376 



HARVESTS OF THE WORLD. 



H 



HARVESTS OF THE WORLD IN" 1882. 

 A volume published annually by M. Estienne, 

 of Marseilles, France, contains reports of the 

 harvests of the year from fourteen countries in 

 all, thirteen of these being corn-growing coun- 

 tries of Europe. 



FRANCE naturally receives fullest attention. 

 Reports are given from 89 departments against 

 90 of the year preceding, accompanied by a 

 colored map marking the state of the wheat- 

 crop in each. In 20 departments the wheat- 

 crop is marked very good; in 47 it is good; in 

 11 it is fairly good; in 10 it is middling; and in 

 1 only it is lad. The year preceding the crop 

 was very good in 3 departments, good in 30, 

 fairly good in 23, medium in 24, and bad in 

 10. In 1880 the figures were: 5 very good, 

 17 good, 26 fairly good, 16 medium, and 6 bad. 

 From these figures it plainly appears that the 

 reports of 1882 are better than those of either 



1881 or 1880. Oats are reported on from 88 

 departments. In 22 the crops are very good, 

 in 56 good, in 2 fairly good and 1 passable, and 

 in 7 medium. In 1881 the reports gave only 6 

 very good, 21 good, 18 fairly good, 26 medium, 

 10 bad (81 departments). Thus, the oat-crop, 

 1882, is more largely reported and generally 

 superior to the previous year. Maize is not 

 largely grown, there being reports from only 

 36 departments, chiefly in the south of France, 

 against 25 departments in 1881, and 33 in 

 1880. In 2 departments it is very good, in 25 

 good, in 3 fairly good, in 5 medium, in one 

 very medium. This is much better than was 

 reported in 1881. The crop, however, was a 

 very good one in 1880, there being 3 depart- 

 ments very good, 19 good, 5 fairly good, 6 me- 

 dium. Reports on rye are given from 77 de- 

 partments ; of these 6 are very good, 52 good, 

 10 fairly good, 1 passable, 7 medium, 1 bad. 

 In 1881 this crop was very good in 6 depart- 

 ments, good in 19, fairly good in 17, medium 

 in 16, bad in 5, very bad in 2. In 1880 in 11 

 departments it was very good, in 53 good, in 6 

 fairly good, in 3 medium. Thus the crop in 



1882 is superior to that of tbe two preceding 

 years. Barley is reported upon from 76 de- 

 partments, as against 70 in 1881 ; of these 15 

 are very good, 46 good, 9 fairly good, 4 medi- 

 um, 1 bad, 1 very bad. The report of 1881 

 gave 8 departments very good, 33 good, 13 

 fairly good, 1 passable, 14 medium, 1 bad. In 

 1880 the crop was very good in 26 depart- 

 ments, good in 40, fairly good in 5, and medium 

 in 3. Thus, as it appears, the crop is good, but 

 hardly equal to that of two years ago. The 

 whole of the figures on the various crops 

 show that the harvest of 1882 is superior, 

 taken all round, to either of the two previous 

 years. With the one exception of barley, all 

 the crops are better, while wheat is superior to 

 that of any year yet reported on. 



GEEAT BBITAIN. In estimating the harvest 

 of 1882 in Great Britain, inquiries on the state 

 of the crops were sent largely to farmers actu- 

 ally engaged in growing them, and they were 

 asked to give their opinions by numbers, 100 

 being taken as representing an average. In 

 all, 414 answers were sent in, and these show 

 the following picture of the crops, the figures 

 from a similar return last year being given for 

 comparison : 



So far as the English counties are concerned, 

 the following are the figures representing the 

 three leading cereal crops, 100 representing an 

 average : 



Allowing that the wheat-crop for 1 882 is one of 

 10,000,000 quarters for consumption, this leaves 

 England (if the wants of the country for the 

 forthcoming year be put at 24,000,000 quarters) 

 dependent upon foreign supply for 14,000,000 

 quarters. The crops generally are described as 



