416 



REPORT OF THE COMMISSIONER OF AGRICULTURE. 



The area planted in wheat, and now harvested or growing, is prob- 

 ably very nearly as follows: 



Acres. 



Europe 94, 000, 000 



North America 40, 500, 000 



South America 6, 000, 000 



India 26, 000, 000 



Australasia ; 3, 500 ,000 



Africa and Western Asia 13, 000, 000 



Total 183, 000, 000 



The average yield of the world is a fraction above 12 bushels 

 per acre, and the good and bad seasons, irregularly distributed geo- 

 graphically, equalize production in a large measure, so that the 

 yearly average rarely rises or falls half a bushel from the normal 

 average for a period. • 



(6) CORN. 



As this couTitry now produces three-fourths of the corn of the 

 world, and has averaged for five years a product of 1,619,000,000 

 bushels, and exported only an average of 56,000,000 bushels, or 3-^ 

 per cent. , and would readily have doubled the exportation without 

 missing it, it appears almost frivolous to give stocks in the commer- 

 cial markets which rarely show more than 1 per cent, of the produc- 

 tion at one time. The stocks in this country and EuroxDe, however, 

 are found above in connection with wheat. 



The principal buyer of maize is Great Britain, and in the last five 

 years the purchases have averaged 58,000,000 bushels per annum, of 

 which this country has contributed 36,000,000 bushels, or 62 per cent, 

 of all, without counting that going through Canada. Roumania, 

 Russia, Turkey, and Egypt always furnish a small amount. 



Except in this country and Mexico maize is a minor product, and 

 is produced in countries which are not generally advanced in crop- 

 reporting methods. It is somewhat difficult to give the exact status 

 of acreage and product, but the following table is the best attainable 

 approximation. It is for the year 1885, except as indicated by notes, 

 for certain couutries making only occasional returns of production: 



♦Average acres of 1870 to 1879; product 1879. 

 tAverage production; acreage 1881. 



J1S84. 



II Average product; estimated acreage. 

 II Average product (Neumann-Spallart). 



There is a small area of maize in several cou'ntries of South Amer- 

 ica, and a little grown in the more northern portions of Germany 

 and in some unenumerated districts of Southeastern Europe, in Al- 



