WHEAT PRODUCTION IN CANADA, THE UNITED STATES AND ENGLAND.

Waikato Times, Volume XXIV, Issue 1969, 19 February 1885, Page 4

WHEA T PRODUCTION IN CANADA, THE UNITED STATES AND ENGLAND.

Witiriw on tin-. nupottant subject in the l'.i'l Mall (J.wotte, Lu'iitc.uiit-C'iilniiol Wheatley says : - 1 haM 1 just letmned fioin ato ti of about dOOO imloi in Canad i nul thu UmUd Stit-s, oui gie.tcomp titm* m tin- pioduction of wiie.it ; and as sin o -ul,ulv litt'i sc -mi t<i lie known licit 1 , cu'ii jiow, a-, to iiAny unpoitiint condition-, of tli ,t pn>diKtiim, I will with yoiu p'M mission .1 ft v tictj foi tho infoiin.ition cf Kng!i-h f,Ulll"M I \l-ltt I poltloU- of M.lllltokl and the Oan idi in Noith West, us also of tin adjoining States of Dakoti and Muinosot 1, 1.1 tin* I'm 1.1, the g.. at lied Him 1 touiitiy, as well .11 . 1 J3ic.lt I'vtiMit ot (,11111tl\ -..Mtl) .Hill O.l^t. MV Visit W. IS IHTCs- .< li.iuii'd ok, !>ut 1 s.iw nuny tilings t!i tt, 'uipiwd and nistinctrtl no, and I wi-li urn f iinifi-.(<i.il(l s«>i tfu 111 also. Ono ol tho thiiirs th.it .i-l misliccl 1110 tiist and mo-t was tlio almtlutely 11n1virs.il n • t'uoiigli evoiy (I'M. net of the selfinii'I • ny 11 ipi'i. I think. I do not ex igy 1 iti " v!i n I niv tii.it throughout that g'oit continent such a man .11 a fanner who tils his wheat, barley, 01 oats by hand )■- liiiknown ; at any rat-, liicm'i s-aw 01 ionld he.ii of one. In Kngland I behove that mnc out of ten of our fanner* have novir oven scon .1 Melf-bindei at wouk. tsmea my lttuin I have asked beveral why they do not n^e them hero, and I have bi 111 told— l. In theso bid times a fanner 1 annot afford to spend t'UO on a machine. 2. In Ameiica tho country where wheat is giown i» quite flat, and the f Aiming is done on a very Lugo stale, and is more suitable for '-elf-bindois. In reply I would say, fn>t, that tho regular puce now paid in tho St it-s f.. r a self-binder is I'iO dols., say £33 (although not equal, doubtless, to those of English make, and though the price in Canada is higher owing to their system _of piotection, coupled with their comparative back wai dnebs in manufactures). Moreover, seeing that reaping machines aro pretty generally used here, the calculation should be, not of the total cost of a self-bmdor, but the difference between the cost of an 01 di nary reaper and a self-binder, a compaiatnely small sum. Secondly, in America a great deal of wheit growing land is undoubtedly quite flat— for e\ample, the magnificent Ked Kiver country ; but a still l.uger aiea, termed Rolling Prairie, is extremely like an aveiage English country, without any tiees or hedge*, and the selfbmdpi i-, used theie just as easily as anywhere else. Moreover, it is quite a mistake to suppose that in Atnenca the farms generally are on a largo scale. The Canadian quaiter section of 1(50 acies fairly rejne«cnts the amount of land ordinal ily taken up, and broken by degrees. There are a few gigantic wheat farms both in Canada and the States, but they aie almost as exceptional as tho 300-acre held we heir about in Leicestershire. I p-sked a farmer in Manitoba whom I saw thr u-hing out his wheat, how long he hud j used self-binders. He said, 'For about nineyeais?' I said I did not know they had been invented so long. He «aid, ' Is'ot the twine ones, but we used wire, and though it occisinnally damaged the thrasher it did not d>> much harm, and we could nc\ei have done without them.' When the wheat, birley, or oats are ready for cutting the tegular thing is for the fanner to turn m with a team of horses and a self-binder and do the whole work by himself, with the exception of being followed by a man or boy, often his own son, to stand the shi-ives up as they aro thrown off, his 1 ibour bill being consequently almost nil. I would a*k our farmers to compare their ovm outlay on tins work with that of the in in in America who is growing their wheat .ig un-t thorn. I think if they would follow tin-, s^ -fcem they would navoat least four shilling an acie, besides the risk of the gi mi spoiling on the ground in wet weather if not tied immediately after ( utUu<r fu Aiiioiica the thrashing machine tiavol-, lound tin country, just as in England. The fuel used is nothing but .straw, . nd this is tho only übe the stiaw is to the faiiu^i in tint country. At nightfall, w l/i 11 th'thi.t lung ia finished, tho great he ip. of wtr.iv, like rows nf house-. 111 si^e, .ire -,et alight, nnd the prim 10 is n wondeiful sight as the tiam rushes filong with hro* lighting up tho hoi i/.nn all round. Heie oiu f.innoi-, have .111 uvmnifKis advmt'ge. Even 111 these tun '- tin v.ilue of tho sti iv ought to 11101 u than \ny lent, 1 vies, and taxes, wh leas 111 Amend (I speik of th" %'ieat wheat gi.iwmg coiintrv iv tin; est), b vmid th it is wanlyd to f'-i d the thiash111 _ inachiup, tho stiaw is meiely an em umbi mi. '. WII1 11 i was in the TJed River countiy 111 S [itcinlci th<» fat met i weio 1 cuwng >"> cent-, a bu-he), say LSs a rpiaitui, foi their v\ heat dthvcruil at tht ilevatr-in, to wlncli it had piobably to bo hauled on ,i,n aveiage at least ten miles. Sincu tlnii tho piito has fallen considerably, and they .110 doubtlesh not getting so much. I was lnfnmu d on the mo-t competent authoiities theiethatthe fanners, as a rule, die hopelessly iinpovuislied and in debt excuuding anything known in England. MoieoviT, they are wealing out even the gnndsoilof tho country, pud must either iidopt mixed fanning, cattle being almost unknown theie at piescnt, or mo/c further b>clctiiAU the l.uhva-vi and take up fiesh 1 uid, v. hut, I'.nleis we aro foolish enough 111 Knglaud to find money for them to lunld now i.ulwavs whidi will never pay a ci nt to .tnj hut tin; people of the countiy, tiny will not long bo able to send wheat Luc .it pi. 'Miit puces. My conclusion is tli.it whi' it will continue to be gmwn 111 England, and at a piofit, to 1, if our faiuiui-i will only adopt tho economics practised by their biethrou over th ' water. They have thugiaud advantage of a 111 uket at their dooi> for eggs, poultry, \igetable-«, &c, not enjoyed by their competitoM, and if we assume, as I think we in.v' fan ly do, tint the sti <x\v will pay rent, latos, and taxes, they aie getting 1!? a quirter at thin moment moic for their wheat -say £J 10s an acre, calculating ,')0 bushels glow 11 to the acre — to pjy foi m mine, w till 1 such labour as is e-sintml is to be obtained at c:itainly les.s than half the co>t. It is to bo lecollccted, too, that all lli it country is under snow and ice for iljuiit six months in the year— a temblo handicap foi them in every way. I could vvnte much more, but must not trespass on your space bayond saying I returned home doubly convinced of the gross folly of protection. With their wondeiful soil, resources, and ingenuity tho fanners and inanufactuiers of America find it at least as haul to secure a mai-fin of piofit as in this cottntt y. and the complaints of deptexsion in agricultuie and tiade are, if possible, loudti and dvi per th in at Home.

It may not Ijc gcncially known tli.it then: is at this moment lying in the JJuik of Eugland the sum uf £20,000, lodged there by some zealous botanist, as a reward to be given to the man or uoman who shall pioducc a blue dahlia. We know not whether this is a myth or a fact ; we have obtained the informition from a magazine of a year or two back, and give, it on our con ternpoiary's authority, hoping that it may Jt.id some of our botanical readers to fctt their >\ita to woik to produce the man el. It docs appear strange that dahlias of almost every hue of the lain how have been produced with the exception of given and blue ; and why •should these exceptions exist ?— Delhi Cd/ette.

The Bad and Worthless nic never unit at id or cowi/nfuttd. This is cs-pecial'y tine of a family medicine, and it 11 jwiitiw pi oof that the remedy nxit'iltd 11 ot the highest value. As s-oon a- it had bitii tested and pioved by the whole uoild that Hop JJittcrs was the ptiiest, boot and the most valuable family lmdicinc on earth, many imitations spiuurf np and hfgin to steal tlie not'eoa in whu h tlw jir< <-s and the people of the connti y hail i \t-Ti.3->L'il llie mnits of If V> , .iiiil in evi'iy way trying to induce hiiffi'iing iinalnh to use tlieir stuff instead, expecting to make money on the credit and good name of 11. 13. Many othen started nos tnims put up in similar stylo to H. J] , uitli vaiiously devised names in winch the word " 1 1 op" or " Hops" wcie used in a way to induce people to believe tht y weiu the same as Hop Bitters. All faiieh [intended remedies or cures, no matter w hat then style or name is and especially those with the woid " Hop" or " ifops" in their name or in any way connected with them or their name, are imitations or counterfeits. JJcwnre of them. r \ ouch none of them. Use notlnni; but geuuino American Hop Bitters, with a bunch or cluster of green Hop 3 on the white Libel, and T)r Soule's name blown in the glasa. Tmst nothing else. Druggists and Cliemists are warned nuainit drilling in imitations or counteifeita.