Staunton spectator. [volume] (Staunton, Va.) 1849-1896, 1885-01-28
WHEAT.

! We propose to-day to have talk with
our brother farmers about wheat For APP
parent purposes, references will be made
to statistics affecting our interests general
~, but the prime object now is to look at
the matter as it concerns our immediate
section of country in the future.
When the State Farmers Assembly con-
vened in Charlottesville last August, the
agricultural interests generally were re-
viewed by those who participated in the
proceedings, and it was indeed affecting
to listen to the calmly, but seriously ex-
pressed utterances of solicitude for the fu-
ture of our chief staple in Virginia. The
low prices of wheat then, together with
the apprehensions of increased production
in new foreign fields as competitors of our
own country, presented gloomy views tor
prosperous future in a crop so important
to us in its continued and unbroken cul-
ture. The occasion, however, was equal
to the emergency, and the advice was to
pursue the even tenor of our way, adding
enterprise in sustaining mixed Industries
in aid of the prime object of the ennobling
occupation of Virginia farming. This was
good counsel and timely offered, but it will
take the heaviest and most unfavorable re-
suits to unsettle the habits and tastes of
our farmers in reference to wheat produc-
ton. If the acreage of sowing last fall is
short of the usual quantity, the cause of it
is more attributable to the long upSayofa-
BILE season than the disheartenihg sffects of
low prices.
Some farmers suppose that our limited
surplus, as compared with the great pro-
ducing west, is not directly or even remote
ly affected. by the foreign, or leading mar
kets of our country. This is mistake.
Every bushel of wheat for sale here, feels
directly the effect Of Richmond, Baltimore,
New York, Chicago, Minneapolis, St.
Louis and the foreign markets. Let the
truth of this statement be tested, and it
will be manifest that no dealer at the great
exchanges of the world makes quicker re-
sponses to fluctuation in prices than do oul
own city buyers. This is right, for il is
the natural law of trade and cannot be al
tered. This fact brings us to the legiti-
mate and proper conclusion that every pro-
ducer here, as elsewhere, has direct inter
est i'll all the information and facts pertain.
ing to this great and widely expanding in
terest.
| In the SPECTATOR Of tho 18th inst, some
new facts in relation to the culture ofwheat
in India were promulgated, which showed
that disappointment was experienced il
the effort to make that country a rival OF
our own in furnishing bread supplies fol
the United Kingdom. More recently, ii
began to be foreshadeved that even with
the wheat and -four in view, including that
for export from this country, available fol
European deficiencies, there will actually
be an immense shortage on general ac-
count. If these be the facts of the case,
then we may settle down in the full bslief,
| no matter what may be the representations
hereafter, as the markets open in success
sive seasons, the United States will be the
main reliance for an annual deficiency, not
| only for the dense population of the United
Kingdom, but also for other European
| States.
IT, ~ tisl1lis..-s Ui Shortage are as fol