Cottonwood report. [volume] (Cottonwood, Idaho) 1893-1901, 1896-11-06
HOME CROP IN GREAT BRITAIN
Farmers singuIarIy Fortunate With
Wheat This Year.

me Glasgow Herald says w Whatever
may be the experience of Scotland with
the oat crop should the present weather
continue, England seems to have been
sngularly fortunate with her wheat
While even as far south as Buckingham
shire barley and oats are still standing
out In the fields, as in Scotland, wheat
was garnered unusually early. Indeed,
according to the annual review which Sir
j. Il. Lawes has just supplied to the Lon
don Times, we must go back 2S years to
find parallel to the present harvest.
In 1868 the wheat harvest began at Roth
| amstead on July IA; this year 1t began
on July 16. The wheat season, In fact,
was almost phenomenally fortunate, be-
ginning with a good seeding time last
autumn, followed by a warm, dry winter
and hot, dry summer, with just enough
rain in June to prevent the crops from
| ripening too fast, as they did In 1868.
Then the crop is remarkable for the
weight per bushel Sir ]. B. Lawes men
lions two instances In which the weight
per bushel reaches GA pounds, and there
is no such weight on record since the
experimental farm was established, in
1874 The average yield of this farm has
been 35A standard bushels of 60 pounds
per acre, Out OI COuloO tileIt ShiA'AVS ~
taken as the average of the whole coun-
try, which is probably nearer 80 bushels,
With such a good crop, how is it that
wheat is rising-for the average prices
given by the board of agriculture show
an advance of Is Sd per quarter since the
! end of July? For explanation we have
TO examine the entire position Of bread
stuffs. Our crop of wheat this year /:
computed at something over 100000 quar-
: tiers. Between now and the end of thu
harvest year in 1897 we have to feed ;
population estimated to average S9,50O,0O
: souls. At the rate of six bushels pc
;. head this will mean about 30,0OOo00 quar-
= ters, or. say, 10000 09 quarters in exces
. of our domestic production. Now In 1893
:, "a we imported "a, ISL quarters; in 1894
I95. "a S72 O98 quarters; and in 1886, 225O9,
: $40 quarters. Not only was the quantit
:. in 1S94-S5 largely in excess of the pre-
2 ceding year, but it was about 5000, 0C
= quarters more than was required for con
sumption. This accumulation of stock
: largely accounted for the great deprecia
:, ton in the price of wheat last veal
Most of the surplus, however, has no.
been used up, and tie quantity importe
in 1866 was less than we shall have
- import in 1867. 1t Is said that the quar-
tity of foreign wheat In warehouse ha
been reduced to less than 100000 qual
q ters, and this reduction Of stocks explain
+ the gradual rise in prices which is GLAD
dening the hearts of the British wheat
At growers. Whether it will go any turtle
l. or how far it will go cannot, Of cours
20 be said with confidence, but Sir ].
Ell Lawes, for one, seems to be OF the opiI
n ion that prices will continue to improv
I It all depends on the extent to which II
re low prices of the last two or three veal
nf may have discouraged wheat-growir
I'd abroad.
IN The United Kingdom is practically IL
an only market for the surplus wheat
n the world, and the surplus wheat, hi
50 been dumped upon us of late years
Ia such rate as to bring British farmir
he TO the verge of ruin, though it has all
ne given us cheap bread in time of gre
Ia Industrial depression. So long as Il
IN wheat-growing nations can obtain pri
from us that will cover the cost of pr
duction, they will go on growing. Wht
re it ceases to pay to grow wheat for e
nt port the supplies must be curtailed al
,a 1t is possible that that point has alreaC
rs been reached both in North and Sou
III America.