The Daily News TUESDAY, OCTOBER 19. THE WORLD'S WHEATFIELD.

Taranaki Daily News, Volume LII, Issue 217, 19 October 1909, Page 2

The Daily News TUESDAY, OCTOBER 19. THE WORLD'S WHEATFIELD.

The world's harvest is a ceaseless yearly wonder, and agriculture, though it is getting buried beneath a manure of Latin and other words, is ever adding to its marvels. One of the most romantic stories of the world's wheat fields and their ever-changing demand and supply was told last month by Major I'. Q. Craigic, President of the Agriculture Section of tile British Association. It 'was especially fitting that such a I paper should be read amid the great wheat fields of Winnipeg. The farmers' present problem is, how to supply the ever-increasing population of the world with its wheat food. "In the thirteen States'of Western and Central Europe there were added there, in the last seventy veal's of the nineteenth century, something like 100,000,000 new consumers to in.' .107,000,000 persons previously resia.nl on the 1,700,000 square miles A Venai.iy occupied by this group of nations," B uid Major C'migie. On the other hand, decreasing areas of the "ciuef grain foods were apparent in Ureal Britain or Scandinavia or Xorth-West-tm Europe. On the average of tile lirsi live years of the present ccnumy the home production of wheat represented only about 20 per cent, of the consumption in the United Kingdom and in Hoiland, 23 per cent, (apparently) in Belgium, 04 per cent, in liermany, and pcihaps 80 per cent, in Italy; and the imported grain to fill the deficits was considerably over 400,000,000 bushels. Xcirly half of this came from Eastern Europe, and particularly llnssia. Suen , a mass of produce would require 20,000,000 acres elsewhere, even if IHe exporter*!, could raise it, as most had certainly not done, at twenty bushels per acre, and nearly double that area if the yield was only, that of some of our largest exporters to-day. The actual reductions of area in Western Europe were not in the aggregate extensive, .1though Belgium had seen her grain area shrink from 30 to 25 per cent, of her total surface, France from 28 to 25.5 per tent., anil the United Kingdom from 12 to 10 per cent. Nowhere wan so large a share of the total surface under grain us ill iiouinania, where the total grain acreage developed between 1880 and 1900 by nearly 25 per cent., and the surface under wheat by 72 per cent. In Hungary, another European grain exporter, the wheat acreage had been materially developed, rising from over 7,000,000 acres to 0,500,000 in the twenty years to 100(1, and but slightly receding since, while the yields were also materially greater. France, with a drop in wheat acreage of 1,000,000 out of 17,000,000 acres, had between 1884 and 1008 raised the average of her production on a five years' mean from 17.8 bushels to 20.2 bushels, and thus turned out somewhat more produce from a lessened surface. Germany, on a constant but much smaller wheat area of 4,700,000 acres, with a quinquennial average yield of 20.3 bushels, would seem to have raised this to 27.9 in 1890-1903, touching a stitt higher level in mote recent seasons, when 30 bushels were apparently approached, although some changes in her statistical methods of enquiry might slightly reduce this comparison. ' Some cll'ort to feed new mouths from old acres had thus indeed been made. Nevertheless, one might broadly say that Western Europe looked mainly for the growing needs of her consumers to the sti'.l exporting States of Eastern Europe, Vu the New World regions of North and South America, and in a minor degree to Australasia. Science has much to teach us in making more use of the areas acknowledged to be under more or less! rudimentary cultivation," added Major Craigic, dealing with the available sources of new supplies. "If Sir William Crookes was right in adopting the American statistician's average of 12.7 bushels per acre as the mean of tire recognisable wheat fields of the world, the prospect of the extra seven busliels he sought, as immediately desirable would make us eager to learn the very latest triumph* of (he laboratory in winning for the soil a freer measure "f the nitrogen of the air. But hopefully as we. might wait on the chemist's help, he, for his own part, inclined still more confidently to the botanist. The producer of new and prolific and yet disea»"resisting and frost-defying breeds --.if wheat plants was to-day more than-ever encouraged by what had been done in many lands of late in this direction, to suit the crop to its environment. Nothing could be a greater boon to the wheat farmers, handicapped by a short and irregular supply of slimmer warmta. and the occasional Imt often untimely invasion of the frost fiend, than the production of varieties of wheat at once prolific and early ripening, and suited to the relatiycly scanty moisture of reini-arid regions. The farming of the fillHre must ultimately be one of more careful Ullage, of more scientific rotations, and of consideration for the change? in' the grouping of population and in the world-wide conditions of man and his varying wants. What was going on all over the world had to be learntd and studied, and wheat pioneers Of the North-West must not forget tile possibility of yet. new competitors arising '.n the single task of wheat - growing, whether in the still developing sections of the Russian Empire and the still open levels of Argentina, the little known regions of llanchuria, the basin of t'ne [Tigris and Euphrates, the more com-

pletely irrigated plains of India, the tablelands of Central Africa, or perhaps under new conditions and a more developed control of the reserves of water supply on tile southern shores of the Mediterranean or even in the long tilled valley of the Nile. In the forecasts offered ten years afro Argentina as n wheat-grower wan given a dozen yents , from ISOB to reach a possible acreage of 12.0nn.fl0n acres. She had reached that figure and passed it in less than a decade, and later current ollicial estimates seemed to concede to that legion a close approximation to 15,(100,000 acres today. As the actual puce here hail bettered so considerably than prophesied, one might legitimately question the further limitations which allowed to Argentina no prospect of ever reaching a wheat area of 30,000.000 acres at any time. No one could note the strides which s iie had taheu in rapidly augmenting her wheat areas and exports, and that concurrently with the commanding place she was assuming as a meat rearer and exporter to the older"

peoples of Europe, without some recognition that a great future, was possible." Australia lias now (1,000,000 acres under wheat, and from 1003 to 1007 the quantity of wheat exported has averagjd 38,000,000 bushels. Canada reckons ita wheat area at 7,750,000 acres.

FIRES IN NEW ZEALAND. < Some valuable information is contained in the annual report of the Inspector of Fire Brigades (Mr. Hugo). In a young i and prosperous country like this losses from fires should not be so heavy as they are. No matter what the extent of insurances is lires spell economic loss, for insurance creates no wealth to. re place that destroyed, but penalises prudence and,carelessness if not crime. Mr. Hugo points out that it is not only insurances losses that have to be taken into consideration, but also the waste of property not insured, and the wear and tear on fire brigade plant and appliances, fuel used for conveying them to and extinguishing fires, and various contingent expenses. A comparison between New Zealand and the United Stats* of America is made to work out thus: Xew Zealand—lnsurance loss, average per nnnum for the last live years £417,480. or,Bs l)'/ 3 d per capita; tire waste, £550,040, of lis Hy s A per capilu. United States—lnsurance loss in one | year, .£20,500.000, or 5s per capita; fire waste, £40,000,000, or 10s per capita, in an article published in Everybody's Magazine for January, 11100, Mr. S. 11. Adams, dealing with the subject of the great fire waste in the United States, makes the following comparisons: "The per capita loss by flames in Italy is 12 cents (Od) yearly; in Germany 4!) cents (2s); in thirty of the largest European cities 61 cents (2s 7d); and in 250 American cities the per capita destruction averages 3dol 10 cents." Of course, remarks Mr. Hugo, tile purchasing power • of money is greater in Europe than it is in either America or New Zealond, and therefore the actual ratio is not so great as it would appear from the figures quoted, but nevertheless the difference is so enormous as to be very startling. In an editorial note at the held 1 of the article above quoted the editor . writes; "We knew that our national fire . bill was startling, but the facts and figi urcs that Mr. Adams presents here shocked us. Remember, wo cannot, as i a nation, waste our substance and pros- : per." The application to New Zealand ' is, as Mr. Hugo snys, obvious. Having pointed out the excessive fire ■ waste in New Zealand in proportion to • its population Mr. Hugo endeavors to : show some of the causes and suggest ; remedies. He admits that earthquakes ■ are iion-preventible, but thinks that the fire danger jirising from this source caa : be minimised by proper building conl struction. Faulty building construction, ho says, is a widely spread evil, and he . adds that though fires have taken place . which should have been looked upon 33 . valuable lessons very little good has rc- . suited' in that direction. The erecti'in . of buildings of a cheap and flimsy chnr- . acter as the outcome of land speculation is also held responsible for many fires L especially in the case of the smaller cla-s of dwelling-houses where the insides are lined with green timber that, after drying leaves spaces between the boards, ; the timber being covered with scrim and paper that ill a short time becomes as . dry as tindei, only requiring a spark to | set it on fire, with the result that be- ' fore any fire brigade can arrive on-the scone the place is practically destroyed. Another of the reasons for the lar-e number of fires, and consequent excessive loss, obtaining in New Zealand is over-insurance on property, says Mr. Hugo, and he reiterates his previous expressed opinion that over-insurance may not be the cause of any large percentage of fires due to direct incendiarism, but Hint it certainly induces to a carelessness that is the cause of fires. Th 0 word "over-insurance" is explained to mean not only where the amount -i insurance i fi actually higher than the value of the property, but also sucii cases in which the cover is at or nearly at par with (he value thereof. Mr. Hugo regards a statement by an insurance manager in Wellington that 00 per ccnl. of the fires in \ ew Zealand are cither wilfully caused or are the result cf carelessness which amounts to crini-' inal negligence as an exaggeration, but he considers that it is only in accordance with human nature that most peopic would be less careful when fully covered, or perhaps a little more than just covered, by insurance than those who stand to lose all or portion of the value of their property in the event of a fi> taking place on their'premises. The remedies Mr. Hugo suggests include the taking into consideration by the local governing bodies as a whole of the framing for general adoption of building and other by-laws, suited to local conditions, having for their object the prevention of fire, also the more efficient equipment of (ire brigades under their con. trol. To the insurnnce companies ho recommends the observance of a stricter supervision over agency or sub-agency business, and he refers to the fact"that requests have been made to the Premier of Victoria and also to the English Chancellor of the Exchequer that hrc insurance agents should be licensed. Finally, he urges that it is necessary the general public should be educated to realise the waste that is going on, and that the remedy to a large extent lies m thoi r own hands.