1862. 



NEAV ENGLAND FARMER. 



143 



price of wheat in London is not very high, being 

 about $1,90 per bushel, just about the same as it 

 ■was in Januarj', 1847, the year of the L-ish fom- 

 ine ! and yet before the first of June that year the 

 price had advanced to $3,20 per bushel! and 

 through the famine that ensued, and its conse- 

 quences, nearly two millions of the Irish popula- 

 tion were swept from her naturally fertile soil ! 



It is difficult to see how the wants of England 

 and France are to be supplied. We exported, in 

 1847, nearly 869,000,000 worth of breadstuffs, and 

 in 18J4, neai-ly $66,000,000. There is a vast sur- 

 plus now on our hands, but it is not at the sea- 

 coast, nor can it be until navigation opens, and it 

 is a question for the old countries who need it, to 

 solve, how their supply is to be obtained. 



We may well feel proud that with our vast army 

 operations in hand we have enough and to spare, 

 for those whose policy toward us is such that we 

 can maintain the friendly relations of commerce. 



AGRICULTURAL STATISTICS. 



Nothing strikes an American in England so for- 

 cibly and constantly as the spirit of conservatism. 

 In our country, it is a pretty good reason for chang- 

 ing an idea, that it is an old one, and because, 

 in the nature of things, there should be some im- 

 provement, some progress. In England, on the 

 contrary, Avhat lias been must be. That a horse- 

 railway should go tlu-ough a street in London 

 seems impossible to an Englishman, simply be- 

 cause there never was one there, while every 

 American sees that street-railways are just what 

 every great city needs. England has no system 

 of obtaining agricultural statistics, and nobody 

 knows, except by guess, how many cattle or sheep 

 are in the country, or the product per acre of her 

 crops. Constantly there are movements to induce 

 the government to institute measures for obtain- 

 ing this essential information, in some reliable 

 manner. Why is it not done ? Ask a former the 

 question, and he inquires "What good will it do ?" 

 One reason Avhy the farmers oppose it is this : 

 They occupy their land under leases, usually not 

 written, and not for any definite term, yet they re- 

 main from year to year, and are really more per- 

 manent in their homes than New Englanders Avho 

 can own their farms, but sell and exchange them 

 as readily as their horses, and who, in fact, rather 

 enjoy a change of locality once in a few years. 

 Now, the English farmers all fency that if their 

 landlords really knew how much profit they were 

 making, their rents would be raised. Besides that, 

 they are watched enough already, especially where 

 game is preserved, and where a game-keeper is 

 prowling about their farms night and day, to pre- 

 vent the boys from catching a hare or a partridge 

 on the farms where they were born. A recent 

 proposition that the police officers should be em- 



ployed to collect agricultural statistics, was met 

 with a general burst of indignation by the farm- 

 ers, and there really seems to be no prospect that 

 any movement in this direction will be made. The 

 estimates which are given above are derived from 

 observations by dealers and others about the mar- 

 kets, and from custom house records and the like. 

 Very accurate statistics Avere obtained for a few 

 years throughout Scotland, by one of the agricul- 

 tural societies, but that is understood to be given 

 up. 



There is the same jealousy in England, in the 

 matter of general education, many good men be- 

 lieving that it would be of no advantage to the la- 

 boring classes to be educated. Perhaps that is 

 true, if those laborers are to have no opportunity 

 to improve their condition. 



We are inclined to think that the slave-holder 

 is right in keeping his slave in ignorance, if he in- 

 tends he shall remain a slave, and the same rea- 

 soning appHes to any mere man-machine. Yet, 

 there is a better spirit than this abroad in Eng- 

 land. The late Prince Consort, who seems never 

 to have been appreciated in England till his death, 

 was a warm advocate of education for the laboring 

 classes. He was, moreover, a lover of agriculture, 

 and an active advocate of progress, and just be- 

 fore his death, had accepted the position of Presi- 

 dent of the Ptoyal Agricultural Society of Eng- 

 land. He was no doubt, too, a friend to Ameri- 

 ca, and remembered gratefully her kind reception 

 of his eldest son. We may, as agriculturists and 

 philanthropists, join in regrets that his life so sud- 

 denly closed, and may offer our sincere sympathy 

 to Her Majesty in the loss of her nearest earthly 

 friend, who was indeed a friend of the poor and 

 the oppressed, and of progress everywhere, rather 

 than of the statesmen and nobles of the land, who 

 were too jealous of his growing influence with the 

 people, to accord to him in his life, the praises ia 

 which they now so zealously unite. 



An Esquimaux Rifleman.— As we were in the 

 open country, and there was no tangible o])ject to 

 shoot at, he made a circle in the snow of about 

 two feetin diameter, then, stejjping in the centre, 

 raised his gun perpendicular from the shoulder, 

 and fired in the air. After firing he stepped out 

 of the ring, and in a few seconds, to my astonish- 

 ment, the bullet came down within the circle he 

 had made. He coolly remarked, ''we want no tar- 

 gets to fire at ;" and if a man can hold his mus- 

 ket with that precision as to cause the ball to re- 

 turn just where he stands, M-hat need has he of a 

 butt ? But the principal reason why they thus 

 test their shooting is an economic one. Not al- 

 Avays being able to get bullets, they are chary of 

 firing them away, and I have no doubt it is for the 

 same reason that so many savage people have the 

 "boomerang," or return missile. — Recollections of 

 Labrador Life by Lambert Be Boilieu. 



