AN AGRICULTURAL RETROSPECT.

Waikato Times, Volume XXIV, Issue 1962, 3 February 1885, Page 4

AN AGRICULTURAL RETROSPECT.

I(\KW /,! VI V\l> COIN Till JOl UN VI. ) lv\ ii ninu the past year from an agriculural stmdpoint, we Imo n»t much cause or congratulation. Grain crowing has not >roved remunerative, for the unfavourable easnn which prevailed before and during ast h irvest, together with the low puces or wheat and wool in the Homo market, lave all conspired to rob the farmer of hi.s intici|»«*ted return- 1 . Many other reasons have been assigned foi the present depression other than wli.it may be gleaned tiom the causes just referred to. Wp, however, feel that the !«•« pneo of wool and wheat coupled with the still unsatisfactory state of the fro/en meat trade and the duty wdii^tiy, Ins probably as much to do in citismg the present depression .is anything else. Although our ,igi icultural leturns published in the July number of this Journal show that we h.id an average of 2(i bushels pei aue, we ha\e nothing to show how many bushils pei acio of tin-. \\.v-> liiiiied by 1) id lnr\ e«ting and untimely thieving. A ipfeiem > to tli' 1 tibles refened to will clfiily hliow th.it while the are.i under giam crop* had diminished, that under loot-atid gra^s crops h«n enormously increased Vltliough the returns show that thcie was a falling off of l,."i0"),013 busheljvs compared with the returns for 1883, we have an mciea^e of lu7,!)0l acics under root cinp-., and 112,07") acres in grass in excess of tli.it of ISB3. On thp other hand, m;at producing, connected with the free/ing process, might now Le considered an established industry. It has been cleirly demonstrated that our surplus meat can be placed on the Home market in such a condition us to command a ready «ale at remunerative prices. Tt only lem mii for us to sccme to ourßches a fair piopoitioii of the prohts resulting from the industry, by the establishment of general repiesentatne Agents in London, or by somi» other means The line of action best suited for the futuie management of our farms can be Hummed up in a few woids, vu., loss gram more nheep. This, which means more grass and morp toots, will exercise a maiked influence on the agiiculture of the future. It will saie U-) fioni tlio condition of things pertaining to mo>t new countries, viz., the exhaustion <>f oui Examples of this are not w inting either in America or An-. train Tlie m ijoiity of our -oils lia\e had but little justice dono to them m return for the hf ivy crops, given either in the shape of rist or manure Feeding involves eithci laying down to grass or a rotation of crops, eitliet of which will give our cultivated -oils then needed rest, lioot crops .»n our light b<>ils will need mannte, but, at the pievnt reasonable pi ice of manure, it will be found that any outlay in this icspcct will bo fully recouped, irrespective of the ultimate good effect produced on the after crops of grass oi corn. • Tt appears as if circumstanco3 weie. Compelling us to adopt a better and more Hcientiho system of fanning, and we doubt not but that the future agricultuu->ts of New Z"aland u ill have cause to bleM the introduction of the niiat fice/.tng industry.

Cvso\ (Jrui)M:sro\B, speaking on the I ri>h grievances, sayn :— I .1111 not wholly nii.ic<nuinted with Ii eland or the Irish. I have travelled in Ireland thrice; ami for '2~> yeais m Lancashiie, and sinco th.it iti Hruttol, haveHoen wnwwh.it of the temper and habits of nn Irish working population. Naturally they appear to bo Rood tunipurcd, loyal, easily led for good or evil, .uxl easily affinnlod. No one, however, cm li ive caiefully studied the history of 1i.1.i-ui without being pitifully conhcioii-, e\eu if 110 has never himself been in th it (oiintry, tli.it it ha^ never boon treated, like Sioflind, is an integral [i.ut of tho Kinpiic, lint r.ither slighted as a conquered r.u c The sun of royalty which has shone mo bnglitly and constantly on Scotland, Indi 1 ( ',iind 1, and the Austialian colonies, )i is of 1 ito years «orcely ever shone upon ItUiihl. Equal la«s, a. royil icsidcnee in Dublin, and another Balmoral among the lovely seeneiy of Wicklmv »r Killarney, a loyil Loid Lieutenant, and a couit at Dublin Castle graced by the sovereign and all t!ie I u*h nobility and gentry— is it not possible th.it such favours bestowed upon an excitable and enthusiastic, and by no means vicious or dwloyal ]>pople. might have been— and might even now be— 111010 l)o\veifiil safeguards against disaffection th in a coutinu.incc of the conquered-nyce Ipohry by tho atfiont, if not the injustico I implied in the pioposud exclusion from tho ' J*'i .induce 15ill. A vv \tuhi- of the fro/en moat tiade (say»^ a vv liter in the Time*) is that Aiittiali m frozen mutton has at last found purchaser at prices up to those of foreign sheep killed at Dcptfoid, and now ranks in the mai kut quotations about equal to modoi.itely good though not the primest Unglish. Thus 2000 carcases brought by the Xoithimibcrliind wet* in excellent condition, and sold at ojd to (>^d per j)ound ; and lL', OOO from Lyttelton, arnving in the Coptic, were also in a perfectly satisfactory condition, and realised in the Metropolitan Meat Market "t\d to CM per pound. Fifty carcases of beef iv the same shipment made WA up to 7\d per pound. Though millions of shet p h.uc peiished by the thought in Australia, it is to 1)0 expected that fro/en meat impoits from thence will, in the face of satisfactory prices, quickly icvivo from tho tempoiaiy check. The John Elder, fioni Melbourne, han brought 4010 caicaxco, in excellent condition, which sold for 4/d to .V,d per pound. The River Plate sheep, too, aie coming in good condition, as (5000 care.ues .11 riving in the Month wero found good, and have beeu sold for 4*i'd to 7)\d per poutid. Consumers ou^ht to learn not only the pioportions to which the fio/.en mutton imputation Ims attained, but also the immense scale of the preparations now made for augmenting the supply. In the nine month", •fantiaiy to Septenilier, we received f 1 uui Australia and New Zealand no less than l!3iS,i;K) cwt. of fro/.en mutton, compa led with Go,"mo cvvt. in the corresponding jmriod of last year, and 37,003 cvvt. in IK.S2. Reckoning at M)lb weight per carcase, the L'ISS, l.'iO «.\t of mutton comprised 444, "00 hhei p. Tins nupoit in nine months is at the 1 it( of 7l_\l>oQ sheep in the ye.v, 01 ,111 nvi>iagu of 11, 100 sheep per week. Wuiiv. of the wheat fit Ids of the win lil, an \iikik.ui st itistical .tuthi/i it V -.1\- The \[l-.|v,i|,pj \',ill( \IS .it pii-<ut tin gieit'-t svlieit field m the vvoild, ati(| pi'iJuM's a laigei siuplus to fuil other poitioni of the United States and KmopH. California has evidently aimed at abo'it iiei highest pioduction, and ii'ii-t now gmdnally decline, as no hoil (,wi stand const mt Clippings of tin-, ceieal, which •>(/ lapidly exhausts the hoi], Li'd'Hl! 111 ( '.ilifoinia 1^ a> hi^'h .u it is in tin-* valley, but California is MOO miles fioin Home m foifign maikets. even if she takes the most expensive way by 1 ail load across tho Continent to tide ■vvatei. I»y water loute it is 10,000 miles faither fioin the marketH. So it can never In coini a successful competitor with the Mi---.i->'-ippi V'ulley. Russia is a wheat pioducmg countiy, but the fields aie lcuioved fiom cheap and efficient transposition They aie ages behind us in skill and niacluneiy, but it is leally 0111 -t I ' 'ii -?•< -t; oiinpetiloi fin siippl\ing the Kumpi in deiuati'l. It has not the < ■)> i> ity to supply the full demand, so \w likiiiiii' 11 (tin al ontfftant-, 111 th the icitainty that when wheat is cheap at Tfomi, and u hen the transpoi tation lines mi 111 a favoiuable mood, v\e can diive Kn-si.i fiom the Knjjlisli maikut. India, li<iuc.\er, li.ts the c.i[ucily in amount and 1 u Inn 1 "f v>iJ, as viell as cheapness of lilimii, to sii]ip|y all the detii tencies of all "tin 1 11 itioii L -. Isut their labour is stupid, unskilled, and they are deficient in l.iboui -aMiig iiiipleinents. In fact, laboui i> -o 1 heap that they do not de-oie lnudi machinery. And though labour in India foi -Mvmg md nrciKinng the wheat crop n not one i-ighth as much as it is here, our gn.it idvantage over them is the distance, and cheapness of transportation. The wheat fields of the MisMnsippi Valley are about 4000 miles fiom Liverpool. The fields of India aiHiOOOimlus from the name maiker. The fi eight on wheat fiorn the Mississippi to Liveipool is about ') doll, 11 jjci ton Fiom the puncipal grain fields of India, winch aie from 700 to 1200 miles inland fiom l>omb.iy, freight is about Ti dollais jieiton'to Liverpool. The long distance by w.iterand the limited railroad facilities in India will pi ob.vbly continue an long as the I nited Stites will have any mnplus wheat ThiH event h not far distant in the futuie The extension of our wheat belt tovvaids the fiontici is but little faster th in iti contiaction in the older poitions of the States. While wo consume thiectoiii tli-- of our production with a population nf "i 0,000,000 inhabitants, sfon our po|iul.<tion will be double that amount, with but slight increase iv production. In all ptobability some of onr business men will Ine to see the time when theio will be, even with average ciopf, ft deficiency of j wheat to Mipply Iminu demand. One hundiid miili'iiis of inhabitnnrH will requne VC) 000 (100 Ihihlklm of wl.cnt 11 r 1.->-i-t ! lot ),«'>•) OfsO o« i<r inn ) i..«o»t full fioj>.