The progressive farmer. [volume] (Winston, N.C.) 1886-1904, 1895-06-11
AGRICULTURAL MACHINERY
TRADE IN EUROPE.
Correspondence of the Progressive Farmer.
D.arc FroDoo

| If the season continues as it has be-
gun, the demand for agricultural i'm
plements and machinery this year
should be an especially good one. After
a long series of bad seasons the sudden
rush for i'm elements last fall exhausted
stocks in the Paris warehouses and
necessitated further supplies from
to do any business, and agents are
now getting over enough consignments
of grass and wheat cutting machinery
to be ready for any emergency. Al
ready there is little doubt that there
will be a good sale for mowers, as the
first grass crop is now assured and is
likely to be followed by another. AS
to the wheat harvest, no definite fore
cast can be made yet awhile, but there
is every reason to hope that it will be
as heavy as last year. In this class of
machinery the American firms do the
largest trade, chiefly on account of its
cheapness, its light draught, and the
care that has been taken to adapt the
machinery to the exigencies of the tall
and heavy crops In the question of
price, especially, the American manu-
facturers leave open very little chance
of competition from England, for not
withstanding that the English makers
are at the very doors AS it were of the
French market, their charges for trans
port are often much higher than those
from New York, where the freightage
rates allowed to American goods being
delivered here under very favorable
conditions.
The only advantage that English
makers enjoy over Americans in the
French market is in the differential
import duty which weighs more heav
lily upon the Trans Atlantic manufac
turers. It might have been expected
that would have seriously enhanced
the prices of American goods So far,
however, is this from being the case
that one United States firm is intro
ducing harvesting machinery at much
lower prices than have hitherto oeen
paid, and certainly below the figures
that can, be accepted by the half dozen
or so of English houses who do business
in this line. 1t is the general impres-
sion among commercial people in this
city that the import duties will at some
time be greatly reduced The system
of protection inaugurated by ID Meline
Is too dractic to suit the interests of
the vine growers and manufacturers
who find that the reprisals of Italy,
Spain and Switzerland have clt sed the
three most important markets to
French products and manufactures,
and that since the new differential
tariff came into force the foreign trade
has decreased to such an extent as to
cause serious uneasiness. Already an
agitation against the present protective
system is gaining ground in neas Iy all
the industrial centers, and if reform
is instituted, it cannot fail to benefit
the foreign agricultural implement
and machinery makers.
The last season or two has seen quite
q noticeable reduction in the prices of
light implements, such as mowers,
rakes and harroWers. At first the
English were cut out of the market by
the cheap mowers imported from the
United States, and now they find them
selves threatened by the competition
of French and German makers, who
are producing rakes of exactly the
same model as the English, and at q
price considerably lower. These rakee
are for all practical purposes as good
as those of the English make, and it is
really difficult to distinguish between
them. One Of the largest importers oi
foreign implements informs me that he
has been unable to dispose of his stock
OF English rakes, and that he is obliged
to supply customers with rakes oi
French and G. srman manufacture
which he sells at $15, below the figure
accepted by the English firms. Now
that Continental manufacturers arc
able to turn out exact imitation Of
g foreign implements at much lower
! prices, it is becoming more and more
8 d thcult to secure large profits upor
s business, unless indeed the cost Of
n manufacture can be reduced.
S State encouragement has proved tc
; be particularly effcacious to agricul
It ture in Aus ria, where the government
d spends great deal of money in pur
d chasing implements and machinery
s AID in other ways assisting agricultur
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