The Valley Virginian. [volume] (Staunton, Va.) 1865-1895, 1879-02-20
European Agriculture.

European Agriculture.
The Baltimore american discusses th
agricultural prospect Of England, as ind
Gated by recent developments, and proceed
to present a very gloomy picture in thi
respect for the mother country,and cores
ponding encouraging outlook for the Unitet
States,a fact we have to consider simply as
fact, and in no spirit OF cxultation at tn,
threatened misfortune OF our kins-people
The american says
by English experts it is announced tina
the farmers Of England cannot afford Il
raise wheat OIL their lands If its ruling price
is to be no higher in future years than il
| has been OF late. The question is one OF the
gravest Importance to Great Britain and one
worthy of the most careful study in this
country, and particularly so in Baltimore,
which seems destined to be ore of the great.
est markets for the sale of wheat to the
world. Messrs. Thomas G.. Scott and Ar
thur II. Sayory, authorities upon the sub.
jfct in England, have recently made inuu-
ries into the condition of the wheat-raisinp
| industry; and are compelled TO admit that
at present figures England must abandon
| this branch of agriculture and give place to
America. 1t is shown that in order to re-
imburse the English farmer for his outlay
| in seed, labor, manure, carriage, &C., the
wheat must be sold at 60 SIS. per quarter
| eight bushels) at least. The average price
in the past four months has been but 81 per
quarter, a clear loss OF one shilling per
| bushel. America raises W heat two thousand
miles from her ports of exports, conveys it
| by rail to the points of shipment, trans
| ports it over three thousand miles of ocean
| to Great Britain, and sells it at a shilling a
bushel less than it costs the English to
| grow it. 1t seems almost Incredible tba-
this should be so, but it is Individually provt
en-, not alone by the figures of the English
economists, but by the features of our trade
last year.
That it should cause alarm in England is
no wonder. Already is the state OF affairs
throughout the country simply terrible
Failures and strikes, breaches of trust and
destruction of confidence, declines of in
come among the rich and pauperstn and
starvation among the poor, are heard of day
after day from one part or another of Eng
land, Ireland. Scotland and Wales. One
branch of manufactures after another that
was before peculiarly England's own has
been wrested from her by the United States
and other countries; protectionists ideas
have been revived in Italy .and Spain the
expiration Of the commercial treaty between
France and Austria has brought again into
operation the old tariff of exorbitant import
duties in Austria. Bismarck has declared
himself protectionist, and after all these
blows at her manufacturing trade, England
finds herself confronted by probability of
the destruction of her production OF wheat.
The threatened blow, it has been truly said,
would be the severest that English industry
has received in modern times. The fall in
rents of arabic land throughout the coun-
try would be gigantic. The extent of the
acreage devoted to wheat solely or to ro-
tation of crops amounts to some 100000
acres, land the wheat crop ofthe United King.
dom is worth Gncluding the increased rents
due to i) at least $4,000 900 per annum.
ten dollars quarter, while her farmers can
not afford to sell their own crops at less than
twelve dollars quarter, it is, of course, an
absolute certainty that wheat raising will
cease to be an English industry.
In this connection the enormous progress
made by the United States in this branch of
agriculture is an Interesting and important
study. In 1868 the country planted 49,
499, O32 acres in wheat, and produced 224,-
036, 600 bushels. The increase in the value
OF our exports OF wheat and flour in 1878
over those OF 1877 amounted to the enor-
nous sum of $50, 164, 900, and the exports of
breadstuffs last year aggregated $1S1, Ill.,
S4l. These figures are now astounding,
but the probabilities are that they will seem
as nothing to those that will be presented
ten years hence. The United States will
eventually be the food-producing country Of
the world.
In this connection we give the conclusion
OF an article in a recent number of the New |
York Post, on the progress of the plague,
and the possibility of its disturbing the ag-
ricultural pursuits OF Russia and other coun-
tries threatened with its invasion. 1t is
merely problematical, but will be read with |
interest. The Post says:
''Shouid this. unhappily, be not effected. |
or even if the mortality be great and long
continued in the spots where the plague al |
ready Is. the consequences to Russia will be
disastrous. Her already disordered finances
are in no condition to meet the drain of a
protracted Industrial paralysis, an impeded
or destroyed harvest. or Of any other of the
wasteiul agencies that come in the train of
a great epidemic. The awful sequence of
'swar, pestilence and famine that has af-
ficted and threatens her may be the parent
Of momentous changes, and not impossibly,
OF even dynaslic commissions. So far as the
harvest goes, it is not yet seed-time. and
there may still be room for change for the
better before that time comes. Should such
an improvement fail, the grain supply for
The coming season is likely to be seriously
affected. If the enormous product that
commonly flows from Odessa and other
ports OF the Black Sea is curtailed, the de-
iciency must be made up from elsewhere.
The bearing of this important contingency
lpoE the Interests of this country is palpa.
Die and will not be lost sight of and, pro-
oundly as all humane persons must deplore
he cause OF such demand, it may prove
ortunate for Europe as well as the United
states that her enormous resources in the
way of grain and other supplies are equal {
o any drafts that are likely to be made up
m them.