Edition Bobbett1. Texts by Elizabeth F. Bobbett: 1.1.3. Correspondence, Letters to newspapers
1938 Elizabeth Bobbett: Letter to the Irish Independent, 28.10.1938
The Harvest
Miss Elizabeth F. Bobbett, Springfield, Wicklow, writes in the course of a letter: Much has been written about the recent storms, but from the way it appears in our daily papers one not acquainted with country life would think that most of the harvest had been saved before the storm. Alas, such was not the case in this county. Hundreds of tons of hay are still out in the fields, and also a big percentage of the corn crop is still to be drawn to the yards.
I have spoken to many farmers on the harvest question and they say it is the worst they remember for up to thirty years. Now that threshings are in full swing and we have the results of our year’s labour, it is most disappointing. Owing to the very wet time, hundreds of barrels of oats and wheat have been returned to the farmers where the merchants rejected it.
Price of Pigs
What hope have these farmers of using up this corn? The price of pigs has been reduced three times in the last few months, and though the admixture was reduced last summer (about June, I think), and is only 10 per cent now, the price of feeding stuffs for pigs did not reduce. We are told by those who arrange the price we are to get for our pigs “that the balanced ration can be got at 9/11 per cwt.” They do not say if that price means the wholesale price to the shopkeepers. What about the freight to the farmer’s yard now that many of us cannot bring our horses on the slippery roads. The price of Clarendo, Marengo, and such like mixtures have been 11/- per cwt. all the summer, and the balanced ration 10/6 and 11/- per cwt. Anyone who fattens pigs knows that the months of June to September are the scarcest time for home-grown foods, generally used by small farmers to fatten pigs, and, surely, it is not fair to reduce the price when the pig is fattened at the most expensive time. It just shows how little the persons know about the matter.
Unless the Government give immediate relief to the farmers I think Dr. James Ryan need not fear a surplus of grain next year, as we will be forced out of tillage. If war comes and food is short don’t blame the farmers. They cannot go on producing year after year and selling below the cost of production.