COLONIAL HARVESTS.

Globe, Volume III, Issue 241, 18 March 1875, Page 4

COLONIAL HARVESTS.

(Sydney Morning Herald,')

Harvest reports are now rife. They reach us from Queensland, Victoria, South Australia, and New Zealand, It is not a little to our discredit that we know less of our own crops than those of our neighbors’. One seeks in vain through the country journals for a word concerning the appearance of any growing crops, so that in the absence of a systematic inquiry, such as the Agricultural Society has commenced, but has not yet developed, we are in the dark pretty much as to what our own crop will yield. Gathering up the statements that are met with here and there, they seem to justify the expectation of an average somewhat below that of last year. The wheat crop has suffered in some districts from want of rain, although the hot weather has been very favourable to harvest operations. The quality is understood to be unusually good. In Queensland the heat has been more felt than here, but the breadth of wheat is not such as to make the circumstance of much moment, being only a little over three thousand acres. Considering the despairing wails that have reached us fiom Victoria concerning the effects of the drought, we suppose the farming brotherhood of that colony are to be congratulated on reaping a crop of wheat that fails only a little below that of last year; at least that is the estimate founded upon the the facts derived from the threshings that have already taken place, But the grain is

of fine quality, and where harvested, well harvested. The variation in yield is very great. The greatest yield in Bendigo, for instance, is twenty-five bushels per acre, the least ten. In the East Loddon portion of the district, the maximum is thirtyfive, the minimum eight. In one portion of the Wimmera district the maximum is twenty, the minimum four; in another the maximum is thirty, and the minimum five. In the Grant district, the maximum is twenty-five, and the minimum eight. In the Murray district, the maximum is twenty-five, and the minimum four. In passing, it may be observed that the great difference recorded between the maxima and minima will soon cease to obtain, if what is stated of the improved system of farming be true. The advanced farmers are all forsaking the old exhausting system of farming, and listening to the advice of science with respect to maintaining the permanent fertility of the soil by means of restorative measures; of which the rotation of crops, artificial grasses, and sheep are the chief. When these are generally adopted, and the present tendency appears to be in that direction, the minima will be levelled up, and the decennial average will not, we think, be below twenty bushels. It may be expected that blights to which wheat is liable will occur occasionally, but never with such virulence as they have done, the plant being generally in a more healthy state. In Victoria, oats and barley occupy a more important place than they do in the other colonies, together with hay, and this year the crops are spoken of as very good. The heat has not proved too strong for the wheat crop of South Australia, The threequarter of a million acres under the crop are commended by the journals of the colony for having done their duty and brought forth their increase. Harvest is for the most part at an end, and an unusual quantity of grain has been threshed out in the field. From the computations already made it appears probable that the yield will prove in excess of what it has been for several years past. Even in many of the old agricultural districts, generally thought to be worked out, u iwonted productive power has been discovered, and the results obtained on farms that have been the subjects of an improved system have been so good as to justify the expectation of much larger returns in future, and a greater profit per pound sterling on the capital invested. The unprecedented average of fourteen bushels per acre is looked for, not by sanguine but practical judges. If so, this will be five bushels an acre beyond the average of the past ten seasons. And five bushels per acre was exactly the measure of the entire crop since 1870 ! Making some deduction, however, the authorities in the colony are settling down to the supposition that after the home requirements are supplied there will be a disposable surplus of 9,000,000 bushels, or 200,000 tons.

Last year there was a mouth opened wide enough in Europe to take in eight times this quantity, but it is now closed, or indifferent to the supply from the same source. The crop of Great Britain has been unusually large, and France, America, and Russia, from nearer points, offer to supply the deficiency. The difference between the price in London and Adelaide affords not a sufficient margin of profit to tempt exporters to traffic at such a distance. Considerable anxiety is therefore felt as to where a market can be found in which so considerable a bulk can be sold profitably, Shippers are accordingly looking about. Victoria from her 349,976 acres will pretty nearly supply her own wants ; New South Wales and Queensland will be customers, if not supplied from California. Trade in wheat having been opened up with the Cape, the surplus of South Australia will go to satisfy whatever demand may be expressed in that direction probably. When this is accomplished there will still be a great quantity of breadstuffa undisposed of; Speculators have lately turned attention to Central America. Great quantities of wheat and flour are imported annually by Brazil, from Austria and the United States chit fly, and an expectation is encouraged, by an examination of the prices given, that South Australian shippers may command a portion of the trade. The Observer shows this anticipation to be justified by figures. Contrasting the price of American and Austrian brands at Rio de Janeiro with the market price of wheat at Adelaide, and allowing for all expenses, it is stated that the net proceeds of the transaction to the South Australian shipper would be £ls per ton, or a clear profit of £4 10s above the price now ruling in Adelaide. We have no small interest in this question, since our shipping is sure to do some of the transport. The freight back will be in coffee, cotton, and sugar.