The Farm.

CAUSES OF AGRICULTURAL 1 DISTRESS. [We take the following important comments from the pages of the Agricultural Gazette Almanac for 1880 :] It is but a few years since an eminent statesman said that the revenue of the country, instead of progressing in the usual manner, was advancing by “ leaps” and “bounds.” Merchants, manufac turers, farmers, laborers, were all riding on the crest of the wave of prosperity then sweeping over the British Isles. In a committee-room of the House of Commons it was stated that champagne was drunk by the pitmen working in coal mines ; and even quite recently I read in the papers that in one of the iron districts, which has since fallen into the lowest state of poverty and distress, a billiard room and its deco rations had cost L 50.000. Everbody was making and spending money, and but few were putting by for the rainy day which was soon to follow. The vast sums spent by foreign nations in war, grievous famines in India and other countries, and a succession of bad seasons at home, have brought the nation to its senses, and also, it is to be feared, distress and ruin to many a household. I will now consider very briefly some of the causes of the great agricultural dis tress, about the existence of which there is unhappily, no doubt. Hard words have been addressed to the farmers on the subject of their extravagance and costly style of living, but these have, in many cases, been wholly undeserved. Farmers would, I am sure, be willing to admit that, had they to live over again the last eighteen years, they would in many re spects have acted differently. They would allow that, could they have foreseen that the first nine years of unusually abundant seasons would" be followed by nine years of scarcity, they would have taken pre cautions which would have rendered their position very much better than it is. One farmer may regret that he spent so much money on costly machinery; another that he saddled himself with a nineteen years’ lease at 50 per cent, higher rent than was paid by his predecessor ; a third may wish that he had not placed his son in another farm, and borrowed so much of the capital required to stock it. It is easy to be wise after the event. _ Regrets, however, will not replace the capital which been lost; still, though nothing can rtdeem the past, it is possible that an ex amination into the causes that have con tributed to produce the great existing depression may enable us to draw some conclusions in regard to the future pros pects of British agriculture. We may trace most of the recent losses which have fallen on agriculture to one of the three following causes ; bad seasons, dear labor, and low prices. Let us take them in the order in which 1 have placed them. Now, although no two seasons are alike, the difference between one and another, as a general rule, fluctuates within com paratively narrow limits. Still, occasion ally—that is to say, two or three in a century —exceptions occur which are quite outside the ordinary limits. Such excep tions may take the form of great frosts, or tropical heat—the summers of 1818 and 1868, for instance, are examples of the latter. Sometimes we have two or three abundant seasons in succession, followed by a like number of bad ones ; such was the case between 1830 and 1840, when the price of wheat fell below 5s a bush, from the abundance of the home crops. It would be. however, very difficult, if not impossible, to find a parallel for the character of the seasons which have pre vailed during the last eighteen years. Taking the nine seasons, commencing with 1862 and ending with 1870, I find that only two yielded inferior wheat crops, while the others were very good, some giving crops of even extraordinary abun dance. During the last nine years, 1871-9, only one season yielded what may be called an abundant crop, while several have been exceptionally bad. In my experimental wheat-field, where the same artificial manures are applied to the same plots of ground every year, tak ing the highest produce of anyone plot, I find that one acre of land during the first nine years, that is between 1862-70, yielded 49 qr, of corn ; but during the nine years that follow, that is from 1871 to 1879, the same plot only yielded 39J qr. (a decrease of ej qr.), and,” further, the wheat grown was very deficient in quality, the average weight per bush, being only 50 lb, as against 611 lb, the average weight per bush, of the wheat grown in the earlier period. This large falling off, both in quantity and quality, is sufficient proof of the great inferiority of the recent crops.

I,have selected wheat for my example, as I am in a,better position to measure the influence of the season upon the yield of that crop, and also because there have been greater losses upon wheat than upon any other corn crops ; but that the seasons have also been most unfavorable for many

other descriptions of farm produce, is a fact which must be evident to anyone who reads the journals devoted to agri culture.

I now come to dear labor, the second of the three causes of agricultural distress alluded to above. More pay and less work was the general complaint of the employers of labor throughout the country a few years back. The laborers are now, however, fully alive to the fact that the capital, from” which their wages have to come, has been greatly reduced, and they are in consequence far more ready now than a few years ago to undertake piece work, and also to recognise the principle of payment in proportion to the work done.

With regard to the third cause of exist ing distress in agriculture, viz., low prices, there has certainly been a considerable fall in the price of a great many products of the farm during the last few years, and it would be hardly safe to expect that some of these products will ever reach the high level to which they previously attained.

farmer would, I think, be unwise to base his calculations upon a higher price for his wheat than 5s per bush., supposing our home crops to be of an average quality. Meat, butter, and cheese will also be probably lower in price, but it is absolutely certain that the decline will be greatest in the inferior qualities of the articles. There is now plenty of demand for the best things, and plenty of people willing to pay a high price for them ; every effort should therefore be made to improve the quality of the various products of the land. From a general review of the different causes which have brought distress and ruin on so many of our farmers, the ex ceptional character of the seasons appear to have had a predominant influence. If the last nine years had preceded the first nine years, or if the good and bad seasons of the two periods had been alternated, the losses incurred by the low prices would have been more easily met, and many a farmer who has succumbed might be still in possession of his land. Possibly it may be said that, as the losses have be made, it does not now matter what may have been the causes that induced them. This is a mistake. If the seasons have had a large share in caus ing the present losses, we may have a better hope for the future of agriculture than would have been possible had these losses been due to a fall of prices alone. Better seasons are sure to come, and, with them a revival in prices. The fall in the price of some substances—for instance, wool—is not due to any increase in pro duction, or fresh facilities of transport, but simply to the general poverty of nations.

The two great present difficulties are, how farmers are to tide over the present state of affairs; and how fresh capital is to be attracted to the prosecution of agri culture. I feel myself convinced that to enable farmers to meet these two great difficulties a removal of the restrictive covenants that have bound down tenants, and compensation for unexhausted im provements must certainly be included in the demand made upon the owners of the soil.—J. B. Lawes.

BEEF CATTLE-WHAT THEY ARE.

Much stress is always laid on mere form, and quality to cattle too often sacrificed. But the first requisite in a good steer is quality ; yet too few breeders, feeders, and even batchers, know thoroughly what quality is. The best form outside is noth ing if the beef inside is not good. Quality is above form. There is a flabby animal whose beef is flabby and never juicy, and that will never set into firmness after slaughter unless frozen. There is a rigid, hard animal whose beef is tough and never juicy. Both flabby and rigid beef are never marbled. Of the two, the rigid is preferable, if one can have a preference between two bad things. There is a third kind of animal, whose beef is not flabby nor hard. It is firm, and when fed to ripeness is well marbled andjuicy. It sets quickly after slaughter, and cuts eventy, both on the block in the butcher’s Jshop and on the table when served as a roast or steak. It is difficult to neatly cut flabby beef on the block uncooked, or on the plate cooked. It shifts under the knife. The hard beef cuts evenly, but with none of the ease and neatness seen in the cutting of firm beef. On the plate the flabbly beef gives no juice or gravy, and the hard beef hardly any; but the firm beef pours out an abundance of gravy, rich and delicious. The flabby beef in cooking absorbs fat, and is not palatable.

Now these three characteristics are as apparent to a first-class, experienced butcher in the living animal as they are to the eye after slaughter. It is the duty of the iudge to know these things in the liv ing animal, and if he cannot do this, he is not fit to he a judge. It is for this that we have always advocated the selection of first-class butchers to act as judges on fat animals. It is their business to know how the living animals will die, and a good butcher learns it by experience, and knows

it better than most of the persons who are selected as judges—not being butchers. There is nothing so stupid as the decision of judges at exhibtions on breeding animals, in nine cases out of ten. At these shows all the cattle shown are fat to excess, or, if not, then only the very fat ones ever get prizes. Yet, without exception, every soft, flabby animal wins ; and the flabbier the better, if his shape be good. The judges will exclaim, “How soft! Why, he handles like a glove.” Now every fat animal that is good when fed fat, and when his hide is full with meat, to be good must be as solid as a board. That is firm ness. Yet how few but thorough butchers know this 1

A good judge can always tell in looking and feeling (handling is the proper term) a fat animal whether he is prime beef, and whether his beef will marble. This knowledgeisgained by experience—learned bv comparing the touch of the live animal with his dead exhibit in his beef. Noth ing but touch (handling) can determine in life what slaughter will reveal. A com petent butcher, with his eyes closed, by touch would say, “ this animal is flabby ; this one hard ; this one firm,” and that of the three, only “ the firm one will give marbled beef of the first quality.” Men without experience have read and been told that a good animal must be elastic in his handling. This means that the store animal alone must be elastic. When the good store animal is fed full and is ripe, he is solid to the touch and he shows his solidity to the eye. The flabby animal is flabby and soft, not elastic, when in store condition, and is always flabby and soft from a calf to killing age 'when _ fed fat. Softness or flabbiness and elasticity are two very different things. The hard animal is always hard, ever either as a store or fat. He is a slow feeder. The flabby and the firm ones feed quickly. The firm one always pays the feeder, and so does the flabby one when a fool of an ignorant purchaser is found, who pays the nrice of a firm, fat animal for the flabby one. But the hard one never pays anybody, breeder, feeder, butcher, or con sumer.

Now the great art in breeding is to pro duce elastic flesh in the store animal. He is the one which feeding quickly makes profit; sold to the batcher he pays to him a profit; and eaten by a consumer, he gets value for his money, gratification to his palate, good food for his stomach, and health from it to his body. But the flabby or hard steer does none of these. He pays nobody, gratifies nobody, gives health to nobody. It should be the object of the breeder of cattle to learn all these things, and to breed cattle that living represent them to the eye and hand, and dead realise them.

Now these things can be known in life. They go with distinctive kinds of hair, mossy and dense coats of' it, with good mellow hides of good thickness; with elasticity of flesh in store condition; in creasing firmness as feeding progresses, and entire firmness when the result of full feeding is obtained. A flabby animal always has a thin hide, and thin deficient hair, and is never elastic when lean, and never firm when fat, but is always soft both lean and fat. The hard animal has a harsh, stiff hair, never mossy nor dense. His hide is very thick and rigid. In feed ing the hide yields slowly to the meat laid on. It is a band that ties down develop ment, and increasing size within, and forces the animal to a slow growth. Beef to be first class, must be fed rapidly ; and long feeding ruins the best of flesh in the far end. In fact, long feeding begets diseased conditions, and they deteriorate the flesh. Long feeding begets fatty degeneration. The feeder may quickly ripen the firm or flabby animal, but the flabby one makes bad beef and oily tallow. Only the animal —elastic as the store one. and firm as a ripe beast —is the one that, living and dead, satisfies all who feed, kill, and eat him. The hard one is never fed rapidly, and cannot be, and pays nobody and grati fies nobody. To know all these things, is the power to be a good breeder, butcher, and meat purchaser. In them exists the science of breeding. And the chief of the knowledge of good cattle is that quality is before form, though form should go with quality, and more often does go with high quality, as shown in the lean elastic steer —firm when fat, and marbled in his ripe ness—than with low quality, as seen in the flabby or hard steer. Good and had quality both go often with defective form, but entirely perfect form never does go with utterly bad quality. The flabby beast always has an excess of paunch with weak plates, the one a want of paunch, and so no sufficient store room for food. The excessive paunch of flabbiness, at a given point of fatness when filled, added to the weight of,flesh, brings on nervous irrita tion of the spine, and feeding is arrested. In the hard animal there is never a capa city to take up a full force of feed at will, and hence feeding is slow; but the elastic fleshed steer has just that happy medium that gets full feed and appropriates it without the disturbance or hindrance that checks growth in the flabby steer, or that want of food which checks growth in the hard one.

And in the end the lesson taught is, that quality is the first of the merits of a good animal, and without its knowledge no man is, or ever was a first-class breeder. —Kentucky Live Stock Record.

GREAT FARMS IN THE UNITED STATES.

The tendency in the United States to wards the concentration of agricultural lands in large tracts in the hands of a few considerable capitalists, upon whom the people are dependent for employment as laborers, is very graphically indicated in an article on the “ Bonanza Farms of the West,” published in this month’s At lantic Monthly. The writer gives accounts of visits paid to Minnesota, Dakato, and Kansas. An idea of the extent of some of the farms is conveyed fcy the statement that the area of three farms near Castleton, in Minnesota, adjoining each other and under one management, is equal to about three-fourths of that of the city of New York. The Grandin farm of 40,000 acres in the Red River valley has space enough for three cities like New York, and the whole farm property of the Grandin family would furnish sites for five such cities. A large portion of the residents of the towns are adventurers in agriculture hold ing and cultivating by contract, shares, or otherwise. On the large farms there is an entire absence of women and children, and in no case was the permanent residence of a family to be found upon them. They are simply business ventures, and the idea of home does not pertain to them. A great abundance of unemployed labor was notice able.

The large capitalists are making colossal fortunes, as they can gaow wheat at a cost less than 40e. per bushel., and make good profit if they sell it even as low as 70c. per bush. But the small farmers are not mak ing a comfortable subsistence, and must succumb. While the small farmer is com pelled to feed, clothe, and shelter a whole family for the year through, the large capitalist feeds, clothes, and shelters only one-fourth the number in proportion to the work done, and that for less than one fourth of the year. The facts gleaned show that on the Grandin farm, for instance, during the four weeks of seed time, 150 men are employed, and tor the six weeks of harvest 250 men, at wages that barely support them during the time they work; while during the five months from Novem ber to April 1, only ten men are employed. The capitalist also brings to his assistance the most improved machinery, which the small farmer can utilise only to a very limited extent.

Then, again, the large farmers obtain special facilities for transportation and storage, the railway rates paid by them being in some instances 50 per cent, below those charged to the small farmers. Their farming implements and machinery are also obtained at a discount of 33 per cent, from published prices. The development of the large-farm interest is not confined to Kansas, Minnesota, and Dakato; in Texas, also, “ there has been a movement in the same direction of perhaps unpa ralleled magnitude,” and California is noted for its great farms of tens of thousands of acres. These farms being held on the tenant system, the direct result is the im poverishment of the land. Not one dollar ot the amount received from the products of the soil is spent upon the land, except in the construction of the fewest buildings necessary t o shelter the laborers in the working season, and for the care of the working stock and tools. The writer concludes by saying that the effects of the system are infinitely worse than in Europe. “ The tenants in England hold lea ses and occupations that practically run for life, and often are kept in families for generations, which give en couragement for great improvements,” but in America “ the leases are usually for short terms, with no encouragement for improvements,” while the rent is commonly one half the gross product. We may add that it is worth while to note that this continued impoverishment of the land by large capitalists making hasty fortunes, and without the development of permanent settlements, is not only a serious problem affecting the general economic future of the United States, , but has also a direct bearing upon the immediate future pros perity of the great railroads now employed in the carriage of grain.—Manchester Guardian.

EARLY MATURITY OF FARM STOCK.

By the common admission of all compe tent to form opinions on the matter (says an English writer), remunerative meat production cannot be insured at the pre sent day without early maturity and rapid fattening. Young pigs, feed from birth and sent to the pork. shops at about six weeks old, may be made to pay, lout the production of bacon can only be accom plished at a loss. Lambs taught to nibble oil cake as soon - as they will eat anything, and steadily moving so that they fatten as they grow, may at about ten months old be

FARMERS’ SUPPLEMENT.

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