Lancaster daily intelligencer. [volume] (Lancaster, Pa.) 1864-1928, 1883-01-29
lancaster :9ntelligencer.
MONDAY Evening JAN. 20. 1888.
SOMETHING ABOUT WHEAT.

some Surprising Statistics From England.
Phil'a Record.
A good many farmers in this country
will be somewhat surprised to hear what
one of their number, E. A. Merritt, who
occupies the consul generalship at London
has to say respecting tho superiority Of
Great Britain over this country in the
production of cereals. He says that the
standard average production Of wheat, for
example, in tho United Kingdom is 29aa
bushels per acre, while in the United
States, according to late official
figures, the average is only 1874 BUSH
els. Maize is not raised in that country,
and rye is of SO little Importance that
its acreage is only one-half per cent. OF
tho land under cereal cultivation but the
returns given for barley and oats also ex,
hibit larger yield per acre as compared
with corresponding returns in American
agriculture, and they bear testimony to the
high cultivation Of the land and the Skill
and labor of the English farmer. The
agricultural statistics of the United King
dom for the year 1882 show the wheat
acreage to be 3,003, 915 /; oats, 2, S33. .Sl5,
and barley, 1855, 139, gain of acreage in
wheat of IL per cent The average yield
of wheat is given at about SO,O0O,OCO
bushels, and General Merritt calls particu-
lar attention 20 this point, as furnishing
a contrast which may hereafter be Of
value to our farmers, that with
the wheat acreage twelve times greater,
than Great Britain, the United States
do not produce six times as much
wheat" The crop of wheat id
France in comparison of the acreage also
exceeds that of this country. In 1882 the
tod 20
bushels, and the average per acre was
1887. The crop of 1881 was 274, 500, 3Sj
bushels. The crop in 1881 in the United
States was short, and amounted to only
39S. .OOO. 900 bushels. That of 1882 is set
down at about SIS, 600, 900 bushels. The
figures show that the yield of wheat in
France per acre greatly exceeds that i'll
our best wheat-prOducing states.
As exhibiting the wheat produc-
ton of some of the countries of
Europe in the year 1881, according to late
consular reports the yield Of Denmark is
given at 3, 143, 92S bushels of Germany,
r. OG9, ,S65 bushels, besides ID, 715. 800
bushels of German wheat (spelt) and 213,
$50. 900 of one grained wheat. In the prov
inces of Italy there we're harvested III
1881, 100, 7OS, 4Gl bushels of wheat. The
total average annual production Of grain
during the years 1S71-S0 for Austria Hun
gary was 1901. $50 bushels, an average
of 12.1 per acre. The average ann,
production of RUumana is estimated at
$4,000, 600 bushels. According TO the cs-
Inmates of government commission ap-
pointed to investigate the condition Of az
riculture in Russia, the yield Of wheat in
that country aud Poland, exclusive o
Don Cossack ~districts III 1878 was 29i,
7O2, 900 bushels. In Algeria 44,017,3i!
busi els of wheat were produced in 1880
Taking year 10y year. France seems to b'
the only country whose yield OF wheat fo
the last ten years exceeds in proportion
to population that in the United State
for the same period. The area OF Franc
is less than that of the four state
of Iowa, Missouri, Illinois and In
diana, and the population of tina
country is less than that of the Unite'
States 10y one quarter. Most of the othe
European countries a,e, and must remain
importers of the cereals, excepting per
haps Russia. And as the United King
dom. with a population of ,00O 600, re
quires besides its own wheat produC
about 10000. 900 bushels in addition t
supply home needs, and this supply mus
principally be from this country, it is eV
dent that our agrculturalists will be full
repaid for laboring to bring the soil up i
prOductvencss to the highest standar
reached in other lands.