Sacramento daily record-union. [volume] (Sacramento [Calif.]) 1875-1891, 1881-04-07
THE CROP PROSPECT

was Appreciated at hrsr, yet Inc harvest
of 1881, taking the entire State, will evil
IDENTIFY be much smaller than that of 1880.
1t is of course not possible to make close
estimate of the diminution at this time,
but we think there can be no doubt that
it will exceed twenty-five per cent. of the
last crop, and it may reach thirty three
per cent. Several causes have been in
operation to produce this result. The low
price of wheat, the large surplus remain
ing on hand and the destructive effects of
floods, have combined to diminish the
acreage of the present year The farmers
generally have felt that it would be i'm
prudent to increase their wheat crops in
the present state of the market, and as
will be seen by reference to the reports,
many of them have concluded to devote
their attention to barley this year, as offer
ing the most encouragement.
It may therefore be assumed that there
viii be this year about two.thirds crop
at the outside, and taking into considera-
ton the quantity Of surplus wheat now on
hand, this will leave the farmers still
heavily stocked. The prospect OF a bet
ter market for this years harvest is thus
far encouraging. In many parts of Europe
the extreme severity Of the winter and pro-
tracted GOODNESS of the spring have set back
the crops very seriously. The reports
from England, in particular, are such as to
warrant the belief that that country will
have to be a heavy buyer next fall. In
southern Russia, also, the weather has
been exceptionally bad, and the same great
cold wave appears to have passed over
nearly all the cereal belt of Europe. In
the United States there has been an almost
similar record of disaster. Throughout
the great wheat country of the West the
cold has been unprecedented, audit is stated
that the soil through immense tracts in
this region is still frozen to depth of
three feet, while from one to three feet of
snow remains upon the frozen surface.
The presumption, therefore, is, that neither
in Europe nor the West will there be heavy
crops this year, and if that is the case there
will be so much the more demand for the
wheat of California 1t is true, and this
fact must not be forgotten, that our West
ern States have, equally with California, a
considerable surplus stock of cereals on
hand but it is none the less apparent that
the probable decrease of production
throughout that region must affect the mar
ket favorably for our farmers.
The prospect of cheaper tonnage this
year also appears good. A large amount
of shipping has already been engaged, and
the indications are that the rates will rule
considerably lower than last year, and pos
sibly even lower than for two or three
years past. The general indications are of
character to encourage the wheat. grow
ers of this State, in fact, and we do not
think that they will have any reason to
regret having held their last years crop to
the extent they have done. Looking back
upon the events OF the past four or FIVE
months, indeed, it is impossible not to real
ize that the California farmers have made
very fortunate escape from well-devised
and audacious bear movement on the part
Of the spectators, the effect of which, had
it been successful, would have been to re-
lieve them of their heavy last years crop
AZ nominal figure, and to put the buyers
in position 20 gather all the profit from
its production. The persistence with which
the most exaggerated estimates of the crop
were circulated, and the evaporation of
the spectators when their scheme was
exposed, are sufficient evidences of what
was intended. AS it is, the farmers have
held a large proportion of their grain, and
for what they have sold they have re-
ceived much better prices than at one
time they had any reason TO expect.
When the Southern Pacific Railroad is
completed to tide-water on the Gulf of
Mexico it IS believed that it will become
practicable to transport the bulk of the
grain crops overland, and discharge them
at Liverpool within thirty days, at con-
siderably lower rate than the average of
ocean freights. The accomplishment of
that revolution will, it is scarcely necessary
to point out, enable our farmers to take
every advantage of the state OF the Liver
pool market. 1t will in fact practically
put an end to speculation in wheat on this
coast, and the occupation of the middle
men viii be gone. But it will then be
even more necessary than now for the
farmers to have ample storage facilities,
and as the experience of the past year has
shown that under the new Constitution
warehousing must henceforth be carried on
mainly outside of the cities because of the
necessity of escaping taxation, it will be
the more desirable that the farmers should
unite in building their own warehouses
whenever it is found possible to do so.
Altogether the outlook is sufficiently
healthy. small crop Is what We most
need for 1881, and we are disposed to
think that If the crop had been ten, or
even twenty per cent. less than it prom
Uses, it would have been still better. As
the case stands, however, there is no
ground for dissatisfaction. Heavy har.
vests IN Europe and the West might have
caused US trouble, but there is the best
reason to believe that the market for Cali
fornia wheat will be firm and active this
fall, and that the surplus OF 1850 will,
together with the new harvest, be disposed
Of at remunerative prices.
INSANITY AND SUICIDE.
A J 81 ia l.