66 



FOREIGN OFFICE REPORTS. 



[June 189G. 



summer sells at the dairy for Is. 4<d., the milk having cost 7\d. t 

 leaving a margin for profit and expenses of S^cl. It is further 

 estimated that the buttermilk remaining from 15,000 quarts 

 of milk would fatten about 400 pigs per annum. 



These dairies vary in size, down to those dealing with 440 

 gallons of milk, which is the smallest establishment for which 

 steam-power is desirable, and below this horse or hand-power is 

 employed. 



[Foreign Office Report, Annual Series, No. 1683. Price lJcL] 



Agricultural Distress in Normandy. 



Mr. Frederic Bernal, Her Majesty's Consul- General at Havre, 

 in a report on the district for the year 1895, states that in 

 Normandy the same bitter complaints from landlords and 

 farmers are heard as in England, but, to judge from the prices 

 at which land is sold and rented, the pinch can hardly be as 

 severe as it is with English agriculturists. Thus a good farm 

 will sell at from 361. 10s. to 40Z. 10s. the acre ; while the rent 

 of a farm of from 100 to 120 acres will be from 11. 9s. to 

 11. 10s. Qd. per acre ; of 50 to 60 acres, 11. 12s. to 11. 15s. per 

 acre; and small farms from H. 18s. to 21. 2s. per acre. 

 These prices show a sensible reduction during the last three 

 years, and great difficulty is experienced in getting the rents 

 paid. As regards obligatory taxes, the farmer pays the 

 personal tax of 3s, 7d., and a tax, which varies in different 

 communes, of from 4 to 13 or 14 per cent, of his rent. 



With respect to labour, there is stated to be a great disposition 

 among all classes engaged in agriculture to leave the country 

 for the towns. The daily wages of farm labourers in the heart 

 of the country are usually Is. for men and 7d. for women, with 

 board and lodging. In harvest time the wages are double these 

 amounts. The wages are higher in the immediate vicinity of 

 towns. 



[Foreign Office Report, Annual Series, No. 1667. Price 2d.] 



Agriculture in Poland. 



In a report to the Foreign Office on the trade of his district, 

 Mr. Henry Grant, Her Majesty's Consul -General at Warsaw, 

 states that last year's harvest was, on the whole, below the 

 average, and prices continued to range very low. The fall in 

 the price of corn since 1892 has been estimated by the Warsaw 

 Bourse to have caused a loss in 1894 of 4,000,000/. to the landed 

 proprietors in Poland. 



Sheep farming, which has in the past held an important posi- 

 tion in the agricultural industry of Poland, mostly owing to the 

 wool produced, is stated to be in a depressed state. 



