving, the cost of twine having lately been a serious item in the expense of harvesting a crop which his to be pretty well given away. The British Tobacco Crop. For this season 55 applications were made by person.-, hi various parts* of the United Kingdom for liruiiM! to grow tobacco, tho total area of land on which they aro prepared to grow tho crop being 20 acre?. Some of them did not carry our. tlvir project, but probably there were 30 experiments. The crop has been harvested umlor ffiv.uirable conditions, after a season of almost, tropical boat very suitable to tbo maturing of tho tobacco plant. The result will not be known for a long time, as tobacco takes about a year to dry and cure before it is fit to be manufactured. At least that has been the case with what was grown last year, some of which is not oven now ready for smokers. A great deal was spoilt in curing last year. According to the official report, tobacco was grown laU y.'ar by 24 persons in 14 counties, and attained maturity in 20 instance?. In only six, however, was the produce good enough for tho dufcv to be p.-tid on it, that nf the other 14 growers having been destioyed. The aggregate produce of the feucccjs-fiil growers wos 2321b, and as the tobacco is certainly not worth Is a pound in excess of the duty, they had, or will have, less than £2 ca.hto reward them for their labour and e» pendituru- probably not a tenth part of tho expenses. This is not a very happy result of the first year's attempt to grow a semi-tropical crop in this cjuntry. But allowance must be made for a first; experimeur, and we bhall see if results will be better this time. The crop has been grown as far north as Elgin, as far south as Cornwall, on the borders of Wales in the west, and in Ireland, and eastward nearly up to tho coasb of Lincolnshire. Thus there will be a fine test, and if the result should not prove satisfactory, it is to be hoped that we shall hear no more of this latest fad for the relief of depressed agriculture. Seeing that tobacco has lately been unremunerative to growers in the United States, even in parts be.sfc puited to the crop, the idea of growing ib here seems to me a very absurd one. Flax in Scotland. I The flax crop is much more worthy of tha j attention of British farmers than tobacco i-. j There is really no reason why we should not ! grow all the ilax we use. The only difficulty is ! a local market for what is grown, and hitherto the few farmers who have tried the crop in England have be-.n riefcimirad by the owners of the ' nearest flaxworks, the straw being too hcilky to : send a long distance. Mr Slactarun, of Fernhsn f, Cun:ir, h^ 4 .^r )w») nfinf rrn\) 'his year uiid sold ifc well. The straw, :iftcr taking jiw.iy the , seori, w-igb.pl 11,I 1 ,- ton:, jvr :--re, auA the se-rt measured 18;| bushels. He bold the straw at £4

14s a ton, and values the seed at 10s per bushel (the current price of good linseed for sowing), so that he realises £16 10s an acre, which pays handsomely,