758 
The Future of Agricultural Comjjetitim. 
1891. The only country whicli lias greatly increased its supply 
of oats to tlie United Kingdom is Russia ; Sweden, Canada, 
and Denmark having fallen off greatly in recent years. From 
America our supplies of oats are insignificant, although the acre- 
age of the crop in that country has more than doubled since 1879. 
So many English faiTuers are buyers of oats that the desire 
for a high price is by no means universal, while the large propor- 
tion of the produce consumed on farms renders the question of 
price less important than it is vrith respect to other cereals. 
Still, as our national production of oats is much greater than 
that of wheat or barley, remunerative prices are highly desir- 
able, and it is comforting to growers to see that Russia is the 
only country threatening them with any material increase of 
competition. It is strange to find that the oat area of Russia 
was only slightly greater for 1883-7 than for 1870-9. Possibly 
there has been an extension during the last few years ; but 
there are no more recent statistics of area than those of the 
series of years above mentioned. On the whole, seeing how 
supplies from other countries have fallen off, the prospect is 
one of diminishing rather than of increasing competition in 
oats, and the chief danger of low prices seems to lie in a 
possible increment in the supply of maize. 
Seeing that heans o/ad loeas are nitrogen-accumulating crops, 
it is desirable that their lost acreage should be restored. Prices 
are fairly high now, but have been low in recent years, and the 
acreage of both crops has been considerably reduced. In 1871 
there were 550,613 acres of beans and 391.250 acres of peas in 
the United Kingdom, while this year there were only 359,039 
acres of the former cereal, and 204,972 acres of the latter. The 
decline in the cultivation of beans has been steady, with slight 
fluctuations up to the present year, but very slow since 1886; 
while in peas there has been no considerable change since 
that year, when, indeed, the area was exceptionally small, 
and less than it was in 1890. During the last ten years our 
imports of beans have increased, though not steadily. They 
amounted to 2.577,133 cwt. in 1880, and to 3,344,918 cwt. 
in 1890, but were greater in 1883, 1884, and 1885 than they 
were last year. The principal increases have been in supplies 
from Morocco and Turkey, while Eg}-]^, still the gi'eatest con- 
tributor as a rule, has fallen behind of late. No steady increase 
has taken place in imports of peas during the last decade. 
Indeed, except for the extra quantities of 1887 and 1888, there 
has been a falling off, the totals for the last two years having 
been the smallest in the ten years' record. It is strange that 
Canada, a country admirably suited for the production of peas, 
