HARVEST RESULTS.
SINCE our article on harvest prospects appeared on July 25th, a great deal has happened. Then there was reason to hope for excellent crops of wheat, barley, peas, potatoes, and hops, and passable returns of other varieties of farm-produce ; but there had been quite enough of cool and rainy weather, and sunshine and heat were essential to the perfect development of all kinds of vege- tation. Unfortunately, one of the wettest Augusts on record followed, while the temperature was even lower than it had been in July. Crops were beaten down and rained upon day after day, and harvest-work, which began in the second week of the month, was much interrupted. Strong gales of wind rattled the grain out of over-ripe crops that had not been cut; while the sheaves of reaped wheat and oats, and the swaths of barley, were soaked through repeatedly. Very little stacking was attempted while this unseasonable weather listed, and the crops that were secured were carted in a damp condition. Complaints of sprouting among the cut and uncut crops became common ; while mildew appeared among the wheat in some districts, disease among potatoes, and mould in the hop-plantations. Even the root-crops failed to mature properly, from the lack of heat and sunshine. But at the beginning of September, just as prospects were blackest, and farmers were almost in despair at the impending destruction of their crops, a beautiful change in the weather took place. From the 2nd till the 13th of the month the sun shone brightly every day throughout the greater part of the country, and the temperature was higher than it had been during any portion of the season. The cut crops were quickly dried and secured in excellent condition for stacking, while farmers in the late districts hastened to cut the corn which had been too long left standing or lying on the ground. By the end of the period referred to, harvest was finished on many farms in the Southern, Eastern, and Home Counties, and great progress had been made in all but the late hill-districts of the Kingdom. On Monday last, however, immediately after the hottest day of the whole season, rain fell in great quantity, with a sudden drop in the temperature, putting a stop for a time to the harvesting which had been going on so swimmingly. Work was resumed on Wednesday, but rain fell again on Thursday and Thursday night. Fully one-third of the corn is still in the fields, and in some districts quite one-half, so that a fortnight of dry weather is needed for the saving of the crops. There is much yet to be done by the hop-pickers, too, and they need fine weather for the successful completion of their work.
There is a great deal of difference of opinion as to the amount of damage done by the wet August. We have no doubt that, while the crops were lying sodden in the fields, the natural disposition of farmers to "pile up the agony" found full vent in the lugubrious reports which appeared from all parts of the country. On the other hand, when the glorious sunshine dried the corn and allowed the work of cutting and carting to go merrily on, the spirits of the onlookers were elated, and the tendency was to make light of the damage. A calm examination of a mass of available though conflicting evidence, leads to the conclusion that much damage has been done to the wheat, barley, pea, and hop crops, and less to oats, beans, and potatoes. The wheat-crop is not nearly as good as it promised to be at the beginning of August, when the annual returns of the Agricultural Gazette represented it as a little over average. In the first place, the grain failed to plump out properly, owing to the coldness and wetness of the weather, and the lodging of a great deal of the corn before it was ripe; and secondly, it is reckoned that fully two bushels an acre were lost from the shedding of grain ; while the bloom was taken off a good deal of the wheat, and some samples contain sprouted kernels. Thus the crop has suffered deterioration in quantity and quality alike. Barley, which the returns mentioned above represented as the best corn- crop of the year, has been more or less stained, so that its value for malting purposes has been diminished ; and from over-ripe crops the high winds blew off whole ears to a distressing extent in exposed situations, besides which there was much shedding when the corn was handled. Still, barley is reckoned to be well up to an average, the damage to quality being more serious than the loss of grain. The pea-crop suffered much loss from shelling out during the wet weather; while oats and beans were not badly injured. As to the potato-crop, which promised to be one of unusual abundance, we are glad to hear that the march of the dreaded disease, which began in August, was checked by the dry weather which followed, and that, although it exists in most parts of the country, it is not very serious in Scotland, Ireland, or the greater part of England. There is time for the late portion of the crop to be badly affected, however, if wet weather should prevail.
Hop-growers appear to regard the reduction of the yield of their special produce with complacency. They have quite an average crop, or about 8 cwt. per acre, for which they expect to get as much money, at less expense in picking and drying, as they would have received from a superabundant yield. Root-crops have improved lately, and farmers hope to have a fair bulk of succulent winter food for their live-stock, to make up for a rather short crop of partly damaged hay. In the fruit districts, a great crop of plums is being gathered, and pears are abundant, while apples are fairly plentiful in some districts, and scarce in others. Great losses occurred, however, during the windy weather of last month. Threshing has not yet been sufficiently carried on to allow of trustworthy estimates of the yield of corn being made. The most commonly accepted prediction is for a crop of twenty-eight bushels of wheat per acre, which would give barely 8-1 million quarters as the produce of the United Kingdom, or about a million quarters less than was produced last year on a larger acreage. As our con- sumption during twelve months, if we eat as much bread and dispose of as much wheat for seed and other farm uses as we have got rid of in recent years, will be about 281 million quarters, we shall need to import about 20 million quarters, or nearly a million and a quarter more than we received from foreign sources during the cereal year 1890-91. It is possible, however, that our home crop may prove a little greater than is above antici- pated, and that consumption may be economised owing to an advance in prices, so that we may be able to make shift with 19 million quarters of foreign and Colonial wheat. It is certainly desirable to make spare, as we may do if we have an abundant potato-crop. Moreover, there is no reason, if bread should become rather dear, why we should not follow the American example of preparing maize in numerous tasty ways. Several Euro- pean countries will compete sharply with us for the great wheat-surplus of America and Canada,—great absolutely, but relatively small considering the exceptional need of Europe. France is expected to require about 13 million quarters, or more than double her last year's imports ; while Germany, Belgium, Holland, and Scandinavia will also need twice as much as usual from foreign sources, partly because their wheat-crops are small, and partly because they have a much greater deficiency of rye. Austria-Hungary, which usually has at least 2 million quarters to spare, will probably need all the somewhat meagre produce of the present season for home consump- tion; while Italy, Spain, Portugal, Switzerland, and Greece will all look to Transatlantic countries and India for some of their breadstuffs. Even Russia, whence over 12 million quarters have been exported in recent years, may possibly need to import in the spring as much as she ships in the autumn. Every one has heard of the terrible scarcity of grain in Russia. The new wheat-crop is supposed to be about 6-} million quarters in excess of an ordinary year's consumption ; but then, according to an official estimate, the rye-crop is short by 21 million quarters, and although the starving portion of the population may be driven to the use of any kind of grain they can get, it is only reasonable to suppose that comparatively well-to-do people will eat wheaten instead of rye bread to some ex- tent, unless wheat becomes too dear. Roumania and the neighbouring Principalities will contribute moderately to the supply of importing countries, but not to the extent of their contributions in the last cereal year. Algeria, Tunis, Egypt, and Persia, too, will help in their comparatively small way to feed hungry Europeans ; but we must look to the United States to supply about half the 40 million quarters which Europe, including the United Kingdom, is supposed to lack, without allowing much for an increase of demand to meet the deficiency of rye. The September re- port of the American Department of Agriculture is re- garded as indicating a production of about 550 million bushels of wheat--the largest crop ever gathered in that country—and if this expectation should be realised, there will be a surplus of nearly 24 million bushels, of which 21 millions may be expected in Europe. Canada promises to export 2 million quarters or more ; but this would be much beyond precedent, and is probably an exaggeration. India, Australasia, and South America have already shipped most of their spare wheat, so that their ability to help Europe materially will depend mainly upon their next harvests, the character of which will be for some time uncertain. So far as careful calculations can be relied on, the wheat-production of 1891-92 will not be quite equal to an ordinary year's consumption, and the consumption of the current harvest year will be ex- traordinary, owing to the enormous deficiency of rye. It follows, then, that stocks of wheat usually held in reserve will have to be drawn upon pretty well to the point of ex- haustion unless the use of wheat is economised as much as possible. There will not be enough Wheat in the world, including all stocks of old grain, to cover the rye-deficiency in addition to meeting the ordinary consumption ; but we have no doubt that in rye-eating countries maize will be extensively used, and barley and oats also, so that there will be plenty of grain of some kind "to go round." The European barley-crop is, fortunately, a great one, and oats will not be at all scarce ; while America has a crop of about 2,000 million bushels of maize, from which a practically unlimited quantity can be spared, if Europe offers a fair price for it. It would be well for some authority on the preparation of maize for human food, to publish in European papers the recipes used in the United States, where this nutritious and well-flavoured grain is extensively used from choice, even when wheat is ever so abundant and cheap. Indeed, it would be well worth while for the American Government to do a little advertising in this way, through Consuls in European countries, if only for the sake of providing American maize-growers with an extra number of good customers.
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