IO 
[January, 1902.] 
IMPERIAL INSTITUTE JOURNAL. 
Vol. VIII. No. 85. 
bonds were to be issued bearing 3 per cent, interest, so that each ;£ioo of 
present bonds would receive £ 1 . 8s. 4d., £ 2 , and £ 2 . 5s. respectively. A 
French loan was issued on December 21 for 265 million francs, the amount 
of the indemnity payable to France by China. Professing its inability to 
pay the money in a lump sum, the Chinese Government has been allowed 
to liquidate it in 66 half-yearly payments. The French Government, for 
various reasons, wants to have the money in hand immediately, but instead of 
issuing a loan on the security of the Chinese payments, it has elected to 
issue an equivalent amount of new Rentes ranking with the present three per 
cents. But it is also desirous not to increase the total of its debt, and has 
therefore arranged to use the Chinese indemnity annuities to redeem an 
equivalent amount of existing Rente held by the savings banks ; this is to 
be converted into annuities payable in the 33 years by half-yearly redemp- 
tions, these annuities to be taken over by the savings banks. The loan was 
covered something like 25 times over. 
Our usual table of exchanges 
follows : — 
29th Oct. 
28th Nov. 
30th Dec. 
Paris, cheques , 
25k 09R, 
25k 1 6c. 
25k 14c. 
Berlin, sight 
20m. 39jpf. 
20m. 43|pk 
20m. 39§pf. 
Vienna, sight 
23kr. 91 
2 3kr. 94 
23kr. 91 J 
Amsterdam, sight 
I2fl. oSf 
1 2 fl. iof 
1 2 fl. io| 
Madrid, sight 
35ps. 60 
35ps. 80 
34 PS. 
Lisbon, sight 
3Sxc-d. 
38 rid. 
39 d. 
St. Petersburg, 3 months 
93 r > 7 ° 
93 r - 85 
93 r - 65 
Bombay, T.T. 
is. 4d. 
is. 3f|d. 
is. 4d. 
Calcutta, T.T. 
is. 4d. 
is. 3fFd. 
is. 4d. 
Hong Kong, T.T. 
— 
is. 9fd. 
is. xoj-d. 
Shanghai, T.T. , 
2s. 7jd. 
2s. 5d. 
2S. 6|d. 
AGRICULTURAL RETROSPECT. 
United Kingdom. — Heavy rains in the first week of December made 
up to some extent the deficiencies of November, and anxiety as to the water 
supply in country districts was set at rest. Severe frost was experienced 
during the week before Christmas, but there was no sign of injury to young 
crops, which were particularly robust for the period of growth. The effect 
of the frost upon the land could not have been anything but beneficial, 
and, in addition, the firmness of the ground facilitated the work of manuring. 
There was a considerably smaller area under wheat in the United Kingdom 
last year, according to the final returns of the Board of Agriculture, though 
the total yield of that cereal, as well as of barley, was practically the same as 
in the previous year, owing to an increased production per acre. In 1900 
the yield of wheat in England was 28*4 bushels ; last year it was 3o - S bushels, 
or slightly more than the average of ten years, which is 29'9- In Scotland 
the yield was much higher last year- — 39 bushels to the acre, against 36*4 in 
1900, and an average of 37 bushels for the past ten years. The Welsh yield 
was 2q‘6 bushels to the acre, slightly more than the average. In Wales, 
however, as well as in Scotland, a very small area is under wheat. The 
barley yield last year was distinctly below the average — 30*3 bushels in 
England against an average of 33, 29^6 bushels in Wales against an average 
of 3o - 25, but 36*3 bushels in Scotland compared with 35*7 as the average. 
The oat crop showed the greatest falling off, the yield being 37 bushels, or 3J 
bushels less than the average. The Chambers of Agriculture have signified 
their approval of the recommendations of Sir Herbert Maxwell’s Committee 
on the use of preservatives and colouring matter in food, one of the most 
important of which is that all such foreign substances shall in future be 
excluded from milk offered for sale in this country. 
The first annual report of the Department of Agriculture and Technical 
Instruction in Ireland is published. It deals with the history of the 
Department from its establishment on April 1, 1900, until the end of March, 
1901. Two principles have, it is stated, guided the Department in its 
policy — first, the principle of evoking and fortifying the self-reliance, enter- 
prise, and sense of responsibility of the people ; and, secondly, the principle 
of preventing, by a due conservation of central direction, this free play of 
local initiative and responsibility from leading to an indiscriminate multipli- 
cation of unrelated local schemes. The chief work done in the Agricultural 
Department was the formulation of the schemes for the improvement of live 
stock. Under the horse scheme, 29S thoroughbred and 112 agricultural 
stallions were offered for registration, and of these 97 and 31 respectively 
were placed upon the Department’s register. Upwards of i,8oo free nomina- 
tion tickets of ^£3 each were offered at 150 shows held throughout the 
country during March and April, and nearly 1,700 of these tickets were 
issued. The schemes for encouraging improvements in the breeds of cattle 
provided for premiums of ^12 each to approved pure-bred yearling and 
two-year-old bulls of any breed selected by the County Committee. Loans 
to the amount of ,£2,036 have been made to 61 persons to enable them to 
buy good stallions and bulls. In addition, out of the funds placed at the 
disposal of the Live Stock Committees from the local rate and the Depart- 
ment’s contribution, a sum of ,£4,276 was allocated towards awarding 
premiums and prizes to female stock as a further means of encouraging 
improvements in stock-breeding. The total amount of money ear-marked for 
the schemes for improvement in the breeds of sheep and swine amounted to 
,£23, 9^3- Cork and Mayo were the only counties which did not adopt the 
schemes. The Department contributed just over half the sum named, the 
remainder being provided out of the local rates. In addition to the prepara- 
tion and promulgation of the live-stock schemes, the practical work of the 
Department upon its agricultural side has been the carrying out of certain 
agricultural experiments and scientific investigations, with the double object 
of demonstrating facts regarding the manuring of land and the use of varieties 
of crops, which, however well known to scientists, are not generally known to 
the smaller farmer, and of discovering how far, if at all, these principles 
require modification when applied to the soils and climate of Ireland. It has 
been decided that, as soon as possible, one or more itinerant instructors 
should be appointed to give practical and technical advice in each county on 
tillage farming, dairying, poultry rearing, fruit cultivation, bee-keeping, and 
other subjects, and several counties have already appointed such instructors. 
Colonies. — The report of the Colonial Secretary of Trinidad for the 
year 1900 shows considerable prosperity in the colony, in spite of the export 
of sugar being the smallest for twenty years past. Cocoa is now the staple 
product ; the area under its cultivation is nearly twice that under sugar, and is 
extending daily. Cocoa, bower, is not, like sugar, a manufacture, and a 
given quantity of it represents far less expenditure on wages than is the case 
with sugar ; but it maintains a larger number of peasant proprietors. As to 
the sugar industry, the old system of a boiling-house attached to each 
plantation has passed away ; the planter is now primarily a manufacturer, and 
cane farmers have come into existence who do nothing but grow the cane 
and then sell it to the mills. The farmers are, in many cases, peasants with 
only a few acres cultivated by themselves and their families. 
The annual report on the affairs of the Leeward Islands records no 
improvement in the condition of the sugar-growing islands of Antigua, 
St. Kitts-Nevis, and Montserrat. Dominica, bower, whose staple products 
are now cocoa and limes, is enjoying a steadily increasing prosperity. 
Much depression is felt in Antigua and St. Kitts-Nevis, owing to the 
short cane-crop and the severe drought experienced. The erection of central 
factories as the sole hope of restoring the sugar industry of Antigua, St. Kitts- 
Nevis, and Montserrat, has been so fully discussed that further advocacy 
would appear to be but repetition. The antiquated machinery and the 
obsolete methods now employed in the manufacture of sugar in these islands 
should, years ago, have been replaced by modern factories, but, year after year, 
no improvement takes place, the crops become shorter, and hundreds of acres 
of what were formerly valuable cane lands are now thrown out of cultivation. 
The export of sugar for the colony in 1900 exhibited a decrease of 7,431 tons 
as compared with the previous year. Dominica’s prosperity may justly be 
ascribed to a steady growth in the various industries and to the gradual 
development of the island’s resources. The exports of cocoa, in particular, 
were double those of ten years ago, while the output of limes and their 
products has increased three-fold during the same period. Dominica has, 
for years, been the world’s chief producer of lime-juice, and the area under 
cultivation of limes is being largely extended. Sugar has fallen to the rank 
of a very minor product, while the manufacture of rum is now not even 
sufficient for local requirements. The export of fruit is assuming considerable 
proportions, and the cultivation of oranges, pineapples and bananas is 
attracting the attention of small capitalists. 
The following information relating to agriculture in Queensland is 
taken from the report just received of the Agricultural Department. The 
figures relating to wheat are very encouraging. The area under that crop 
for grain rose from 52,527 acres in 1899 to 79,304 acres in 1900 ; the 
quantity yielded rose from 614,414 bushels to 1,194,088 bushels; the average 
yield per acre from 1170 bushels to 15 '06 bushels; and the money value 
from ,£92,162 to ^179,1 13. I 11 1900 only 77 acres showed signs of rust, as 
against 5,610 acres in 1S99. It is to be noted that during the last 15 years 
the acreage of land under wheat in Queensland has increased sevenfold ; 
but there is room for even greater development, as the colonists do not 
produce more than a third of the wheat they consume. As regards dairying, 
none of the agricultural pursuits in Queensland seem to have made more 
rapid or enduring progress. In 1900 there were at work 53 butter and 
cheese factories and 146 creameries, employing 595 persons. The output 
that year was 3,875 tons of butter and 886 tons of cheese, valued altogether 
at ,£658,177. Of that quantity of butter, 620 tons were exported, as against 
517 tons in the preceding year. The allied industry of ham and bacon 
curing seems to be in a similar healthy condition ; the exports of bacon and 
hams in 1899 were valued at £31,067 and in 1900 at £45,831. Turning to 
fruit-culture we read that, thanks to the efforts of the departmental experts, 
fruit-growing is being established on a satisfactory basis in Queensland. 
Superior and suitable varieties are being cultivated. Insect and fungus pests 
are being encountered with the most effective remedies. Of grapes the 
production increased from 3,230,627 lb. in 1899 to 3,634,949 lb. in 1900. 
The area under bananas increased from 5,802 acres to 6,215 acres; under 
oranges, from 2,324 acres to 2,882 acres ; under mangoes, from 245 acres to 
41 1 acres; under strawberries, from 87 acres to 121 acres; under apples, 
from 132 acres to 23S acres. The value of the exports of fruit increased from 
£93,187 to ,£104,385. In New South Wales the wheat crop is estimated 
by the Government Statistician at 19,000,000 bushels, being an average of 
1 2 '8 bushels per acre, from an area of 1,470,400 acres. This is two full 
bushels per acre higher than the average of the last ten years. 
From the final report of the Ontario Bureau of Industries on the crops 
of 1901, it appears that all but hay were smaller than they were estimated 
at first, and all but barley and hay are put below average. The crop of 
winter wheat yielded 16,017,029 bushels, or an average of 17 '4 bushels per 
acre compared with an average for the past ten years of 20*2. Spring 
wheat yielded 5,498,751 bushels, or 15*4 bushels per acre (decennial 
average i5'5). Barley yielded 16,761,076 bushels, or 267 bushels per 
acre (decennial average 26' i). Oats yielded 78,334,490 bushels, or 32*5 
bushels per acre (decennial average 34-9). Peas amounted to 10,089,173 
bushels, or 167 bushels per acre, and 4,632,317 tons of hay were produced, 
with an average of r8i tons per acre. The attacks of the Hessian fly had 
a serious effect upon the wheat crop, and injured barley to a less extent. 
The area of land sown with wheat in the autumn was greatly reduced, in 
consequence of the fear of this pest The important apple crop of Ontario 
is a very small one. The final crop bulletin of the Manitoba Government 
for the past year shows a total yield in cereals of 85,000,000 bushels from 
