Southern standard. (McMinnville, Tenn.) 1879-current, 1884-10-25
wheat---Its Supply and Price.

land has the following article which
may be read with interest on this side
of the Atlantic. The large Indian corn
crop of this year in the United States
estimated at not less than 1900, 000,-
600 bushels, may to large extent in
tiuence the price of wheat. Southern
Planter.
There can be no doubt now that this
country has deem blessed with the finest
grain harvest since the year 1878, only
that there is this difference in the years
1S7S'and 1884, that the acreage under
wheat has diminished II per cent,
while that under barley has diminished
per cent, the result being that if the
yield per acre were equal in the two
years it would mean a considerably
smaller crop in 1884. AS far as oats
are concerned there has of late years
been tendency to increase the area
sown in this country, for the reason
that oats are less subject to damage in
this climate, and because being a bulky
crop, foreign growers are less able to
compete with the British farmer. But
the result of these statistics is to show
that we are more in the hands of foreign
wheat growers than we were six years
ago, and if we carried the comparison
back ten years it would be found that
the diminution in the area sown with
wheat in the United Kingdom would
be as much as q per cent. II might
be supposed from these statistics that,
in spite Of $50 bushel wheat. CROP"
the large increase in the number of
mouths to feed, and the decrease in the
area sown, would entail an additional
charge upon the consumer, and that
farmers here who had grown grain
would be in position to command
the market. But nowadays it is the
price of foreign wheat which practically
controls prices here, and the difference
between 25 bushel and 80 bushel
crop-that is, between an abundant
and a bad harvest-is only some 12,.
100000 bushels, while the aggregate
consumption of the country can not be
placed at less than 210, 100000 bushels.
The difference, therefore, as far as
quantities are concerned, is that 5 or 6
per cent of our consumption is grown
at home in the one case, or has to be
imported in the other. At the pres
ent time the British farmer can not
hope, even with bad harvest, to put
up the price OF wheat materially.
What will benefit him most is a grain
that will compare favorably in quality
with foreign importations, and even
more than that, grain which he can
harvest under the cheapest possible
conditions. If he can cut his wheat
and carry it at once, or if he can thresh
it in the field, his farm expenses are
very materially lessened, and he is en-.
abled to do proftably what in these
times he is compelled to do, whether it
involves profit or loss, and that is,
to sell at prices which few years ago
would have been regarded as fabulous
ly low. In the current year it is an.
ticipated that wheat will be cheaper
than at any time during this century,
cheaper indeed than it was in 1851 or
in 1885; and to have wheat harvest
which will enable the farmer to sell
profitably under such circumstances is
a remarkable condition of affairs, calling
for more comment than it has yet re-
ceived.
But before the condition of the har
vest was known, either here or abroad,
the price of wheat was remarkably
low, and the causes which made it low
are permanent causes. The vast ex
tension Of railway construction in North
and South America, in India and Aus
tralia, and the vast increase in steam
ship facilities, have drawn us perma
nently nearer the great grain growing
countries of the world, while the reduc
ton of freights, both by land and sea,
enable the consumer to purchase more
cheaply, but at the same time the
grower to sell at greater advantage. Il
is for this reason more than any other