Corn Prices-Return of the Average Prices of British Corn, Imperial Measure, February to May 1893

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205

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Summary of Agricultural Produce Statistics (Wheat, Barley, and Oats) in England, Wales, Scotland, and Great Britain, for 1892..

Appendices

(A) Name and Subject-List of Building Contract Cases decided during the present Century. Revised, enlarged, and brought up to date (June 1894) By A. A. Hudson

(B) Name and Subject-List of Light and Air Cases, prepared and revised to date (June 1894) .. By J. Holden

Index to Volume VI. of "Professional Notes "

547

562

571

PROFESSIONAL NOTES.

SECTION I.

SHORT PAPERS.

The Weather and the Wheat Crop, 1892.

On the 20th of October, in accordance with his annual custom, Sir JOHN LAWES published his estimate of the yield of the wheat crop for the past year.

When it is remembered that the acreage under wheat in the United Kingdom was last year only about 2,300,000, and the average price of wheat for the week ending December 31st was so unprecedentedly low as 25s. 8d. per quarter, it may perhaps be reasonably contended that the importance of this crop is yearly diminishing, and also that this fact is being reluctantly recognised by the British farmer. Possibly, however, with a more economical system of cultivation on some such lines as those shadowed forth by Mr. MASON in his operations at Eynsham, the growth of wheat in Great Britain may pass from under the cloud, by which in common with so many of the other agricultural interests it is at present covered, and be restored to the favour which it used formerly to enjoy.

Be this as it may, the subject of the weather and the

wheat crop must, for some years at any rate, be a matter of very considerable interest to all those connected with griculture, and more especially to those who farm what are known as mixed occupations.

Sir JOHN LAWES, to arrive at his figures, has taken the means of the unmanured plot, the plot treated with farmyard manure, and also the mean of the three plots to which different dressings of artificial manures have been applied, with the result that he has estimated the yield for the whole country to be 25g bushels of 61 lbs. to the bushel, equal to 25 bushels of 60 lbs. to the bushel. This figure is considerably below Sir JOHN's average of the last 40 years (27 bushels at 60 lbs. to the bushel), and also below the generally accepted average of the United Kingdom, which is put at 28 bushels per acre of 61 lbs. to the bushel.

The summary of the Agricultural Produce Statistics, which have recently been published, put the yield of wheat at 26-38 bushels per acre, which is a less yield than in any year during which these more reliable statistics have been published, and, as the acreage of land devoted to wheat during the last year was smaller than usual, the gross product of the wheat land of Great Britain was probably less than has been the case for many years.

It is my endeavour, in this short article, to bring under notice some of the principal causes which may have conduced to this untoward result.

It will be in the recollection of all interested in agriculture, that in the autumn of 1891 the prices at which wheat was selling were higher than had been the case at that season for some considerable number of years, and hopes were freely entertained, and with some show of reason, that the bottom of the agricultural depression had at length been reached and, that times were at last really improving.

How, then, was it that a less area of wheat was planted than had been the case in 1890, the deficiency being nearly 100,000 acres?

The condition of the weather will readily answer this question, and some remarks upon the weather of the twelve months ending September 1892-although, unfortunately, the harvest was not by any means all gathered in at the end of that month-may prove of interest at this juncture.

October-which is the great seed month-was extremely wet and stormy. About double the usual quantity of rain fell in the south of England, and at Rothamsted nearly seven inches of rain were measured during this month. Owing to this excessive rainfall, which was accompanied by very mild temperature, it was only possible to put a very small amount of wheat in.

November was fairly mild, with a temperature a little above the average, with a rainfall slightly below the average, and, although rain fell on 22 out of the 30 days, the farmers were obliged to make the best of the weather, and put as much wheat in as they possibly could.

December, again, was a very wet month, more especially in its early and latter days, the middle of the month being characterised by being dry but very cold and foggy. Sir J. LAWES, in alluding to the weather of these three months, draws attention to the great damage caused to the wheat crop by a wet autumn, in the following words :-" Not only, there

fore, was the land generally in too wet a condition for "favourable sowing and early growth, but there would be, in many cases, unusual loss of soluble manurial matters, "especially of nitrates, by drainage."

The new year was ushered in with some warm and sunny days, but the temperature soon fell, and the middle of January was very cold, to be followed, towards the end of the month, by some warm weather which extended into

February. The rainfall for January was small, and at Greenwich was as much as 1.75 inches below the average.

February, whose early days were warm and genial, was remarkable for some extremely cold weather in the middle of the month, so low a reading as 2° being registered at Loughborough on the 17th, and from the 15th to the 20th very low readings were registered nearly everywhere. After this date the temperature rose somewhat, and the latter part of the month presented no very unusual features. The rainfall-frequently in the form of snow-was comparatively small, and, as was the case in January, considerably below the average.

The first half of March was particularly cold, but dry, the temperature being 81° degrees below the average. The remainder of the month was warmer, but was unable to bring the temperature of the whole month up to the average; the result being that the total average of the month was about 3° below the normal. The rainfall of the month was again small, being more than an inch below the average in the wheat-producing districts of England.

The early part of April was remarkable for some very fine sunny days, but accompanied by cold nights, the range of temperature being in some cases as much as 40° in the 24 hours. In the latter part of the month the days were colder, and the average for the whole month was again below the average. April, like its predecessors, was another dry month, the rainfall generally being considerably less than the average.

May, taken as a whole, was a most genial month, and, although the early part of the month was dry, the rainfallfor the whole month was about the average. There was a large amount of sunshine, and the temperature at the latter end of the month was particularly hot, so high a reading as 85° being registered at Greenwich on the 31st.