June 1895.] EXTRACTS FROM DIPLOMATIC AND CONSULAR 69 



REPORTS. 



Yet it is stated on good authority, says Sir J. Crowe, that no 

 mistake could be greater than to suppose that, because the sale 

 of wheat is dull and languid and its price is low, the margin 

 has been reached at which a profit cannot be realised. For it is 

 maintained that wheat can be sold without loss, even at 3s. lid. 

 per bushel, if only a large yield per acre can be obtained. 



It is for this reason that the efforts of the French Government 

 are directed to an extension of the benefits of agricultural 

 education. 



[Foreign Office Report, Annual Series, i\^o. 1498. Price 2d.] 



Agriculture in Algeria. 



A report has lately been published by the Foreign Office on 

 the commerce of Algeria for the year 1893-94, prepared by 

 Sir R. Lambert Playfair, Her Majesty's Consul General at 

 Algiers. 



Regarding the agriculture of Algeria, it is stated that the 

 growth of cereals has always been the staple industry, but 

 of late it has become unremunerative, and the returns, both 

 from European and native culture, are very small. 



The harvest of 1894 was fairly good, but the cultivators com- 

 plain that they could not sell their produce at remunerative 

 rates. The Vice-Consul at Philippeville reports that in his 

 district wheat only fetched from 195. 6d. to 195. 9d. per quarter, 

 barley 6d. to 14s. bd. per quarter, and oats from 17 s. 7d. to 

 19s. 9d. per quarter, prices uttei'ly insufficient to repay the cost 

 of culture. 



The value of the crop in 1894, plentiful as it was, was barely 

 sufficient to pay oflf the old debts, and left nothing for the 

 farmers to live on. 



It is observed that whatever can be done to increase agricul- 

 tural returns must greatly add to the riches of Algeria, considering 

 that 1 per cent, of the ordinary harvest represents a value of 

 72,000^. 



It seems that agriculture is still in a very rudimentary condi- 

 tion, no manure is used, and, amongst Arabs especially, the rudest 

 possible implements are in ordinary use. All that the Government 

 can do is to supply seed corn of superior quality, and this it 

 has done, giving it gratuitously both to European and native 

 cultivators on condition that they sow it separately and preserve 

 the result as seed for the following year. Soft wheat has been 

 given to Europeans and hard wheat and barley to Arabs. 



Extensive experiments are being continued, both in regard 

 to cereals and to forage plants, but the Experimental Station, 

 which it has been determined to organise, has not yet been 

 created. 



[Foreign Office Report, Annual Series, i^To. 1507. Price lid.] 



