$ 
98 
A MJIB 1 C A N AGBIOU L T U E I ST. 
good grower in the country' could become 
rich at the business. 
It is generally supposed that, both in Eng¬ 
land and in Ireland, there has been an unu¬ 
sually large breadth of wheat sown the last 
season ; but from some considerations, we 
have reason to believe the excess in Ireland 
is far greater than in England. In the for¬ 
mer country, there is no regular system of 
cropping, every farmer being at liberty to 
sow his land with whatever grain, &c., he 
thinks most likely to be profitable. Hence, 
the deficient crop of wheat last year, coupled 
with the breaking out of the war, giving prom¬ 
ise of remunerating, if not high prices, the 
Irish farmers returned to the cultivation of 
wheat, which many of them had seriously 
determined to abandon altogether. Ttis ex¬ 
tremely probable, that at least one-fifth 
greater breadth of wheat was sown in Ire¬ 
land last year, than in any one of the ten 
previous years, there being-no covenants of 
lease to check it. 
But with the English farmers generally 
the case is widely different. A large'propor¬ 
tion of these are bound by their leases to a 
certain routine of crops, any deviation from 
which, without the special permission of 
their landlords, would render them liable to 
an ejectment. And, independent of this 
check, the arrangement of the English and 
Scotch farms are so rigidly systematic and 
methodical, that very few of them could 
with impunity be thrown out of course, for 
the sake of obtaining an extra profit upon an 
excess of a given crop. By such a proceed¬ 
ing the farmer would at. once disarrange the 
entire routine of both cropping and grazing, 
for which any extra profit would be consid¬ 
ered a poor remuneration. 
It is equally true, however, that this ad¬ 
herence to system was in some measure 
broken in upon by the excessively wet sea¬ 
son of 1852-3, which rendered it impossible 
to sow the usual quantity of land with 
wheat. We have, in a former letter of last 
season, estimated this at one-fifth, to which 
extent therefore the land was involuntarily 
thrown out of course. But this would not 
affect that portion which would come in 
course for wheat the next season, and it is 
probable that a part of it at least was sowm 
with wheat, last summer, which would swell 
the aggregate breadth to that extent. What 
this is, it is impossible to say. Many agri¬ 
culturists, with wiiom I have conversed on 
the subject, are,of opinion that the excess is 
very small, wiiile others represent it as one- 
sixth above the average. From all that I 
can gather, I am disposed to think that on 
the light and mixed soils there is very little 
more than usual , because they were less 
affected by the w'et weather ; but that on the 
heavy lands, wiiere it was impossible to sow 
in the autumn of 1852, a large portion of the 
land was sowm last autumn. Taking, there¬ 
fore, these various circumstances into ac¬ 
count, I do not think I shall be far beyond 
the mark in estimating the extra breadth 
sown in the United Kingdom last season at 
one-tenth above the average, equal to 1,600,000 
quarters. On the other hand there is an ex¬ 
cess of produce above the average of from 
one-sixth to one-eighth. Taking the mean 
of one-seventh, our account of the present 
crop and stock stands as follows : 
Quarters. 
Average produce.16,000,000 
Excess in breadth one-tenth. 1,600,000 
17,600,000 
Excess of produce one-seventh .. 2,514,285 
20,114,285 
If to this we add one million and a-half of 
foreign grain, we have an agregate of 
21,614,285 quarters to meetthe consumption 
of the year, which is estimated at 21,000,000. 
There will still, however, be the usual stock 
of the country—now T minus 5,000,000 quar¬ 
ters—to be made up. For it wmuld be mon¬ 
strous to suppose that in a country like this 
there should be no stock on hand, to fall 
back upon in an emergency. We shall, 
therefore, require an importation this year of 
from four to five million quarters, to place us 
in the average condition we have hitherto 
found ourselves in, in regard to the stock of 
w r heat. 
We shall next take a look round, and see 
how 7 this supply is to be obtained. As we 
have just stated, any calculations for the 
future, founded upon the experience of the 
past, are not to be depended on. With pre¬ 
sent appearances, it is not at all likely that 
we shall obtain the usual supply from the 
Black Sea ports, even if the Danube is free 
to navigation, and the Crimea and Odessa 
were in the possession of the Allies—as 1 
hope will soon be the case. The consump¬ 
tion and waste of such large armaments, 
and the disarrangement of commerce and 
agriculture under the iron rule of war, to say 
nothing of the probable prohibition of the 
Czar to his subjects from supplying the 
Allies or conducting commerce with them 
from the interior—all these circumstances 
lead me to think that the quantity of Avheat 
we shall obtain from Southern Russia this 
season will be very small. And with respect 
to the Danubian Principalities, they have 
been for twelve months the seat of 
war, and are still occupied with vast arma¬ 
ments. Under the Russian coercive domina¬ 
tion, neither agriculture, nor commerce 
could be conducted with any regularity ; and 
it is probable that not only was a large por¬ 
tion of the land left, unsown last autumn, but 
that much of the growing crop has been de¬ 
stroyed by the military operations, and in 
furnishing the Russian cavalry with green 
food ; for no economic considerations would, 
by any posibility, enter the mind of a Russian 
officer. We shall therefore have much less 
grain than usual from the Danubian and 
other Turkish Black Sea ports, if we get any 
at all, which is very doubtful. 
From the Mediterranean ports, with the 
exception of Egypt and Syria, we shall ob¬ 
tain but little wheat. France and Italy are, 
for the present, closed against exportation by 
prohibitory law s. The former country, like 
the United Kingdom, has exhausted her 
stocks of old native Avheat, and is compelled 
to fall at once upon the new crop, which, 
however good, will not be enough both to 
meet the consumption and provide the usual 
reserve stock. It is probable that France 
and England will continue, as last year, to 
trade mutually with each other in wheat, 
according as the markets fluctuate. If the 
price falls here below that in France, the lat¬ 
ter will be buyers in our market; and vice 
versa. 
With regard to the Baltic and other north¬ 
ern countries, with the exception of Russia, 
the stocks of old wheat are exhausted. Not 
only had the merchants the stimulus of high 
prices to induce them to ship to the utmost, 
but the insecurity, and uncertainty as to 
what course the war would take, induced 
them to export to the last quarter to England 
and France, as the only countries where it 
would both be safe, and obtain remunerating 
prices. The crops in those countries are 
good, and we shall probably get an average 
quantity from thence, if no untoward events 
cause a blockade of the Baltic ports. 
We now 7 come to the Uuited States of 
America ; and if the accounts of the maize 
crop—and wheat also, in some parts of the 
Union be correct, their prices will probably 
be too high this season to allow 7 of their 
shipping more at any rate than the usual 
quantity this season. It is stated in the 
American papers that the corn crop (maize) 
is at least one-fourth deficient, wilieli 
amounts to 125,000,000, bushels, or 15,625,000 
quarters.* And, with regard to wheat, in 
some of the Western States, where the 
largest quantity is raised, the crop is very 
deficient—in many cases amounting to a total 
failure. To what extent this may be the 
case it is impossible to say ; but, taking the 
deficiency in both crops into account, it must 
necessarily have its effect upon the price; 
and, unless our prices are higher than theirs, 
it will materially affect the export of wheat 
from the States, and also, propably, draw off 
a considerable portion of the supplies from 
Canada, where the crop is represented to be 
excellent. 
Under these circumstances, I estimate the 
supplies for the next A r ear as follows : 
Quarters. 
The Northern ports.1,750,000 
Mediterranean do. 500,000 
Black Sea do. 300,000 
United States. 800,000 
Canada. 400,000 
3,750,000 
This may probably be made up to four mil¬ 
lions, from quarters that, do not come under 
the sections above given ; but I can not, by 
any posibility, see wdhere we can increase 
that quantity, unless “ a sudden transition 
from Avar to peace” should restore our 
northern trade to its accustomed channels. 
However, Avith this quantity added to the 
abundant crop, Ave shall be able to reinstate 
the countiy in nearly the same condition as 
to stock that it has usually held; and we 
need not fear that prices Avill materially fluc¬ 
tuate throughout the season. 
There is abundant reason for grateful re¬ 
flection in the prosperous condition of all 
classes throughout the United Kingdom. 
Although the crop last year Avas a deficient 
one, the price Avas sufficiently remunerative 
to indemnif} 7 the farmer ; Avhile on the other 
hand, every other kind of agricultural pro¬ 
duce bore a good price also, where there 
Avas no failure, as in meat, cheese, &c.; so 
that, generally speaking, it Avas a profitable 
year for the British farmer. This year, horv- 
ever, there is no question as to the success 
of agriculture. It is the opinion of many 
eminent men that we have not had so produc¬ 
tive a season for fifty years. Certainly, Ave 
have had credible accounts of a produce 
in wheat, such as we never before heard of. 
This is undoubtedly to be ascribed to the 
highly improved system of farming, coupled 
with the favorable season ; and thus a kind 
Providence has Avorked Avith and seconded 
the efforts of human industry and intelli¬ 
gence to the production of splendid results. 
London, Sept. 20, 1854. S. C. 
* The corn (or maize) crop of last year was 500,000,000 
bushels. 
What avill Make a Cow Gia 7 e Dow t n her 
Milk? —Will you, or some of your corres¬ 
pondents, inform me what Avill make a cow- 
give dowrn her milk at the time of milking? 
I have one that has given me much trouble 
in that respect. At times she can be milked 
easilj 7 , at others it is accomplished Avith dif¬ 
ficulty, and again it is an entire failure. She 
is a noble cow Avith that exception. 
Franklin, Essex Co., N. Y. Thomas. A 7 reei.and, 
We do not. know unless gentle treatment 
and feeding her Avith something she much 
likes Avhile milking Avill accomplish it. A 
good subject for some of our correspond¬ 
ents.—E ds. 
The abundance of the mast in this county 
has brought innumerable and countless myr¬ 
iads of pigeons, Avhich have done more to¬ 
ward raising the price of poAA'der and shot 
than the Russian war. [Mountain Forest. 
