AUSTRIA-HUNGARY. 



Agriculture. The cultivation of the soil is 

 the chief industry of the monarchy, more than 

 half the population (if family and house servants 

 be included) being engaged therein. Wheat, 

 barley, rye, and oats are the principal cereal 

 crops, and potatoes and beets the principal root 

 crops. In Austria, in 1890, the area and yield of 

 these in hectares (1 hectare=2'47 acres) and hecto- 

 litres (1 hectolitre =2-75 bushels) was as follows : 



The production in Hungary in 1889 was as 

 follows : 



* Metric-centners. 



For 1892 the figures from official sources show 

 that the total wheat crop in Austria-Hungary was 

 196,279,000 bushels. During the spring months 

 of 1893 much apprehension was expressed re- 

 garding the condition of the crops in a very 

 large area of the monarchy on account of 

 drought. The report of the Minister of Agri- 

 culture, issued June 12, was, however, somewhat 

 reassuring. It stated that the crops, with the 

 exception of rye, had been materially benefited, 

 and that good yield of wheat and at least a 

 medium crop of oats and barley might be ex- 

 pected, while the rye crop promised fair outside 

 of Galicia, Bukowina, and northwest Bohemia. 

 The sugar beet suffered from drought and in- 

 sects in Bohemia and Moravia. Careful esti- 

 mates by the department after the crops were 

 secured indicated an approximate shortage, as 

 compared with 1892, of wheat, 13,750,000 bush- 

 els; rye, 13.000,000 bushels; and barley, 975,000 

 bushels. The quality, however, especially in 

 Hungary, was reported much above the average. 



Owing to the prevailing drought in neighbor- 

 ing countries and in England, exports of hay 

 and straw increased enormously during June 

 and the first half of July. These large exports, 

 together with a strong probability of scarcity of 

 fodder in Bohemia during the coming fall and 

 winter, led to negotiations between the Austrian 

 and Hungarian governments for the prohibition 

 of the export of all kinds of fodder. Such a 

 prohibition was speedily determined upon, and 

 the order was promulgated July 20. The pro- 

 hibition covers hay, fresh and dried clover, 

 straw, and chaff, which are not to be conveyed 

 beyond the Austro-Hungarian boundaries. No 

 time is fixed for the revocation of the order, 

 which is left to the discretion of the administra- 

 tion ; but it is understood that it will continue 

 in force until next spring or summer. Such an 

 interdiction has never before been made by the 



Austrian Government. The export of wheat 

 was prohibited in 1859, and again in 1866, but 

 on both occasions as a war measure. 



Session of the Parliamentary Delega- 

 tions. The session of the Parliamentary Dele- 

 gations was opened in Vienna on May 25, and 

 the common budget was submitted to each Dele- 

 gation. The Austrian Delegation elected Prince 

 Alfred Windischgratz president, and Herr 

 Jaworsky vice-president. The young Czech Dele- 



fates complained that the budget committee 

 id not contain a single representative of the 

 Bohemian nation. Dr. von Plener replied that 

 all parties were resolved to have no^urther deal- 

 ings with the Young Czechs, who had in the 

 last sitting of the Bohemian Diet disregarded 

 the ordinary usages of Parliament. 



The Hungarian Delegation unanimously elect- 

 ed Count Aladar Andrassy president, and Kol- 

 oman Szell vice-president. At the sitting of 

 June 3 the report of the special committee on 

 the Foreign Office budget was submitted by Dr. 

 Max Falk, and during the discussion which fol- 

 lowed Count Kalnoky made a statement con- 

 cerning the relations of the monarchy with 

 foreign powers. He said that the speech from 

 the throne had made no allusion to the triple 

 alliance, because the time had at last come 

 when it was no longer necessary to dwell every 

 year upon the strength and durability of that 

 alliance. He was able to positively assure the 

 Delegations that the relations between Austria- 

 Hungary and Italy had undergone no modifica- 

 tions ; that they were, and would remain, as in- 

 timate and sound as they ever had been. He 

 declared that the relations of the monarchy with 

 all the powers were of the most friendly nature ; 

 that the feeling of security and confidence in 

 the maintenance of peace had been gradually 

 and surely growing stronger. His Majesty had 

 said that nothing had occurred to render indis- 

 pensable the development of Austria's military 

 organization and readiness for action. There 

 was a certain danger, not in the political dis- 

 position of any particular power, but in the 

 whole military situation ; but that danger was 

 diminished by the cultivation of friendly rela- 

 tions between monarchs and governments, and 

 would eventually altogether disappear. Of 

 Servia and the recent revolution there, he said 

 that Austria had no active policy in Servia, but. 

 simply desired that intercourse between the pop- 

 ulations of the two countries might be mutually 

 satisfactory, and that the best assurances of this 

 had been received from the new regime. Re- 

 garding Russia, he said that the Emperor Alex- 

 ander III and his Government were favorably 

 disposed toward the monarchy. Austria's rela- 

 tions with Russia, previously good, had now im- 

 proved, and the improvement would in time 

 have great influence in putting an end to the 

 existing military tension in Europe. Meantime 

 it would be the duty of the Government to pro- 

 vide for the military efficiency of the monarchy, 

 with due regard to its financial resources, and 

 the War Department would endeavor to meet all 

 requirements out of the sums already granted 

 for that purpose. At the conclusion of this 

 statement a resolution, proposed by Dr. Falk, 

 expressing full confidence in Count Kalnoky's 

 policy, was unanimously adopted. 



