THE CROPS AND MONEY.

Southland Times, Issue 1047, 30 October 1868, Page 2

THE CROPS AND MONEY.

-..•■■♦■ • '"' ■ (From the 'Bankers' Magazine*.) The Bank meetings* and opinions about the bulk and the quality of the crops* are" once more, as they^ are. periodically, conjoined. What, then, is the look of things) this time this year* as contrasted, with the look of the' same things this time lastf year? The great banks are paying slightly diminished dividends, they .also are complaining more ;- but as regards the crops, and food prospects generally* they are decidedly better, and on the whole encouraging. What is in progress in the Australian colonies for utilizing, for this market, their excessive supplies of cattle and sheep is .well known; but there is a good deal more in progress, in the same direction, to. which it is fitting that the attention of the reader should now be called. Influential movement* are on foot, first, permanently to increase the supply of live stock to a point that will as permanently reduce prices; and, secondly, to enhance,' by something like 10 or 20 per cent the yield of an ingathered wheat harvest. We shall first briefly address ourselves to the" new supply of live stock that is at length to be brought from the Elver Plate. There the farming interest is at a halt practically by the enormou3bulk of their herds. Raising a calculation on the actual export of hides during several years, the ap* proximate result is gained that there are now, and at all times available for export from the Biver Plate, the large number of 18,000,000 head of horned cattle. The herds graze at will on boundless praries, receiving no attention and needing none ; and presenting carcasses as untainted as buffalo. And the practibility of transport over so, great a distance as the Plate has recently received practical demonstration ; the trading steamers to London, and we believe also to Liverpool, having brought all the way, on deck, exposed to all weathers, fine specimens of bullocks, of milk giving cows, and of sheep and lambs. The lambs and sheep are small; the cows are of the height of medium sized Welsh; the bullocks range from rather small to extremely heavy, j Well, the practicability of transport 1 having fbeen demonstrated, a number of cattle boats, wilt we understand, be built specially for the trade ; each amply formed with water distilling apparatus to water 1,000 hrad of cattle daily,.or. 500 head of cattle and 1,000 head of sheep daily. The cattle when bought by the 1,000 head cost £1 a head, and the sheep when bought by the 1,000 head cost Is a head. There is consequently a wide profit margin; and further, there i is no doubt that were such a trade developed to something like an extent commensurate with our wants, living would be cheapened to the benefit of the working classes, and to the advantage of. our foreign trade. The subject at least is worth naming, for there was no motion of it this time last year, although, it is said that negociations have been in progress during two years or more. The enhancing,' by something like 10 or 20 per cent, the yield of an ingathered wheat harvest must, at the first blush, read somewhat wild. ' It, however, is a reasonable proposition, and one destined to receive acceptance wherever the proper explanations are also given. An analytical examination of the wheat berry

brings to light as much matter for reflection .as. the examination of the residuum ; of chalk water by a powerful miscroscope. Man may really live on bread &ione; provided however he takes the wheat as nature gives it to him, grinding and eating with no separation of the flour of the outer skin from that of the flour of the inner starch. At present , we use the starch, and in the many forms of pollards and brans make over the outer skin to fatten market poultry and pigs, and to give flesh and muscle to draught horses. Therein we err, and therein is the proposed remedy. It is proposed that hereafter the whole produce of the Wheat berry should be consumed by us, and taking the subject from the point of view of bulk, there would be something like a gain of ten per cent. But taking nourishment with Jbulk, it appears that the gain would absolutely reach to 20 per cetft. The inner part of the wheatberry, to which at present the manufac- • ture of flour is confined, is mere starch, contributing to the maintenance of animal heat, but neither nourishing nor developing flesh nor bone. The flesh and bone hburishing parts of the tfheat berry reside solely and absolutely in the outer skin ; in the pollards and the brans of modern wheat manufacture. To nourish ourselves properly and economically, we ; have therefore to return to the wheat berry in all its parts. This done, the poor especially would be better formed, more muscular, larger men ; and as for the rich, they at least would have better teeth, and would retain them longer. The English poor, like the Scotch poor, would be able to dispense with beef. The Irish poor in Ireland would become as muscu- ! lar and active as the Irish poor in* the Unitei Kingdom. How is the change to be brought about ?. Well, the process of converting the skin of wheat into as smooth, fine flour as the starch of wheat, has been duly secured by patent. That ,-is the consummation of the first step. The second also has been perfected, or is in course of being so ; namely, the great London and country bakers are beginning to make the new flour into bread. " ! - Like the exportation of cattle from the 1 ; lliver Plate, the tise of -the entire wheat belongs to the present year and season. : It is impossible to make light of the new agencies forj cheapening food. On the contrary, their consideration is an invigorating assuring exercise. They are evidence of fertility of mind, of elasticity of of providing for pressure at the •points of contact. One of the many things, that trade suffers from at present is virtual dearth; bread is dear, and, as just stated, it is not nourishing* which is 'worse than dear; beef is dear, and generally unattainable after dear bread. So the new movements, which by the way we cannot help wishing well, are important accessories towards a better state of things. As for the home crops they are fair ; we are N even inclined to think they Will be found fully up to the average of future years. With nearly every field drained the climate of the country has no doubt changed, and with the change must be accepted the conditions of grain gtpwth and ripening peculiar to America and other warm countries.. The American crops are ripened and gathered annually Under like conditions to those just experienced in this country. As for the foreign crops, those particularly of the Danube and of America, the accounts deceived of them is of the utmost promise; There is to be abundance for .man and beast. With the ingathering •of the crops everywhere, and the re--;moval of doubt as to the extent and • quantity of the yield, and especially under the pressure of utilizing the whole of the Wheat berry, and of exporting cattle and sheep from the River Plate, the times must mend ; and on the whole it may not be too soon to look for improvement in the next balance-sheets and reports of the banks in London and throughout the country.