Alexandria gazette. [volume] (Alexandria, D.C.) 1834-1974, 1859-01-17
Price of Wheat-Advice to Farmers.

The schedule OF the results OF the harvest
which we presented to our readers last week,
were too important, and involved interests OF
too much magnitude to be summarily dismiss
ed with the passing notice then bestowed up
on them. The low price of that portion of
agricultural produce 50 Justly denominated
1.-The staff of lifc'-a price so greatly under
that declared by the late Sir Robert Peel 10
be the minimum, below which it could not be
cultivated at a profits sufficient reason for
looking narrowly into the consequences as
well as the causes of sucha depression. This
is rendered the more necessary as the partial
failure of some other kinds of produce has
aggravated the evil, the advance in the price
Of spring corn and pulse not being in an AIDE
quatc proportion To the deficiency of the yield.
Having already endcavorcd to account for
the depressed state of the trade i'll wheat. we
propose now to look 10 its probable effects
on the general intcrcstsof agriculture, rs well
as how far it may prove to be Il permanent
condition.
To Judge of the future, however, it is ne
cessary to take Il retrospective view OF the
past seasons; and i'll doing 50 we find that
under a different commercial system we have
had several periods of depression, equal in
intensity to the present. In 1898, for in
stance, good wheat was selling at 35s per Or,
and country -four at 2Ss per sack. In 1888.
also, a succession of good harvests produced
extremely low prices; and the same cause OPP
Grated again in lS42. We may therefore
conclude, not only that the present low aver
age rate has unnecessary connection with the
existing system of imports but that, like for
mcr crises of the kind, it will pass away
. .l-. -. ~,,.,,L h, an rnlit,rl ,.pl-
~tivation of wheat. The late harvest, as the
returns prove. has yielded an abundant pro-
duce of grain: but we do not apprehend that
at the end of the season the surplus will be
much beyond an average one. Certain 1t Is
that the regular consumption of bread-corn
extends annually, both from the increase of
the population and from the improved condi-
ton of the operative classes of every descrlp-
ton: and that although the acreage produce
is also greater, the importations from abroad
do otkecp pace in the like ratio. America
has shown bv the cessation of her usual ex-
ports of wheat and -four, that shccannot com
pete with England at her present prices,
wheat being dearer at New York and other
Atlantic ports than in London. On the 9TH
er hand. the imperfect state of the agriculture
of the European continent renders the har-
vest much more prccarious than with US; so
that whatever addition may take place there
in the breadth ofcultivation, it's otmor than
adequate to the increase of the various popula
tons. Consequently the shipments of dread
corn from thence are at least about stationary
: if the average Of Years be taken.
The Inference we reasonably draw from the
foregoing premises is that the present de-
pressed prices may be but temporary and
probably passaway much sooner than Is gen
orally expected. The high price for all kinds
of spring corn will necessarily lead To Il large
appropriation of inferior wheat as was the
case in 1929 as Il substitute for barley,
beans, peas &C.. which are all proportionatc-
" dearer than wheat, and this, by withdraw
ing the surplus out of the market, will re-
licye it of that weight which at present in
creases the depression. Taking all these cir
cumstances, therefore. into account, there Is
no reason for the farmer to entertain Il de
spending view Of his future prospect in re-
spect to prices. A reaction will assuredly
take place. sooner or later, and possibly before
the present season has passed away.
We do not, however, expect that we shall
have a recurrence Of extremely high prices.
The improved state of cultivation into which
a large portion of the land of this country has
been brought, by superior tillagc, through
drainage, and the protuso application OF artl-
fetal manure in addition to that raised upon
the farm by cattle, renders wheat 4 much less
precarious crop than formerly. Whilst the
average produce of that grain has been there
bv largely increased, those causes OF failure
which formerly SO frequently prevailed, Will
in future have less influence. \ wet season,
for instance. which formerly kept the surface
of the soil in II condition to produce mlldcw
and blight, is in Il great degree provided
against by thorough drainage, which Is est:
mated to have increased the produce OF the
former cold soils from one to two quarters
per acre. Extensive culture, also, by put
ting the land into a high state OF tIllage. de-
strovs those weeds and insects which once
made great inroadS upon the produce.
We should be sorry, indeed, II the farmer
were to suppose that because we write thus
we do not sympathisc with him i'll the de-
pressed state to which the wheat trade Is re-
duced. We are well aware that it Is the crop
on which he chiefly relies for his remuncra-
tion-the contamination of his course Of nus
bandry. Our object is to cndcavJr 10 show
bv analogy that the present condition
OF things will pass away, and that II Is
contrary to the nature of III OF any
kind that a scale of u~nrcmuncratiNe prices
should permanently rule in this or any other
country. Nor is it possible to look upon the
abundant crop of wheat of the late harvestin
any other light than as Il blessing from that
bountifulhand which ovcrrules all human af-
fairs. We have recently passed through the
ordeal of u monetary panic, and, whatever
NAV have been the distress that 1t inflicted
upon the commercial classes, it has been an
immense alienation to the country ut large
that the staff of life has, by the alum
dance ofsevcral seasons, been kept at Il price
within the reach of the operatives when en-
ploymcnt was at its lowest ebb: so that there
has been mo complaining in our streets.
At present the consumption OF bread Is much
less than usual, and, whilst the supply Of po-
tatocs continues SO large, and the price so low
it cannot increase. This, however, will cease
10 operate in a few weeks to the extent it now
does. and the working classes will again re-
turn to bread as the cheapest article Of food.
One thing more we would impress upon the
mind of the farmer, who ought to hold 1t as
an axiom never to be departed from. 1t is
that whatever may be the disproportlon be-
tween the value of the manure he applies to
his land and that of the produce raised by 1t,
he must not relax in the system of improve