832 
journal of horticulture and cottage gardener. 
[ October 7, 1886. 
appear daily. Fifteen shillings an acre, with tithes and 
parochial taxes, may be taken as an average ef the rate at 
which mixed corn and sheep farms are now let. At this rate, 
if the land is sound, clean, and fertile, it ought to answer in 
the hands of a really clever farmer even for Wheat growing. 
The mention of Wheat leads to the inquiry if after all we are 
doing better by growing other corn in preference to it. No 
doubt a good sample of Barley commands a price now which 
affords a fair margin of profit upon the outlay incurred in its 
culture, but how few and far between are such samples this 
autumn. The season has not been a favourable one for 
Barley, and most of the samples we have seen were coarse 
and discoloured, the price ranging from 22s. 6d. to 28s. per 
quarter, or a mean of 25s. If we put the crop at an average 
of 6 quarters an acre we have £7 10s. as the mean value per 
acre of Barley. The straw has undoubtedly a certain value, 
but it is most difficult to get a sale for it. Wheat straw on 
the contrary may always be calculated to command a ready 
sale at not less than £2 an acre ; if we add to this £2 for 
straw, £7 12s. 6d. as the lowest amount realised per acre for 
any of our Wheat this season, we have a total of £9 12s. 6d., 
and we may certainly venture to say that by superior culture 
from £1 to £2 more per acre may be realised even at current 
prices. 
Kepeatedly are we told that the profitable culture of 
Wheat is at an end in this country. We cannot admit that it 
is, but we are bound to own that the margin of profit upon 
it has become so narrow that in the hands of an unskilful 
farmer Wheat culture may prove the reverse of profitable 
now. Every foreign country having a superabundance of 
Wheat sends much of its surplus to this country as one of the 
best markets in the world. Several of our colonies send us 
large quantities, and India is fast assuming the leading place 
in this competition with the British farmer. “ To what are 
we coming?” is the query which we frequently hear now 
when at market. It will, therefore, prove at least interesting 
to our readers to know that there are not only bounds to the 
downward tendency of the price of Wheat, but that there is 
also the possibility of a recovery in prices. In an important 
article on “ Silver and Wheat,” recently published in the 
St. James’s Gazette, we are told that “ One of the most impor¬ 
tant questions for the consideration of the Gold and Silver 
Commission is that of the degree in which the depreciation 
of silver affects the price of agricultural produce. It is under¬ 
stood that our farmers must take their chance under the 
system of free trade, but not, perhaps, that they should be 
handicapped by what to all intents and purposes is a heavy 
bounty on imported produce. Such a bounty is available to 
every exporting country in which a silver currency prevails. 
The most familiar example is that of India, and Wheat is the 
only agricultural commodity sent here from India which 
seriously competes with home produce. 
“ The exchange value of the rupee has recently only been a 
small fraction above Is. 4d., and although there has since 
been a spurt in an upward direction, it is expected that the 
rate will settle down again to about this figure, more or less. 
Now, the low exchange value of the rupee enables the 
exporter of Indian Wheat to get a profit which would be 
impossible if the rupee were at par. Suppose, for instance, 
that he buys Wheat at Jubbulpore at the rate of 10 rupees 
per qr. when the sea freight to this country is 6s. per qr. 
According to some precise calculations recently made by the 
Times of India, the cost of landing Wheat in England would 
stand thus :— 
Cost at Jubbulpore per qr... 
Railway freight to Bombay 
Sea freight at 6s. per qr., with exchange at le. 4>i. 
Trade charges 
Rs. 10 0 0 
3 9 3 
4 8 0 
3 10 5 
Total .. .Rs. 21 11 8 
“ If the rupee were exchangeable at exactly Is. 4d., this 
would be within a small fraction of 29s. per qr., so that even 
if Wheat were as low as 80s. in London, there would be a 
profit, and the exporter could keep on giving 10 rupees at 
Jubbulpore. But if the rupee exchanged at its old par value 
of 2s., other charges remaining the same, the cost of the 
same Wheat in England would be 40s. 6d. per qr. Instead 
of being able to sell in London at 80s., he would require 
40s. 6d. to yield him the small profit of Is. per qr. The 
consequence would be that the export of Indian Wheat would 
cease until price rose considerably, which would soon happen, 
as Wheat cannot be produced profitably anywhere in the 
world to sell in London at 80s. per qr., and it never would 
have been down to that price if the exchange value of the 
rupee had not sunk so low. Of course, if the value of the 
rupee in the interior of India fluctuated as in London, the 
rate of exchange would not afford a bounty on the export of 
Wheat; but for rent, interest, and the few other payments 
the ryot has to make, the rupee is practically unchanged from 
its old value of about 2s. In effect, therefore, the buyer of 
Wheat in India for export to this country has for some time 
past been getting two shillings’ worth of that commodity for 
Is. 6d. or less.” 
WORK ON THE HOME FARM. 
Again are we obliged by low prices for com to turn some part of it t> 
account for sheep and pig feeding. Oats are so cheap that we shall pro¬ 
bably use the whole of some 600 bushels of Black Tartarian^ which we 
have just threshed for sheep-feeding, in preference to buying oilcake. 
13s. per qr. was the highest offer we had when offering these Oats for 
sale ; that offer was declined without hesitation, pointing as it did clearly 
to middleman’s profits at the expense of grower and consumer. We hare 
now got the steam saw at work daily upon timber cut down last winter, 
as we have urgent need of some two hundred field gates. After the wood 
is cut out with the saw a man, having the help of a mortising machine, 
can make three field gates in a day ; without a mortiser he would not do 
more than two gates. We are now particularly engaged upon field 
fencing, hedges, and gates. Nor is this the first time we have had to set 
right broken fences and worn-out gates. False economy, penny wise, 
pound foolish, say we, is the by far too common practice of leaving such 
important matters without attention for several years. In the end a 
serious outlay is involved to repair or rather renew them, but timely 
attention would have saved much money, and we venture to add much 
discontent on the part of the tenants. Stout oak gates are used by us 
everywhere upon the farms, and it is our invariable practice to give posts, 
gates and fences a thorough coating of tar as they are put up. Avoid 
deal gates, for though cheap to purchase they are neither durable nor 
strong. A kick by a horse will often smash them, hut it is even worse 
when they are put up without paint or tar, as the tenons soon decay and 
the gates tumble to pieces. Even in the simple matter of gate posts there 
is incredible stupidity and carelessness. Repeatedly have we found old 
posts with flat tops upon which wet lies, soaks into the poets and causes 
speedy decay. If only a sharp slope is given to the top by one cut of a 
saw and the entire post well tarred no wet can lodge upon it, and we have 
done our best to preserve it. In putting up new gates we always like to 
have a stout sill of rough oak timber under the surface of the road, to 
keep the potts securely in position and prevent any of the common vexa¬ 
tion of a badly hung gate ;for no matter how stout a post may be, if it is 
without such support there is always some risk of its being loosened in 
the soil by the swinging of the gate. 
METEOROLOGICAL OBSERVATIONS. 
Camden Square, London. 
Lat. 51° 32' 40" N.; Long. 0° 8' 0" W.; Altitude, 111 feet. 
DATS. 
9 A.M. 
IN THB DAY. 
Rain 
1886. 
September and 
October. 
Barome¬ 
ter at 328 
and Sea 
Level 
Hygrome¬ 
ter. 
Direction 
of Wind. 
Temp, of 
Soil at 
1 foot. 
Shade Tem¬ 
perature. 
Radiation 
Temperature. 
Dry. 
Wet. 
Max. 
Min. 
In 
sun. 
On 
grass 
Inches. 
deft. 
dev. 
dev. 
dev. 
deg 
dev. 
dev- 
In. 
Sunday .... 
30.093 
55.2 
53.6 
s. 
56.0 
63 1 
50.6 
92.2 
47.4 
0*192 
Monday. 
30.009 
58.1 
54.9 
S.W. 
55.6 
62.3 
488 
77.2 
42.7 
0-389 
Tuesday. 
39.182 
54.8 
50.8 
s. 
55.8 
63.7 
48.9 
103.2 
43.6 
— 
Wednesday . 
. 29 
30.049 
63.2 
60.1 
E. 
56 4 
71.6 
54.8 
115.2 
50.3 
— 
Thursday ... 
. SO 
29 996 
60.5 
56.9 
S.W. 
57.2 
66.1 
55.9 
91.6 
48.6 
— 
Friday. 
29.689 
56.8 
56.4 
E. 
56.4 
77.3 
48.6 
110.8 
42.3 
0-052 
Saturday ... 
. 2 
29.911 
55.2 
50.8 
w. 
57.2 
66.3 
47.9 
103 6 
43.1 
— 
29.982 
57.7 
54.8 
56.4 
67.2 
50.8 
99.1 
45.4 
0*633 
REMARKS. 
26th.—A wet morning; fine afterwards. 
27th.—Dull and windy; wet in late afternoon and in evening. 
28th.—A fine bright morning ; dull afternoon and evening. 
29th.—A glorious day—bright and warm, with strong S.W. breeze. 
80th.—Bright early ; dull overcast morning; fine bright afternoon and evening. 
1 st—Fog early ; a glorious day ; heavy rain in evening. 
2nd.—A delightful day. 
A warm and summer-like week. Temperature 5 ° above the average, and 3° above 
that of the preceding week.—Q. J. SYMONS. 
