52 MAIZE 



CHAP, to 78 per cent, the production 28 per cent and the export 33 



111. 



per cent. Only about an eighth part (say I 2 per cent; of the 

 area suited to the production of the four crops, wheat, maize, 

 linseed, and oats, is at present under cultivation. Of this, 

 one-half is devoted to wheat and one-quarter to maize. Eight 

 times the present maize acreage would be 66,000,000 acres, 

 which at 6 muids per acre gives a potential crop of 396,000,000 

 muids. Unless the population in the country increases, this 

 means a possible surplus of 198,000,000 muids for export. The 

 importing countries consumed, in the year 1 908-9, only about 

 49,689,180 muids. If the present rate of increase in Argen- 

 tine maize exports is maintained, viz. 33 per cent increase in four 

 years, it will take twenty-eight or perhaps thirty years for the 

 export to reach the maximum indicated above. By that time 

 local consumption in Argentina will probably have increased 

 greatly, as it has done in the United States. Out of a crop of 

 850,000,000 muids (more than double the potential crop of 

 Argentina) the United States exports only about I '5 per cent 

 or 8,500,000 muids. If the States continue to export I 

 per cent, and the Argentine export falls to I per cent of 

 her potential crop, the two countries will only export about 

 12,500,000, or one-quarter of the present world's imports, 

 instead of three-quarters ', as at present. This will leave 

 ample opportunity for South Africa to supply 25,000,000 to 

 30,000,000 muids, while the Danube and South Russia can 

 make up the balance. This estimate makes no allowance for 

 increase in consumption by importing countries, which is 

 steadily growing. Under these circumstances there seems to 

 be plenty of room for the expansion of the South African 

 maize trade. 



48. Europe. — In the ten years from 1880 to 1 890 the pro- 

 duction of maize in the Austro-Hungarian Empire is said to 

 have increased by 40 per cent, but during the last few years 

 the maize acreage and production have been fairly uniform, 

 and no great increase in future is to be expected. 



Most of the crop is grown on the rich, alluvial plain soils 

 of the Danube, Dnieper, and Dniester Rivers, Roumania, 

 Hungary, and Bessarabia together furnishing over half of the 

 European crop. This is largely exported from Odessa, Galatz, 

 and Fiume ; grain forms three-quarters of the export trade of 

 Galatz. 



