The New York herald. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1840-1920, 1875-07-23

starved down 10 half on. At most. three
quarters Of a crop; and then came the ram,
too late 20 help the crop but just IN time TO
prevent the possibility OF harvesting In good
condition even what there was Of H. From
the consequences Of this departure from the
happy order of nature bali Europe sres be-
fore it in The near future the calamity Of dear
bread; and We ourselves have had such an ex-
perienca Of this peryersity OF the elements as
will impress the lesson deeply Ia the eco
nomical tables though, fortunately. our en-
perience Is not that Of Europe. Our hay
crop has, perhaps, suffered most for. though
there is good crop en- all the low meadows.
the loss ~ thinness and poor quality Al ali
points where rains in May and early June are
necessary 20 give a good result. viii reduce
the yield to a ffh or sixth less than is OBJ
tanned in a good year. Our farmers are.
therefore, poorer by a. least ono hundred
million dollars, OF. may be. one hundred and
fifty million dollars. on this one count Per
haps the first estimate Is more nearly aecu-
rate for the higher price that Is Of course the
immediate consequence OF the short crop will
establish the equilibrium against whatever 10
lost in excess Of that sum. Az the loss by
grasshoppers and potato bugs viii not equal
the loss by hay; but with these losses added
to that the sum represents an enormous ad-
dition TO the regular burdens Of the agricul.
tural interest, though. by the same machinery
of the adaptation of prices, the burden win
be distributed moro or less evenly over all
| classes.
But though we have not altogether escaped
the evil consequences Of the disastrously ex-
ceptional weather of the year. We have reason
to congratulate ourselves on a happy escape
by comparison with what has happened in the
Eastern hemisphere, and on the advantageous
position in which we stand with regard 10 the
markets with our grain crops All over
Europe the weather has been bad. but worst
in France. There is little precise know ledge
of what has happened in the great grain dis
trcts of the Black Sea country, but the gen.
eral reports indicate that the yield will be less
than usual and the quality poor All the
valley of the Danube has suffered by the
weather. In France more is due to the gen.
eral bad weather than to the destructive mum
datons, but the foundations themselves
that country. These inundations, though not
of regular recurrence, often return every year
or every other year for four or five or ten
years, and they seldom spare the district for
more than twenty years alta time. They have
occurred always within the memory of any
record, and are not, as has been mooted, the
result of the denudation of the mountains.
In the sixth century, in the twelve years
between $50 and SOP, there were eight mum
dations, and probably very little wood had
been cut from the slopes Of the Pyrenees
then.
But the foundations that occurred in that
far away time as well as all others that have
occurred there in the times anterior to the es-
tablishing of rapid and easy systems of COM
munication and transportation, such as we
now enjoy, had one common result-they
produced famine and pestilence that depopu-
lated the country-famine, because the means
of transportation then in existence and the
absence of commercial system of any extent
stood in the way of supplying the people
whose crops were destroyed by the water;
pestilence, because the unburied bodies lett
everywhere by the retiring waters and the
apathetic stricken people filled the air with
poisoned odors that could not be endured by
men and women whose half starved condition
disposed them to febrile diseases. But the
fact that always produced famine and pesti-
lence in the valley of the Garonne down to
the fifteenth century acts otherwise now. 1t
moves the current of supplies toward that dis
4. e Dat vl.ok
is the condition of the crops in the places
upon which that current must draw2 In tho
centre of France, in the Southeast, in the
West and the North, the cereals are in a bad
state. Though these countries are not inun-
dated they had continued dry weather through
April and May, and then for the few weeks be-
fore harvest heavy continuous rains, so that
the crop is small through the drought and
poor in quality from the bad condition in
which it was harvested.
Outside of France the first draught is upon
Algeria, and there also the crop has been ex-
posed to the same conditions and is in the
same state. France, therefore, must buy
largely England, as is already known, must
also buy largely and Germany and the East
ern districts will, perhaps, esteem themselves
fortunate if able to supply fully their own
wants. Thus we shall be without COMPETE
tors for whatever we have to spare out of our
great grain crops. Undoubtedly, the prices
to which grain will be carried by this move
ment will fall somewhat heavily upon poor
people here whose loaves will be the dearer
| for the competition of European hunger; but
this small addition to the peoples expendi-
ture will be more than compensated by the
impulse that will be given to every branch of
industry as a consequence Of the general ac-
tivity that this current of supplies toward
Europe will set in motion. If people get en-
ployment at fair wages out OF an event that
j tlaa aarnn tirnn adds cent 70 the rrica of