DESPONDING PICTURE OF FRENCH AGRICULTURE.

Ashburton Guardian, Volume VII, Issue 1782, 6 March 1888, Page 4

DESPONDING PICTURE OF FRENCH AGRICULTURE.

, <» — A very deeponding picture of French | agriculture is given In a recent series «.f 1 Consular reports. Writing f rom i ft 5 Kochelle, Mr Warbmton declares that . larmeru are going from bad to worao • ; corn, m spite of »li the d.-ties on imp rt/ I cannot be grown at a profit, snc( all kinds ' Vft*K Ye fl ' ock n hl . va talle * io P«ce .face 18S5, and cell cneiper at every fair t^an a< the preceding one. The agricultaristo - oave tried market gardening and fruit I growing Blnce the grapes fail,d, but with i no result except to bring down the prices • °ii ? a . nd ve 8 6table » to half what they . cell for elsewhere. If they weie farmer* of large farms instead of owners of s;n*ll ones, they might by a better syat^ G f tillage, increase their returns create and •aye expeme by the use of labor-Jivlne appliances. But peasant- prop t let OM 00 £ not do this, and their farmmg i» »| ove J? and wasteful of labor, and t£ ret«n T* aoce (ofc wheat, for inotance> often not more than half of what It wo^id be on a properly managed f arm ?.! England. 'There w nothing f o -?hJ . the Consul writes, • excep? to ablSn their property and take to aome other mode of earning a living, or to be sun ported at the expense of he rLV?ne nation. Tl*ey naturally prefer the latter voting power is very great : end tbe next , general election will probably turn on the question of. real, down right protection by impoamg duties on agricultural product sufficiently large to enable them to Jive and thrive on the land. Consul P auoG e. fote also writes from Nantea, showing that the depression m trade and the reduction of the import duty for the relief of the agricultural claeees hava greatly aff cted •he local manufacture of agricultural implements, the local workshops being uq able to compete with tho British and German makers. The Consul at Marseilles refers also to the question m conneciont with the corn trade of that port. It anpeara that here there has been a great decrease iv the imports, owing to the extra tax voted by the French Chamber and « it is feared by many thet a vital blow has been struck at the Marseilles grain trade, which is one of the moßt important m the place. I—l'1 — 1 ' Farming World >r j