COST OF AMERICAN WHEAT.

Patea Mail, 30 November 1880, Page 3

COST OF AMERICAN WHEAT.

In estimating the cost of placing American wheat on the English market, one important item is often left out of the question. Wc boar it said that wheat can bo carried from Chicago, or some other great central depot, for such a price, but Messrs Read and Poll point out that Chicago is not the wheat field, or the place of production. Allowance, says tho Commissioners’ report, must be made for the carriage, over some 250 or 450 miles from tho farmers’ station to that great emporium, and the rates for those distances are very much heavier than over the great main lines of traffic. Messrs Read and Pell sum up the cost of producing a quarter of wheat (4801b) in the West and placing it in the bands of the English consumers, as follow: Cost of growing, including de-

£2 7 94 Tin’s is reckoning at GOlb to the bushel, but to bring the estimate up to the English weight per quarter, nearly 2s would have to be added. In this estimate, we presume the Commissioners have struck the average as nearly as possible, but the cost of producing a bushel of wheat depends greatly upon the yield per acre, which is governed chiefly by tho seasons. The yield of wheat in the United States over a long series of years, has just exceeded 12 bushels an acre : for the year 1879 it was returned at 13,1 bushels an acre. The life of tho wheat grower on the prairies is not one to be envied by any New Zealand farmer.

livery to local depot ... iil 8 0 Freight to Chicago ... ... 0 6 8 Thence to New York ... ... 0 5 2 IStcw York to Liverpool ... 0 4 Handling in America ... ... 0 X 1 Liverpool charges ... 0 2 1