AGRICULTUKAL STATISTICS. 



585 



SUMMARY. 

 Returns of crops in the several 2>rovinces. 



These tables are named the harvest returns. In Prussia the grain is not 

 threshed until during the winter. In the United States it is mostly threshed 

 in the months of August and September, that the wheat may be hauled to the 

 grain depots at railroads before the roads become bad in winter, and that the 

 straw, which is stacked in the fields or in the barnyards, may be eaten by 

 the stock during winter. 



In April circulars are issued to four hundred and thirty local agricultural 

 societies, which select the most intelligent farmers to answer them. The yield 

 per acre, as tested by the threshing, is returned, and these returns are called 

 the " Threshing Returns." They are sent to the local societies, and by the 

 presidents of these returned to the Royal Board of Agriculture, where they are 

 revised and compared, and the results published. In the publislied report the 

 number of bushels of each crop is stated. 



This plan is an admirable one. It represents the least change in the crop by 

 having one hundred to indicate the standard of comparison, for a diflfereuce of 



