French Agriculture.

Western Star, Issue 374, 21 August 1880, Page 2 (Supplement)

French Agriculture.

(S'S.OM OUR OWJf CORRMFONDHST.) Paris, May 20. To believe one party in France agriculture would be in decadence, while another ■asserts it to flourishing. 1 his divergence of opinion is due in a great measure to the wide variations of climate, and consequently *of interests. In the north the wheat is not satisfactory, it has all the appearance ■of suffering that it presented on the departure of winter ; in the south is is vigorous and splendid. In Algeria the harvest will commence under auspicious conditions in the course of ten days. Suffering or pros-. perity is then a matter of latitude and longitude, a question of soil, clirntite, and "system of cultivation, Indeed, in some ■cases the unfavorable reports- have been exaggerated. Pastoral are more prosperous than grain regions ; small farmers are not going down the hill; and the metayage system where landlord and tenant co-operate and share profits, has 'ameliorated hotli parties. The legislative discussion on the tariff bill proceeds rapidly, but it continues to be gftided by no fixed principles; if duties be abolished, or reduced in some cases, in others they are unreasonably augmented. For example, the budget nets 10 million fr. annually from duty on imported coal, to continue doing so, the duty of lg fr. per ton, or between 4 and 5 per cent, of its value is maintained. Now, French agriculturists are sadly in need of coal for their machinery and farms, while the manufacturer wants it for the fabrication of implements. Acids, so important in the preparation of manures, will be admitted Tree, hut ammoniacal salts will be taxed. Nitrogenous compounds are in great demand as fertilisers ; they can never be obtained in too large quantities, because their source is limited, and their consumption 'daily augments. Since thirty years their •value has doubled. However, the nitrates of soda and potash will be admitted free, and guano, fish manures, and animal black, or their compounds, are exempted from duty.

Instead of reducing the impost on drinks, and that would nearly all find its way into the pockets of the retail dealer, the representatives prefers to reduce the taxes on The transport of goods and passengers. The government is next to be pledged to a reduction of the sugar duties, and which will be effected by uniting off for that end •some of the annual surplus of the budget. This tax is as much a vexation as a grievance. It is only in France where the ’duty is levied on the sugar actually manufactured ; not a morsel escapes the eye of the revenue officer. In Holland and Belgium, the duty is raised on a quantity 'of sugar contained in a determined volume *1)1 juice; in Germany it is on the weight of the beet itself, ignoring the causes that may produce important variations <in the richness of the juice; in Austria and ■Russia the mode of taxation is based on 'the c&pacity of the apparatues employed in ;the fabrication of the sugar, a more elastic principle still. In any case, to say nothing of the benefits the consumer would derive, a reduction in the tax on sugar would lead to a greater area of land being cultivated for that root, and this means at the same '■time more live stock and more cereals. The conclusion to draw from the conflicting reports as to agricultural prospects, is one of hopefulness; farmers trust to make good this season much of the loss they experienced during recent years. Wheat fields prevent many bald patches ; ■spring sowings have been effected under favorable conditions, hut vegetation is rather backward owing, to cold winds. Fruit on the whole promises well, some trees are expected to have more fruit than leaves. Frosts are still apprehended for Tinej-ards. The government has published some sad statistics of the ravages of the phylloxera. At the commencement of 1877, there were '2B.Departeraents invaded by the vine-bug, 39 at the end of 1878, and 43 at the close of 1879. Before the invasion of the disease France had 5,371,282 acres under vines ; of this total 1,172,936 acres have been totally destroyed, or nearly one-fifth of the vine-yards of Prance. There are ■about 800,000 acres attacked by the disease. ■Naturally these regions have most suffered •where no efforts were made to check the ravages. Autumnal submersion is the remedy most in favor, then replanting with American stocks ; next sulphuret of carbon, »nd then should carbonates, as preventives, and each remedy demands liberal manuring of the vine in spring. The first is now all but accepted as a perfect •cure. It is well-known that wine does not inherit the same degree of acidity as the must rrora which it is derived, but at the second racking it possesses a degree of acidity which remains next to invariable. Some German chemists have been studying this subject, they have experimented with several chemical agents in the solubility of cream of tartar in water. The . more a wine is alcoholic, the less it is rich sin tartaric acid and potash; medium and

common wines contain from 2 to 3 grammes of tartar per quart; now the direct addition of tartaric acid to wine, feebly diminishes the solubility of tartar ; while acetic acid augments it; but malic acid is the best dissolvant. The acidity of wine is not due to tartaric acid, hut to malic acid, tartrate of potash, tannin, succinic, and acetic acids, i In its normal state wine only contains from Jto 1 per 1,000 of acetic acid ; when double that quantity is present the wine acquires its peculiar sharp taste. Tree tartaric acid is only found in unripe grapes, and the absence of this acid indicates complete maturity; the quantity of tartaric acid, per quart of wine, varies from 1 to 9 grammes, but the finest wines do not contain more than 2 or 3. The quantity of tannin diminishes with age, while the glycerine on the contrary augments. The Omnibus and Cab Companies of Paris, have chemistspermanently employed studying the value of the rations given to their horses, and noting the variations in the composition of these rations, as repre sented by their immediate principles. M. Grandeau, who has been charged by the Cab Company to conduct the experiments, states that if the same rational or scientific methods for feeding horses were adopted in the army, as by the public vehicle companies, the nutritive value of the food would be increased 50 to 100 per cent., and the budget saved some millions a year. Messrs Pierre and Lemetayer have analysed green rye, so much in favor for green feeding in the vicinity of Paris ; when about 8 inches in height the dry matter increases at the rate of four-fold in a few weeks, and doubles this weight when coming into ear ; however, it not the less at this stage contains 80 per cent, of water. They examined some ears of ripened grain in several localities, and found them as empty of grains as if they had been threshed, this they attribute to the natural fondness of the birds for the grain, as well as its being the first cereal which arrives at maturity. By the law of 1791 Municipal Councils have the power to u provisionally” _ tax bread and meat, but not wheat and wine ; in several departments this law is still in vigor, as at Marseilles, Toulouse, Toulon, Troyes, Cherbourg, Douai, &c. To be in operation since 1791 is rather liberally acting on the provisional clause. The best preventive of hydrophobia has proved in making the owners of mad dogs responsible for the injuries they commit; this is what the official proclamations recommend. In some parts of France muzzling dogs is compulsory ; in others it is prohibited. Several agricultural societies have furnished farmers with legally drawn up form, by which they can, in making them sign; hind sellers of fertilisers to the Consequences of selling spurious manures ; when the latter arrives the constable is to select a sample by hazard, seal it up in a bottle, and enclosing it with the executed form, send it to the office of the local agricultural society forexaraination if necessary. The elemen ts of fertilisers are commercially valued thus: organic nzate. 1 fr. per lb ; ammoniacal or nitric.azite, L| fr. per lb ; soluable and assimilable phosphoric acid, i fr.; insoluable, \ fr. ; pure potash, \ fr. per lb. In the Lands of the South of France where pines are reared for turpentine, trees, covering a space of 150,000 acres, have been destroyed by the late severe winter, and representing a cash value of 33 million frs. Since M. Pasteur’s plan of inoculation for hen cholera has been practised, few poultry yards are now ravaged by that diseaw. The following are average prices of cereals per cwt. : —Wheat, 15j fr. ; rye, 11£ fr ; barley, Ilf fr. ; oats, Ilf fr. ; buck-wheat, 12 fr,; maize, 7 fr. ; bran, Bto 10 fr. ; sugar, 28 to 37 fr. Butter, per lb, 2J to 4 fr.; Gruyer echeese, 74 to 85 fr. per cwt. In one week 111 horses have been sold to the butcher, from 55 to 150 fr. each. The mean price, live weight, for oxen per lb, is 15 sous ; veal, 22; sheep, 18 ; fat pigs, 16 ,; lean- ditto, 13 sous. Eggs, from 50 to 92 fr. per [ thousand. Lambs from 12 to 26 fr. each.