i9o6.] Notes on Crop Prospects Abroad. 



407 



half per cent, but a yield exceeding the average is still expected 

 in each division of Great Britain. Barley seems to have im- 

 proved by about i per cent., and is also represented as being 

 over-average in every division. In oats no general alteration 

 is indicated, and the crop is described as above the average 

 everywhere, except in the Northern division of England and the 

 East of Scotland. 



The depreciation in the potato crop, occasioned mainly by 

 lack of rain, is put at about 2 per cent., the yield now indi- 

 cated being slightly below the average. While mangolds do 

 not appear to have been much affected, turnips and swedes 

 suffered from the lack of rain to an extent which is put gener- 

 ally at about 4 per cent. 



The position as regards fruit and hops does not seem to have 

 been appreciably changed since the August report. Hops are 

 still reported as the most deficient crop of the year, but the 

 quality is said to be exceptionally good in most cases. 



Summarizing the reports, and again representing an average 

 crop by 100, the prospects of probable yields for Great Britain 

 as a whole may now be represented by the following percent- 

 ages : — Wheat, 105; barley, 104; oats, 102; potatoes, 99; 

 roots, lOi^. 



Germany. — According to the Report of the Imperial Statis- 

 tical Bureau for the middle of September, the condition of the 

 potato crop was not very .favourable, and 



Notes on numerical estimate was 2'8, compared 



Crop Prospects . , ^ . ^ , . t 1 / 



Abroad. ^^'^^^ 2-6 m August and 2-4 m July (i=very 



good, 2=1 good, 3 medium or average). A 

 good deal of disease is reported, and the better kinds of potatoes 

 leave much to be desired. Complaints are also made of 

 degeneration in certain kinds which have been in cultivation 

 for many years, especially the Magnum Bonum, in regard to 

 which a note appeared in this Journal (February, 1906, p. 671), 

 According to the preliminary returns of the Imperial Statis- 

 tical Bureau the areas devoted to the principal crops are as 

 follows : — 



