BRITISH AGRICULTURE.

Otago Witness, Issue 1975, 26 September 1889, Page 7

BRITISH AGRICULTURE.

(Feom Ouk English Ageicultubal Correspondent.) London, August 10. THE HARVEST.

Harvesting became common in the early districts of England last week, the weather being" fine until Saturday. This week the work has become general in many parts of Scotland and Ireland, as well as in the greater portion of England ; but unfortunately ehowera of rain have occasionally hindered operations. Thia la all the worse on account of the laid condition of all the best of the crops of wheat and barley, which need to be got into sheaf as speedily as possible, as the grain will be revived if much more rain falls upon it while it is lying flat on the ground. There are thousands of acres in the country as fla.fc asif a heavy roller bad been passed over them, and an the corn has been lying thus for three weeks tbe quality of the grain has already been injured more or less Beriously, while the yield will be much less than it would have been if the crops had remained standing. In my last letter I said the crops had been improved by rain, and they had been greatly improved up to that time ; but we have had such a quantity of rain since thafc a great deal of damage has been done. I do not mean to say that, even now, more barm than good haß been done by the rain, for if it had not come when it did come the barley and oat oropa would have been much below average; but having greatly increased the growth of these crops, a and that of wheat also on light soils, it undid part of the benefit by laying all the best of the corn, wheat and barley especially. Still we have a crop of wheat above average, barley and oats being about average or Blightly above, and the only question now is as to whether wa shall be able to secure them without further damage. A number of returns published in the Agricultural Gazette of Monday last, from 38 of the English counties and five Welsh countien, give the following results : — Over Under Total No. Orop. Average. Average. Average of reporta . Wheat ... 100 83 18 206 Barley ... & 100 49 200 Oats ... 68 97 56 3U Beans. .... 27 42 56 125 £?»» ..-. 28 54 3? 117 Hay ... 187 22 1 210 Potatoes ... 102 ea 15 iso Turnips ... 98 88 17 203 Mangels ... 83 73 18S Taking it ail vound, this is the best record 1 have evar seen. The root cropß are still growing splendidly, and will be better than tney are represented in the table, white wa $uai*

have a second cut of hay as much over average as the first was.

THB HOP OROP. After many vicissitudes the hop crop now promises to be a fine one. At anyrate w will be if we have dry and sunny weather from this time up to the pioking period. Exaggerated complaints of mould have been circulated, no doubt by those who have "axea to grind"; but, as a matter of fact, mould is serious in only a few gardens,. The vine ia wonderfully flourishing, and is being profusely covered with hops in the best of the gardens, so that at leaßt an average crop may be expected, unless wet weather comes to spoil prospects. The German crop iB expected to be about up to average, while in Belgium the yield will be barely up to the mark. It is to be feared that prices will be low.

THE FINANCIAL OUTLOOK.

The present price of wheat, in the face of the statistical position, is exasperatingly low. The average ia only about 30s per quarter, or half a crown lower than it was a year ago. A fortnight ago, in consequence of unsettled weather prevailing up to the verge of harvest, there_ .was a rise of 6d a quarter on two occasions ; but during the past, week trade has been dull at the advance. j Yefc it is obvious that the world's crop this year is less than a year's consumption, and that the low stooks must ba reduced to an extreme minimum before the end of the careal year. Our own crop may be three-quarters of a million quarters more than it was last year ; but a good deal of it has been badly injured in quality, and unless we have fine weather for the rest of harvest, much of it will be unfit for xnakiDg fine flour. In any case this increase is quite trifling. What is of more importance is the deficiency in all the chief exporting countries except the United States. There the crop is expected to be about 475,000,000 bushels, and the surplus will be a large one, in spite of the necessity of replenishing the nearly exhausted reserve stocks. But Russia has a very poor crop of winter wheat, and the recent reports of the spring crop having so marvellously improved aa to make up for the deficiency of the winter portion are not generally believed. Official reports from Austria-Hungary denote a very deficient crop for that country, while Roumania'e crop ia far below the mark. The final report of the Agricultural department of India, just reoeived, estimates the total of the Indian crop at 6,510,979 tons, as compared with 7,305,500 tons, the average of the previous four years. This is a reduction of 964 per cent., and, as compared with last year's orop, there i« a reduction of nearly 782,000 tons. South America has no appreciable surplus, and Canada never has one of her own of any account, independently, that is, of American wheat shipped from Canadian porta. Australia, aB a whole, has no surplus from the last orop, whatever we may get thence next summer. As for European importing countries, besides our own, France and Portugal are the only ones which have first-rate crops of wheat. The French crop is estimated at about 40,000,000qr,0r about 6,000,000qr more than last year's yield. This is probably a great exaggeration ; but if it proyes true, as France imported 8,000,000qr last year, the presumption is that she will do with 2,000 ) 000qr in the coming cereal year. But Italy has a poor orop, and Spain, Germany, Holland. Belgium, and Denmark have about an average, taking them all together. Now this is a very much worse presentation than that of last year at this time, and then the production of the world was put at less than a year's consumption. In spite of the enormous Russian crop, it seems that that estimate was correct, aB the stocks of wheat and flour in the principal parts of Europe are deficient by quantities equal to over 2,000,000qr, as compared with the stocks held at the same porta on August 1, 1888. The present low range of prices, therefore, is an anomaly, and the only way of accounting for it is by the force of custom. Buyers in Europe have got into the habit of getting wheat at their own prices, and will not be driven out of it except by an actual Bcaroity in the supply. They have safely trusted to the possibility of supplying tbeir needs at low prices "from band to mouth" for several years, and they expeot to do so always. Before the end of { 12 months I believe they will find themselves very much out of their reckoning ; but for some months to come supplies of wheat from California and elsewhere are likely to be on a liberal scale, and if the bulk of the European crop proves fit for threshing quickly after harvest, there is no reason to expect any material rise in prices during the autumn. Turning to the live stock and meat trades we find a much more hopeful outlook. Feed is bo abundant, and must be for the rest of the season, after all the rain we have had, while our stocks of hay and oats for winter consumption will be so enormous, that prices can scarcely fail to keep up. Sheep are dearer than ever— loa a head at the fairs more than they were at the same fairs a year ago. Cattle also sell remarkably well, though the fat cattle market has been occasionally dull on hot days. Cheese will probably keep low in prices, aa the quantity made thia season must be unusually large. Butter also ia likely to be plentiful and rather cheap during the autumn in consequence of the full supply of succulent feed increasing the milk yield of the cows ; but in the winter it will probably be as dear as usual. The wool trade seems likely to be a good one though somewhat slow at the moment, as even a slight concession induces buyers to purchase heavily.

carter's crossbred wheats.

This week 1 have been to see Carter's wheats, produced by artificial cross-fertilisation, as more than once referred to during the last three years in my letters. They are looking remarkably well and will soon be out. One very early wheat is a cross between the old English April wheat — a lightly bearded variety — and the big and rather coarse bearded golden grain — an American variety. It is growing side by side with the Russian Lodoga wheat, which is now recommended in Canada for its earliness, and the new variety is quite as early as the Lodoga in earing, and earlier ripening. It is particularly suitable for sowing in the spring, I find it is included in a set of the new varieties which Messrs Garter are now sending out. They have grown 11 varieties on a scale large enough for sale, and these compose the parcel to be sent out — lgal of each — and the price is sgs. The idea is that these wheats will be tried to see which are most suitable to various countries and districts. A collection has just been bought for the French Government, and the Queen and the Prince of Wales have each ordered a collection. Soma of the new varieties bid fair to prove a great acquisition.

THE BOABD OP AGKIOOLTDBE BILL.

Thia measure has passed through Parliament, but the came of the president of the board has pot yet been announced. Some suppose it will be Mr Chaplin, well-known as a Tory politician, a Lincolnshire landowner, and an owner of racehorsaa. He is not particularly popular among farmers, and would not be the right man for the post, in my opinion, as I think hiß chief anxiety is to advance himself father than to help the farmers. But it is diffi3 oult to suggest a fit man for the post. Farmers are so badly represented in Parliament that there is not a single member of the House of who is at once influential enough in

that body and earnest enough in his advocacy of farmers' interests to be singled out as obviously a good man for the presidentship of the Board of Agriculture.

THB TITHES BILL.

An abominably onesided bill to facilitate the recovery of tithes ia still kept hanging over us by_ the Government, in spite of serious opposition to it from various sections of the House of Commons, Hitherto the tithe rentchazga has been, by law, a charge on the land, and it was intended by the framers of the Tithe Commutation Act of 1836 that the owners of land should pay it. But, as with every other charge that could be got rid of, thia has been generally shifted on tp the tenants, although, of course, they pay lees rent in consequence. By law, however, the oharge has never been regarded as a personal debt due from tha tenant, as the bill now under,, consideration makes it. If an occupier of land refuses to pay the charge, the tithe-owner can distrain on the produce of the land, or certain other kinds o! property upon the land j and if he cannot meet his claim in this way, he can seiie the land and hold it till he has sold enough produce to cover his legal demand. The new bill does not do away with either of these securities, but, in addition, proposes to allow the tithe owner to recover his dues in the county court, as if tithes were a personal debt of the tenant's ; and although the charge is thus made a personal debt, its priority over all other dets ia retained. If the bill iB passed, the disturbances in opposition to the payment of tithes and elsewhere are certain to become greater than ever, although the Bole object of the bill is to do away with them.

AN EXTBAOBDINARY MILK BUSINESS

A description of aD Edinburgh dairyman's business, given by Mr S. W. Wallace, of Edinburgh, in the Dairy, shows how profitable milk Belling is under certain circumstances. The dairy which he takes as his example is not the only one of the kind, though it ia obvious that the system pursued in it could not be generally carried out. The owner buys cows immediately after calving, and fattens them off before they become dry. Presumably he buys old oowb ; otherwise his plan is a very wasteful one to the country. The extraordinary average of four gallons of milk per day is obtained from the cows by means of liberal feeding, during the firat part of the time, and when the yield of any of them falls to three gallons the animals are putting on meat rapidly. They are sold fat at the end of nine months, aa a rule. The milk is sold at B|d a gallon the year round, and Mr Wallace allows 3£d for the daily value of each cow's manure, thus bringing her return up to 3a 2jd a day . The food given ia as follows :— s. d. 91b mixed meals, cakes, and treacle, at 7s per cwb ... ... ... ... 0 6J |owt turnips, at 16s a ton ... ... 0 6 Jcwt brewer's grains, at 20s per ton ... 0 6 101b hay, at 4s per cwt ... ... ... 0 4i Ulb bedding, at £2 per ton ... ... 0 2\ Depreciation in cows, £i each in nine mouths ... ... ... ... 0 3J Interest on cost of cow, £22 10s, at 6 per cent. ... ... ... ... 0 01 Goal, labour, &c. ... ... ... 0 3 Total cost per day, each cow ... 2 8£ This leaves a profit of 6d a day for each cow. It will be Baid, perhaps, that it ia easy to show a profit on paper; but Mr Wallace declares that he is cure of hie details. To obtain such results he admits that the management must be perfect, and that the farmer must possess the necessary skill to buy good' milkers, and, above all, must Bee that a cow is sold at once when her yield of milk fails to pay her daily cost, When she is putting on meat for the butcher the item of 3Jd a day for depreciation need not be reckoned, and if her milk fall to about three gallons a day in the latter part of her time, it is presumed that she is putting on beef to the value of 6d a day. The cow must go to the butcher as soon as her milk falls a little below three gallons. It may be said that B|d per gallon is & high average price on the farm in these times ; but, on the other hand, ' the rent of a dairy farm close to Edinburgh is said to be £4 an acre.

LOSS ON THB WINDSOR SHOW. Some idea of the expenses of suoh a show as that of the Royal Agricultural Society at Windsor may be obtained from the fact that, although the gate money, exclusive of what was paid for season tickets, amounted to £14,732, it is estimated that there is a loss of between £5000 and £6000, Large sums of money were received from stand- holders and for entries of live stook, and the Mansion House fund, in assistance of the society, amounted to more than £5000. The ground cost nothing in the first instance ; but a good deal was spent in draining it and making temporary roads of railway sleepers up to and partly through it ; but the cost of the shedding is the most serious item in the expenses. Out of 50 shows held since the society started, 35 have involved a loss, and only 15 a profit. But only at the disastrous show at Kilburn, near London, in 1879, has the loss been as great as that of Windsor. The Kilburn show was spoilt by a deluge of rain, and the loss was over £15,000. It will probably be a long time before the society will again venture on a show in the London district. The takings at Windsor have only once been exceeded, and the ex pensee, in addition to the large sum given in prizes, mußfc have been enormous. But the society, in spite of all its losses, is wealthy, and the number of members has increased by 2752 during the last 12 months, now amounting to 11,231, a total never before approached. The next ahow of the society is to be held at Plymouth, June 21 27, 1890.