146 



NATURE 



[Dec. 



such genera as Doliolum and Salpa, and the Larvacea, i 

 containing the Append iciilaria. 



By far the greater number of the pelagic Tunicata col- 

 JeiCted during the voyage of the Challenger belonged to 

 the genus Salpa. Of these, vast numbers were taken at 1 

 the various station?, so that a great deal of labour was . 

 spent in a critical examination of these before it could 

 be determined that they were all the same or different j 

 species. ' 



■ The collection of pelagic Tunicata contained about 

 twenty-six species, of which nine are new to science. 

 No new genera are established, but a new family, the 1 

 Octacnemidas, has been formed for the reception of the ] 

 remarkable deep-sea genus described by Moseley as | 

 Octacnemus. i 



. Prof. Herdman gives in some detail, at the close of his 

 account of the species and of their geographical and 

 bathymetrical distribution, the conclusions at which, after 

 a prolonged study of this group, he has arrived, as to \ 

 their relationship and phylogeny ; this is accompanied 

 by a graphic representation of the phylogeny of the 

 Tunicata. This important Report is illustrated by eleven 

 plates. 



THE BRITISH FARMER AND HIS 

 COMPETITORS. 

 The British Farmer and his Competitors. By W, E. 

 Bear. (London : Cassell and Co., Limited, 1888.) 



THIS small volume of 160 pages is in some respects a 

 reprint of articles published in the Quarterly Review, 

 revised and brought down to date. The first chapter is 

 devoted to the condition of British agriculture, in which 

 the somewhat Radical doctrines of the Farmers' Alliance 

 (an organization which has never succeeded in winning 

 the confidence of the farmers) are promulgated. " Before 

 this country will be cultivated to the best advantage, 

 those who cultivate it must be either the owners of their 

 farms, or tenants who are entitled to sell their improve- 

 ments to the highest bidder, and who are free to crop the 

 land as they please, provided that they be liable for actual 

 damage done to the property of the owner." " Our 

 farmers must have complete security for their capital 

 invested in improvements, and freedom of enterprise as 

 well, if they are to do the best they can with the land." 

 This is the panacea for agricultural distress, and yet we 

 may well ask why it is that Britain is exceptionally well 

 cultivated, and that farmers as a rule farm as well or 

 better than landlords ? Landlord farming has, in fact, for 

 the most part not been satisfactory, either when carried 

 out on the large or on the small scale, and whether any 

 advantage would accrue from its extension is exceedingly 

 doubtful. Allotments, too, are put forward as amongst the 

 requirements of our time, and small farming is also 

 advocated, although condemned by experience. 



Mr. Bear is more happy as a statistician than as a 

 politician, and his chapters upon foreign competition and 

 the prospects of the wheat-grower, and the breeder and 

 feeder of live stock, are deeply interesting. The first 

 welcome truth is that in almost all articles of agricultural 

 pjroduction the crisis of injurious foreign competition 

 appears to have been passed about the year 1883 or 



earlier. Such was the case up to date, with regard to 

 wheat, barley, oats, and cattle. The maximum importa- 

 tion of sheep, hops, and potatoes, took place in 1882 ; of 

 bacon, hams, and preserved meats in 1880; of pigs and 

 cheese in 1878 ; and of beans in 1877. It must be under- 

 stood that quantities in quarters and hundredweights, and 

 not values, are indicated ; and so considerable has been 

 the shrinkage that the present imports of meat fall short 

 of the maximum reached some eight years ago by about 

 one million hundredweights, chiefly bacon. 



Taken in connection with this diminution of foreign 

 supplies of grain and meat, is to be noted the increase in 

 population, not only at home and in Europe, but through- 

 out our colonies and in the United States. In the last- 

 named country alone, population has increased from 

 38,500,000 in 1870 to 62,500,000 at the beginning of the 

 present year, and it is estimated that it will have reached 

 66,000,000 by 1890. During the five years ending with 

 1884 the average annual consumption of wheat in the 

 United States was nearly 324,000,000 bushels, and the 

 average export was 140,000,000 bushels. If the production 

 in the five years ending with 1894 does not become 

 greater, all but 43,000,000 bushels, or less than 5,500,000 

 quarters, will be required for home consumption, and the 

 surplus will not suffice for the increased population of the 

 next five years. Thus, unless the area of wheat-growing 

 is greatly extended, the United States must cease to be 

 a wheat-exporting country before the close of the present 

 century ! There is certainly a somewhat large "if" to 

 swallow in accepting this statement, but it seems pretty 

 ! evident that wheat -growing is not profitable at present 

 I prices, and that American farmers are becoming tired of 

 ! it. Higher prices can alone cause the necessary increased 

 ! supply, and the influence of such higher prices would be 

 i found in Europe to the advantage of the farmers. Con- 

 [ siderable space is devoted to show that American and 

 Canadian farmers grow wheat at a direct loss. It appears 

 i that the average gross money return from an acre of wheat 

 I in the United States is ^i 13J. This figure is based on 

 official information, and is arrived at by a yield of I2"2 

 : bushels per acre, and a price of 68'i cents, the bushel. 

 As, however, the farmers have been often obliged to sell 

 at 48 cents, per bushel, and the yield is in one State, not 

 1 2 "2 but, 5 bushels, and in another 7 bushels, and in eight 

 States it is below 8 bushels, the gross value of an acre 

 of wheat must in many cases fall much below the 

 average. It is held that unless 20 to 25 bushels can be 

 secured no profit is possible. The cost of growing an 

 acre of wheat in the States cannot, it appears, be placed 

 under I4'ii dollars per acre, i.e. about or near £,2 \%s. ; 

 and if these figures are even approximately correct, the 

 wheat-growers of the Far West must be in a worse plight 

 than our own. Although nominally rent free, the Western 

 farmers have generally been obliged to mortgage their 

 farms at an interest of from 8 to 10 percent, per annum, 

 and according to one authority, " teams, tools, stock, and 

 grain, all are being rapidly niortgaged." It is generally 

 admitted that the American farmer's life as a rule is one 

 I of "excessive and almost incessant toil, and the scantiest 

 reward — in money, at any rate ; while his wife is held up 

 in America as a common object of pity." With such 

 ; encouragement, Mr. Bear does not expect wheat-growing 

 j to spread in America unless prices generally rise. 



