JOURNAL OF HORTICULTURE AND COTTAGE GARDENER. 
June 16, 1881. ] 
499 
Asssociation, were in constant attendance throughout the Show to 
give information to the several thousands of inquiring visitors. 
- Extraordinary Tithes. —At a recent meeting of the Select 
Committee appointed by the House of Commons to consider this 
subject (Mr. Inderwick in the chair), Mr. Bryant of Dunstead Park, 
Westerham, Kent, said he farmed his own land of about 280 acres, 
which was laid out in fruit and market gardens. There were 40 acres 
of Hops and 80 of wood. His property lay in two adjoining parishes. 
In Westerham he paid an extraordinary tithe of 15s. per acre on 
Hop land, and nothing on fruit land ; in Brasted there was a uniform 
extraordinary tithe of 14s. per acre on all Hop land and fruit land. 
The clergyman was the recipient of this extraordinary tithe, and he 
told witness recently that it was very repugnant to him to receive it. 
There was an Act passed in the 45th Edward III., in the year 1371, 
which was the only Act previous to the Tithe Commutation Act of 
183(1 which dealt with tithes, and that prohibited the levy of these 
extraordinary tithes. In 1835 and 1836 there was no importation of 
Hops or fruits of the kind grown in England, and none of vegetables. 
The home market was entirely fed by the home producer. The im¬ 
portation of Hops since that time had been considerable, and in 1875 it 
amounted to the value of £1,038,054, and in 1879 to £1,217,938. In 
1875 the import of raw fruit of the kind grown in England amounted 
to £986,248, and it had increased to £1,746,936 in 1879. Onion im¬ 
ports were in 1879, £450,019 ; Potatoes in 1875, £1,070,976, and in 
1879 £2,696,885. The effect of the extraordinary tithe was to strangle 
this industry in England; the tithe had to be paid whether any 
profit was made out of the market gardens or not. There was a 
gentleman at St. Paul’s Cray who had 3000 acres in Hops and fruit, 
and had to pay £900 a year in extraordinary tithes. Witness had 
introduced upon his farm the undercropping of fruit plantations 
with market gardens; the land was previously in Turnips and 
Wheat. On being asked by the Chairman to propose a remedy for 
this extraordinary tithe, Mr. Bryant replied, “ Total extinction, it 
ought never to have been imposed.” We think most people will agree 
with him. 
- Wheat Production and Transportation. —The “New 
York Tribune ” states the average cost of producing Wheat in the 
Far West is estimated at 84 cents per bushel, and a vast quantity of 
Wheat is raised in this country at a lower cost. The average cost of 
transportation to Liverpool, exclusive of 3£ cents for hauling in this 
country, and 6J cents for Liverpool charges, has been put at 50 cents 
per bushel—viz., 20 cents from the farm to Chicago, 15J cents thence 
to New York, and 14J cents from New York to Liverpool. The 
charges now, though navigation is not yet open, are 15 cents from 
St. Paul to Chicago, 18 cents from Chicago to New York, and less 
than 10 cents from New York to Liverpool. Even this low rate 
will be greatly reduced whenever it becomes necessary in order to 
secure a market for the surplus grain of the Far West. Indeed, even 
now grain is being removed from St. Louis and St. Paul to Liverpool 
at less cost than from the Mississippi River to New York. A single 
tug has just taken 1900 tons of grain from St. Louis in barges on the 
way to New Orleans. With an ordinary stage of water the charge 
is said to be 5 cents a bushel from St. Louis, and 15 cents from St. 
Paul. Much more than half the grain exported crosses the Missis¬ 
sippi River. The actual cost of transporting by barges is said to be 
little more than half the rates now charged ; so that, if it were neces¬ 
sary, in order to secure a market abroad, more than a hundred million 
bushels of grain could be moved down the river for less than 5 cents 
per bushel from St. Louis. Hitherto lack of facilities and of shipping 
at New Orleans has restricted the movement; but charters have 
actually been made in this city within the past week for vessels to 
take grain from New Orleans to Liverpool at 6<L, or 12 cents per 
bushel. If surplus grain is moved even now for not more than 
17 cents per bushel from St. Louis to Liverpool, whereas the present 
cost by rail from St. Louis to New York is about 20 cents, the British 
farmer has not yet felt the full force of American competition. From 
St. Paul to Liverpool the present cost is 27 cents, whereas the rate 
by rail from St. Paul to New York is 33 cents per bushel. The river 
route, though not enough used now to influence railroad rates mate¬ 
rially, as these quotations show, is liable to be very largely used when¬ 
ever the possibility of selling two hundred million bushels of Wheat 
from the north-west depends upon the cost of transportation thence 
to Liverpool. Then it will doubtless be found that grain can be 
moved from Minnesota to Liverpool for less than half the cost of 
transportation allowed by the British Commission. In short, the 
British farmer, who acknowledged that he could not hope to compete 
with American grain costing in England less than 1’43 dols. per 
bushel, may find that he is obliged to sell his own grain at less than 
1T8 dol. per bushel in order to keep the home market for himself. It 
is not necessary to say that one season of such competition would put 
a stop to Wheat-growing on a great many farms in England. 
PRACTICAL SCIENTIFIC BREEDING. 
(i Continued from page 454.) 
FRESH BLOOD. 
As will have been manifest from what has been already written, 
it ought to be several years from the first starting of a strain 
before it is necessary to introduce fresh blood ; but be the years 
few or many, the time is sure to come when the step can no longer 
be avoided. This being so, the prudent fancier will do well to 
anticipate the necessity, and make such a provision for his needs 
that the fresh cross shall be as little harmful as possible. 
The introduction of absolutely new blood into a strain can be 
postponed in some cases by an expedient which is not always 
practicable. A colony may be established in some friendly yard 
as distant as possible from the parent yard, and a sub-strain there 
formed from which the original strain may be recruited. We 
say “as distant as possible” advisedly, for climate, soil, elevation, 
&c., have an undoubted effect upon the constitutions of the birds, 
and a sub-strain established in a locality which is essentially dif¬ 
ferent in its natural characteristics from the home yard will 
become in the course of a few years so affected by its surround¬ 
ings as to be for practical purposes almost a distinct strain. 
Birds from such a sub-strain may be used with great advantage 
in the home yard, and their use will be found to produce a con¬ 
siderable increase in the stamina of the parent stock. 
It is not everyone, however, who can adopt this plan, and even 
if adopted it can only postpone the day when absolutely fresh 
blood has to be introduced. This must be done gradually, and it 
is for this reason that preparation should be made for the neces¬ 
sity before it actually arises. 
Bearing in mind that a cross between totally unrelated birds 
generally results in the production of progeny which are worth¬ 
less in fancy points, it is apparent that it would be by no means 
prudent to introduce a fresh cross at once into the breeding 
yards. To purchase a cockerel from a foreign strain and mate 
him up with several of the best hens would, except in a very 
large yard, be a useless waste of a season’s chances of obtaining 
valuable chickens. It is quite sufficient for the purpose of re¬ 
cruiting the energies of a strain that the birds crossed into it 
should have in them one-half fresh blood. The fresh blood can 
therefore most easily be introduced by obtaining a hen or pullet 
from a strange yard, mating her with one of the best cocks of 
the home strain, and selecting from amongst the chickens bred 
from this cross those most suitable for supplying the necessary 
fresh blood. The birds so selected can, even though themselves 
defective in points, be relied upon to do little injury to the strain 
and to produce a good proportion of valuable chickens. If a yard 
be available for the purpose the purchased hen may be in-bred 
to, and a supply of comparatively fresh blood be thus obtained 
for future use. 
If for any reason it be thought more desirable that a cockerel 
should be purchased instead of a hen or pullet, the only disadvan¬ 
tage will be the practical loss of a breeding yard for the season, 
and it may be well to let the hens or pullets mated with him re¬ 
present all the original elements of the strain as fully as possible. 
In this way some unknown relationship may be hit upon and 
some much better chickens obtained than would otherwise have 
fof* en the case. 
Where space is very limited the easiest way of obtaining fresh 
blood is by purchase 'from some friendly fancier, to whom a bird 
has formerly been sold, of a cockerel descended from the bird so 
sold, but having a large proportion of other blood in bis veins. 
This plan may indeed be adopted under any circumstances where 
