AGRICULTURAL STATISTICS.

Patea Mail, Volume V, Issue 419, 23 April 1879, Page 2

AGRICULTURAL STATISTICS.

The Economist gives the statistics of the harvest of the chief countries of the northern hemisphere for 1878. Some of the figures may interest our readers. In Europe, France stands at the head of the list, with 206,250,000 bushels of corn. Next comes Russia, wilh 105.000. bushels, followed by Germany with 115,000,000 bushels,. Spain with 100,000,('00 bushels, AnstroHungary with a like amount, and Italy with 05,000,000 bushels. Seventh in the list comes Great Britain and Ireland, with 02,500,000, being an average of 27 bushels per acre. From this amount the fall is very rapid, Turkey in Europe coming next with 85,000,000 bushels. Omitting ten or twelve names, .the list ends with Norway, with only 250,000 bushels. Out of Europe, the chief producers were —the United States, witli a larger harvest than France and Great Britain put together, namely, 800.000. bushels, Algeria and Canada following with 19,000,000 and 15,000,000 bushels respectively. The total for all the countries of which the report speak, is 1,883,815,000 bushels. It is said that Europe is 50 million bushels below the average of her harvests, and will have to import 165 million bushels, of which Great Britain will require about 92 millions. This is equal to the largest amount.she hasever imported. Yet,strange to say, the price is lower than it has previously been in tin’s century, namely, 39s per quarter. Taking it at 40s, the harvest of Britain would be worth about £23,000,000, which for the 8,382,000 acres under crop, gives an average of about £ 6 16s per acre. “ Deducting the cost of production, and marketing very little, if anything, will remain for the cultivator’s remuneration. This, though a bad look out for him, is undoubtedly a boon to the consuming million.” Taking the foreign requirements at the same rate, the cost will be about £28,000,000, and last year the same quantity would have cost more than £30,000,000. “The aggregate saving, then, to the consuming public, in the cost of wheat, will be this year more than £14,000,000 over that of last, partly at the expense of the home grower, and partly at that of the foreigner.” The Statistical Society’s Journal furnishes some other figures relating to the United Kingdom that may interest our farmers. The per centage of the total area cultivated (over 47 millions of acres) which the chief kinds of crops cover, is as follows:—Corn crops (including beans and peas) in England and Scotland 3C, in Wales 18, and in Ireland 12 percent. Permanent pasture occupies over 50 per cent, of cultivated area of the three Kingdoms, being as high as 636 in Wales, and as low as 24’6 in Scotland. Bare follow occupies 2 - 4 per cent, in England, and only 0 - l (one tenth) per cent, in Ireland. If we divide again the item ‘ corn crop,’ we find that of the area covered by them, wheat occupies 41 per cent, in England, Bin Ireland, and 6in Scotland. Oats, however, tells a different tale, and remind one of Dr Johnson’s definition of that grain, “ The food of horses in England, of men in Scotland.” It forms 20 per cent, of the corn crop in England, and 73 per cent, in Scotland, but Ireland is not to be beaten, although Dr Johnson said nothing about her. She boasts 79 per cent, of oats in her com crops.

Turning to green and root crops—which by the way occupy in the United Kingdom 10 per cent, of the total area cultivated —we are struck by the importance attached to turnips and sweeds; they occupy in Scotland 72 per cent, of the green crop area, in England 54, in Ireland 25 per cent. Throughout the United Kingdom they cover half the green crop acreage, that is, half of 10 per cent of the whole area cultivated. Every hundred acres of land in the United Kingdon producing crop or grass will therefore include-five acres of turnips and sweeds. The area under these roots w.ll

be nearly 2,500,000 acres. Mangolds are favored in England to more than 12 per cent, of the green crop area, but in Scotland scarcely obtain a footing at all. Taking the United Kingdom throughout, every hundred acres of green crop would include four-tenths of an acre of carrots, four acres and six-tenths of cabbages, Icobl-rabi and rape, and eight acres of vetches and lucerne. The figures relating to potatoes show distinctly where the bog apple is in greatest favor. They occupy only II per cent, of green crop area in England, 24 in Scotland, and 64 in Ireland, bat Wales came up pretty well with 33 per cent. With respect to live stock, it appears that for every 100 acres under crop, fallow and grass, there are in the United Kingdom 4 horses, Wales having nearly 5, and Ireland a little over 3; the same area has also over 20 head of cattle, Ireland being at the top of the list with 26, and England at the bottom with 16’5. The same area again has 8 pigs, Ireland with 9, being a shade in advance ol England, while Scotland, with only 3, is quite out of it. The same area, once more, throughout the throe Kingdoms supports 68 sheep, but the difference between the Kingdoms is striking, Ireland showing only 26—the same as she did in cattle, England is better with 75, Wales still better with 106, but Scotland far away the best with 150. Those who are accustomed to talk of the poverty and barrenness of Scotland will probably open their eyes if they compare her returns for livestock with those of Ireland, or even those of England. England shows only half the number of sheep, and two-thirds of the number of cattle per 100 acres that Scotland shows. Of course the English sheep may be better, but the explanation of the disparity in numbers will not be found in that fact, so much as in the statement above, respecting green crop area, 72 per cent, of which is occupied by turnips ami swcods in Scotland against 54 per cent, in England. The farmer will also note that the permanent pasture is only 24 per cent, in Scotland, whilst it is 45 in England. The inference is clearly against pasture, and in favor of alternating with crops.