AGRICULTURAL.

Southland Times, Issue 935, 17 April 1868, Page 2

AGRICULTURAL.

Present harvest prospects indicate that i this season's yield of cereals will not ireach by a long distance the estimated quantity. It may be also assumed that from the continued wet weather the grain actually gathered in will be deteriorated in quality. We have therefore before us, as regards breadstuff's, the two probabilities with which to deal, namely, deficient quantity, and inferior quality. In the face of these two probabilities it is worth while to look at the state of matters elsewhere* to compare notes with other grain producing countries; and thus to judge from probable supplies of the prices likely to rule. Scarcity in a single district or for a single season ia not a matter of so great moment as to be regarded as a world's calamity and even when the deficiency of produce in one year exists in many places at the same time, the effect of one bad season is simply to clear off accumulations, and by an increased price for stocks on hand, producers are generally no losers. At the present time advices from all quarters, so far as received, report the last wheat harvest as deficient. English accounts show that the falling-off in the yield of the last season has been so great that now prices are likely to rule high for a time. Among the causes assigned for the deficiency, mention is made of a disease affecting the wheat crop similar to that which in "1845 attacked and destroyed the potatoe, " aggravated, however, by a want of tillering of the wheat in spring, and unhealthy precocity and an imperfect ripening, and the cold nights of the period of blooming.". This disease, it is said, showed itself last year in-a discoloured or blackened stem, more or less in every field, analogous to the potato disease in its worst form. .Referring to the question of foreign supplies, the " Mark Lane Express " says :— "this is becoming more and inoje problematical as the condition of othercountries becomes better known." The deficiency in the late harvest appears to have been nearly general over the continent of Europe. French accounts report that their granaries will this year have much less than usual to spare, and that their small surplus will be competed for by their neighbors who have been in the habit of having themselves a. surplus to dispose of. In Northern and Eastern Russia, Finland, Eastern Prussia, Tunisia, and Algeria, the population is in a state of actual starvation. In the two latter places especially, the harvest throughout a wide district of country was utterly destroyed. The only continental districts in which last season's supply would leave any surplus over the actual requirements, are those of Hungary and the Danube, and this surplus would be but small. The large estimate of the crop in the United States, appears to have been fallacious, and wheat is now ruling higher in New York than in Lon- | don. In reviewing the position of the

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Countries in which, as being nearer ourselves, we feel more interest, the statistical accounts of the South Australian wheat harvest show that the apprehended deficiency has become a reality, as the average yield of wheat haa been declared at 4| bushels to the acre. In Victoria thrashing operations, so far as they have been at present carried on, have given results varying from four to thirty bushels to the acre — upon the whole, showing a very material reduction in the estimated yield. We are yet without reliable data on which to assume the result as to the whole of the New Zealand provinces; the probability is, however, in favor of a considerable deficiency. In Otago, it is certain that not only is the area under wheat much less than usual, but that the crops are also inferior, i Competent judges aflirm that in our own j province the portion yet out — assumed to ' be nearly, if not fully, half of the entire crop — will, under the most favorable condition of the weather, barely pay for harvesting. Taking all circumstances into account, it appears clear that higher prices than those now ruling will, during the coming year, prevail. The prospect of a high price for bread is oue which cannot at any time be looked at with satisfaction, especially by the laboring classes of the community ; it has, however, with us its alleviation in the fact that employment at good wages is at .present plentiful, and likely so to continue. The agriculturists themselves are the parties mainly interested in the present condition of matters, and its influence upon their future ; and inasmuch as it must be admitted that the present season is altogether an exceptional one, no. good grounds exist for despondency, even on their part. The deficiency in quantity will be to some extent counterbalanced by an enhanced price, perhaps not to the extent to render the present year's returns equal on the average to preceding ones, but still sufficient to shield from ruinous loss. The experience of each succeeding year will place growers in a better position as the influence of the seasons on the various kinds of grain becomes better understood, and the apparent calamity of today may be overruled for future permanent good. The present unpropitious season for ripening and harvesting the crops should forcibly impress on the minds of all engaged in agricultural pursuits the necessity for extending, as much as possible, the range of their operations until it includes all legitimately connected with agriculture, either as a business or science.