The daily gazette., 1880-11-16

DECLINE OF THE ENGLISH WHEAT
CRoP.-The latest estimate Of the Eng
lish wheat crop. 10 made by a writer
in the London Times. He is said to
well informed, and the amount Of the
yield is put below the smallest Of pre-
vious estimates. 1t takes 800, 900 as
the number of acres cultivated and 20
bushels as the average yield per acre
he finds the total production to be 10,
$4,000 The crop of 1872 covered s.
05e, 900 acres, and yielded only eigh.-
teen bushels per acre, or total of
$4,000, 900 bushels. That year, how
ever, was an exceptionally disastrous
one to wheat production. But while
this years figures are much more fa>
vorable than those of last year they
show q remarkable and steady decline
in the wheat crop Of recent years,
both in the area of cultivation and the
amount Of production. The average
number of acres cultivated has been
S,576,000 for the last fifteen and 81
AGA, 900 for the last ten years. The
crop has averaged about $4,000, 600
bushels during the past fifteen aud
SO, 600, 900 during the past ten years.
Hence the production Of this year is
more than $4,000, 600 bushels less than
the average of the past fifteen years,
and more than s, 900 900 bushels below
the average Of the past ten years,
while the area of cultivation falls 500,-
900 acres below the average acreage of
the past fifteen years. Deducting
seed the amount Of this years crop
available for consumption is put al
70, 900, 900 bushels. This is about rs,
00O, 900 bushels more than was availa-
BILE for consumption from last years
crop, but it is considerable less than
the average ofthe past ten years which
has been 81, 1870, 900 bushels. 1t is es-
timated that for the coming year Great
Britain will have to import about $780, =
600, 900 bushels OF wheat to make up
the 192, 900, 900 bushels needed to sup.
ply its wants. The imports Of wheat,
though likely to be less the coming
than the past year, have been steadily
and rapidly increasing in recent years,
their extent for the ensuing yea being
estimated at 5000, 900 bushels greater
than the average for the past six years.
The New York Herald says these
results are as full of significance to
the American as we'll as the British
nation, but they have a brighter mean
ing for the former than for the LAT tier.
They indicate not merely temporary
depression or huctuation in English
wheat culture, which in time must be
followed by the prosperity of former
| years; they show loss which viii
never be regained and a steady decline
which has not yet reached its end
The chief cause of this state of thing,
is not hard to find. The cultivation o
| wheat has been attended with stead
ly decreasing profit to the British
farmer. According to the authori
already cited the value Of the whea
crop to the cultivator after deductinl
seed averaged 81 As. lid. per acre dun
ing the five years from 1866 to 1870
| but only IS 1Ss. Sd. per acre during
the five years ending with 1879. Her
in about ten years is a loss of nearl,
e3 per acre, or almost thirty seven pc
cent. This result is due to foreign
particularly American, competitio
| more than to any other cause. Tha
l competition will increase rather tina
diminish in the future. The whea
crop of our Western and Northwestern
States is yearly growing more enol
nous. The facilities of transportatio
are steadily becoming better and til
cost of moving grain less. The NATURE
| consequence must be that wheat grow
on our praires will continue to be sol
in English markets cheaper than
d can be raised on English soil. Henc
the decline of Great Britain as graf
producing country is as inevitable q
: the rise of the United States in this +,
d ! spect.