The Sun.
London, England, 1826-04-29 00:00:00

FOREIGN CORN. ,

•
INSTRUCTIoNs: TO MR. JACOB, RESPtC,TING THE

PRICES OF FOREIGN CORN.

[Continued from our paper of .yesterday.]
From the time I left the Netherlands; through Saiony,Prussia,
Poland, Austria, Bavaria, and Wurtemberg, till I entered France,
I never saw either in the baker's Shops, in the hinds, or private
houses, a loaf of wheaten bread. In very large towns_ small rolls,
made of wheaten flotir, could be purchased, and they were. to be
seen at the tildes at which foreigners tvere seated. In the small
towns and villa;es only rye bread can be obtained ; and travellers
commonly take in their carriages sufficient Wheaten rolls to sup
ply Went from One large town to the ttett. Wheat is duly used
y the natives for making what our English bakers would call
fancy bread, or in pastry and confectionary. If there be no fo-
reign demand fur wheat, the difficulty of selling it at any price is
great, and that little, which the very limited demand of' other
Countries
,of late years has required, has been confined to Wheat
of the bast quality; for rye, on the other hand, sales may be
always made at a Marta price ; and the price of that grain has
not been depressed in the same proportion as the price of wheat.
Although thc: increase 'of wheat is greater than that of rye, yet,
as it absorbs all the-manure of the farm, and retpiires-the-land to
be .ploughed twice mote;it is now deemed to be the least profit-
able of the two crops, by many of the farmers.
As the r'e receives the full benefit of the fallow,-its increase is
'greater than that of the spring crops which follow it.
Barley anti oats are sown in the spring Which follows the har-
veitinF the wheat and rye, and these complete the course, which
is again followed by a whole year's fallow. By this rotation of
crops, the land bears corn only two years out of every three ;
and the crop of the last year scarcely produces three times the
quantity of the seed that was sown.
This opinion, formed by my own observations, strengthened by
the' reports of the most intelligent persons with whom I con-
versed, who were connected with practical agriculture, receives
some confirmation from a paper furnished to me by Mr. Leutze,
his Majesty's 'Consul at Stettin; according to which, ,in 1805,
the year preiious to that in which the country was over-run by
the French, the quantities of corn sown and harvested in the
province of Pomerania, When the SWedish part was not incor-
porated with it, are its follow ;

Bushels. Bushels.
Wheat - sown - 155,936 - produced - 996,224
Rye - do. - 4,254,960 - do. - 4,383,584
Barley - do. - 619,992 - do. $2,757,688
Oats - do. - 1,245,704 - do. - 2,975,880
This view of the low rate of increase is further confirmed by
the official accounts of the produce of several farms in West
Prussia (see Appendix, No. 11, B.), by Which it appears, that
on six fat ins, on which 4,864 aeres are cultivated with corn, the
produce was only taken at 10,000 quarters in 1824, which is
represented to be a favourable year.
Though some few of the large proprietors. may, by the increase
of their flocks of sheep, and by the assiduous attention to every
branch of cultivation, have improved their land and raised the in-
crease of their seed, I see no reason to believe that to be the case
to an extent which can have a sensible influence on the average
of the whole mass of production.
If we consider the calamities which Prussia endured, and
the strenuous eiertions she made to tertnitiate them, We Shull
scarcely suppose that the interval from 1815 to 1825 has been
'sufficient to regain what she had lost in the eight years which
preceded that Period, snore especially as, up to the present time,
the market prices of her chief productions have been suffering a
regular decline.
I should not deem the other maritime privinces of Prussia to
be much more productive than Pomerania, as a whole, though
in East and in West Prussia there is rather a larger proportion
of the land that is capable of producing crops of wheat and oats.
It will happen to a traveller, in pursuit of agricultural informa-
tion, even in England, and much mote in countries where the
business of cultivation is conducted in a Much lower Manner, that
his attention will be invited to those properties which are best
managed, where the several processes of husbandry are most as..
dulously performed, and Where the produce is the greatest. Bence
• idn every writer on agricultural . subjects has been led to over-
rate the actual average produce of land, in the several countries
which he, may have visited.
Like others, I was prevailed upon to pay the Omni'
nt-
tontion to the details and face of the land of the must
the most affluent, and most productive proprietors. I visited
several noblemen, whose knowledge of, and attention to, ag-
riculture, was fully equal to that bf any men in this or :My other
country ; and if the produce of the land was not equal to that
raised by our best farmers, fhe difference must be attributed ra-
ther to the Pea and cliMate, than to any deficiency either of'ca-
pita!, or skill, or assiduity.
On such property the wheat sown was very insignificant, and
the proportion of that grain to rye, had gradually declined of late
.years. One nobleman, who farmed his estate of 26,000 acres,
of Which two-thirds was tillage, and on&third woodland, grew
but a few Acres of wheat, and of late had sold no corn of any
kind. From the ports of England being shut against corn, he
bad ttirned his attention to the production of fine wool. On this.
, estate there is a flock of 15,000 Merino sheep, yielding on au
• average two and a half pounds of firie Wool, the annual sales of
which amount to one half more than the value of the sheep.
Through the five winter months the sheep are fed with Corn,
chiefly rye, at the rate of one pound per day, which is estimated
to be equal to three pounds of hay. The proprietor calculated,
that sheep thus kept, yielded nearly as much more wool as, added
to the benefit which the manure of the animals received from that
kind of food, was equal to the price he should have received for the
corn, if he had sold it; and that the profit on this system, was
the value of the whole of the hay, which would have been other •
wise consumed. Instead of selling, he thuds it more profitable to
buy corn. . •

On the same property, the extent of land planted with potatoes,
was upwards of 1,500 rnorgens, or about 1,000 acres, the chief
part of which were used in the distillery, which seems an india.
pensable adjunct to every well-managed farm. The calculation
made there was, that two bushels of potatoes yielded as much
ardent spirit as one of barley ; and that the residum, after ex-
tracting the spirit, was equal in elementary power, for the draught
bullocks, which are fed with it, to two-thirds of its value, before
the wort was extracted from it. By the process on this estate,
nine bushels of potatoes are mixed with one-half of malt, to draw
the wort, which is afterwards distilled, so as to produce a spirit
containing about SO per cent. of alcohol, in which state it pays a
duty (much complained of) of sixpence per gallon. It is reduced
before it is sold, till it retains 50 per cent. of alcohol; and the
price charged to the retailers is about fourteen-pence per gallon.
Another person of the same rank, who had turned his atten-
tion to the improvement of his property, boasted that his corn
land already yielded near sixfold for the seed that was sown, and
could be further increased. He, too, cultivated potatoes very ex.
tettsively, and, by converting them into starch and treacle, made
the land yield a profit which, had it been devoted to corn, would
have produced a loss. lie had tried to make sugar from pota-
toes, and found it not advantageous ; bake assured me that treacle
paid him well, and he could afford to sell it for I Se. per cwt., whilst
that from the West Indies cost 245. I could perceive no differ-
ent* between the sweetness of this treacle and that from the Tro-
pics, but it had less consistency.
A noblenian whom I had before known, to whose hospitality
I am much indebted, and whose estate I viewed in detail, took
'the trouble to furnish me with the course of cultivation he pus•-•
sued on the property on which he resides. (See Appendix No.
)2.) Though cultivated with care and though fairly productive,
I readily give credit to what he assured me, that the whole be
nefit which he derived from the estate of 6,300 acres, in his joint
capacity of landlord and cultivator, hail not exceeded the amount
for which he had sold his annual clip of the wool of hit flock of
4;000 sheep.
On the several other estates that I viewed, the. recurrence of
corn crops was equal
ly &lam ; t.ee ,uperior portion of land de-
voted to preen crops, and paature, the same; mid the stock of
cattle bore nearly a like propoction.,'lthese, however, were ex-
and aCqUiring the practical
dons few in number and cuntined in extent, when compared cep ,
with the general condition of the estates. of the three provinces.
A number of preprietors, residing on their.land, devoting their
eacondnoamtratliolnialritsitlsivliriephrotvheePrelalttirs render' necessary, must
pritgiof agricultural produce,.may at some future time,
Int4t;l'ee a beneficial influence on the cultivators around them. in
this view, perhaps the distress which has been occasioned by the
depressed