224 Variation in the Price and Supphj of Wheat. 
lS6o. — " Eepovts from all quarters have been on the whole satisfactory. 
With regard to the breeding of cattle, improvement becomes apparent every 
year. Over the whole of the district, formerly the lake of Harlem, agriculture 
is making rapid strides." 
KOTTERDAM, Februaky, 1867. — The outbreak of the rinderpest has been, 
and nnfortunately continues to be, a scourge of terrible severity to this 
country, which consists almost entirely of meadow and grazing land. 
The measures taken at the commencement were not sufficiently stringent, 
and the consequences of a mistaken leniency are now being felt throughout the 
kingdom. 
It is true that the present government are doing their utmost, by the 
application of a sterner policy, to remedy the faults of their predecessors; 
and by strong repressive measures, a total prohibition of the movement of 
cattle from infected districts, military cordons, wholesale slaughtering of all 
the live stock in an infected farm, &c., it is hoped that the plague may be 
stayed. 
The ofRcial returns, however, show a lamentable number of cases, as will be 
seen by the following table : — 
Total Cases. 
Died. 
Slaughtered. 
Recovered. 
Doubtful. 
South Holland . . . . 
North Holland .. 
Guelderland 
78,585 
5,870 
1,350 
43,591 
34,604 
798 
22 
25,236 
14,707 
4,279 
1,247 
3,479 
27,148 
793 
12,900 
2,12G 
6 
1,976 
Since the first outbreak 
129,396 
60,660 
23,712 
40,841 
4,108 
The energy with which England has met the case has, as may be supjwsed, 
attracted great attention ; and public opinion amongst the farmers and stock- 
holders, which has hitherto always opposed the Government in repressive 
measures, is gradually coming round to the necessity of a strong and decisive 
policy. 
July, 18G8. — Farmers have been compelled to import cattle from neigh- 
bouring provinces, and even from abroad, to replenish their stock, reduced by 
cattle-plague. 
Saxony. 
LEIPSIG. Report by Me. Consul-General Crowe for 18G5. — 
Harvest of 1865 a bad one in Saxony, which was an importer of com 
to a greater extent than usual, competing with Prussia, in which the har- 
vest was but three-fourths of an average, for the supply that poured in from 
Prus.sian and Russian provinces. For several weeks in autumn the railways 
throughout Germany were busy beyond precedent, carrying wheat and rye. 
One house in Berlin contracted to deliver 500,000?. Hungarian corn alone. 
This great importation and the surplus of previous good harvests have caused 
low prices and loss to farmers. 
The cause of a bad harvest in Saxony and Russia, in 1865, was the heat 
and moisture of the spring and a rapid thin growth of straw followed by 
a burning summer. Several years j)revious had been dry, and for two seasons 
no water had flowed from the pipes of the well-drained Saxon fields. Want of 
forage favoured the exportation of cattle, and the rinderpest in Holland and 
England gave a new impetus to it. 
Price of wheat per quarter, 1865 :— April, 37s. 9c7. ; July, 39s. 2d; Sept., 
41s. 4d ; Dec, 47s. IQd. 
