1908.] Crop Prospects Abroad. 



627 



Russia. — The Board are informed, through the Foreign Office, that the Central 

 Statistical Committee of the Ministry of the Interior, has published the preliminary 

 returns of the winter-sown grain crops of Russia for the 

 Notes Oil Crop ^ ear I 9°7* According to these returns it would appear 

 that the total yield this year of winter-sown rye in the 

 IrrOSpeCtS ADrOau. sev enty-two provinces and regions of the Empire is 

 estimated at 19,699,209 tons, and of wheat at 4,343,387 

 tons. In 1906 the corresponding figures were 16,280,000 tons of rye and 6,391,451 

 tons of wheat. It would appear from this that the quantity of winter-sown rye 

 harvested in 1907 was in excess of the total given for the previous year by about 21 

 per cent., while the yield of wheat during the same period shows a diminution of 32 

 per cent. 



Later returns issued on 16th December by the Central Statistical Committee give 

 also the figures for the spring-sown grains. From this statement it appears that the 

 yield of winter wheat in the seventy-two governments was 20,197,000 qrs. and of 

 spring wheat 43,425,000 qrs., making a total of 63,622,000 qrs. compared with 

 63,105,000 qrs. in 1906. The yield of barley is put at 42,300,000 qrs. compared with 

 37,350,000 qrs., and of oats at 95,000,000 qrs. as against 73,500,000 qrs. last year. 



Saskatchewan. — According to a memorandum by the Provincial Department ol 

 Agriculture of Saskatchewan the area sown with wheat was 1,848,000 acres com- 

 pared with 1,731,000 acres in 1906. The weather at sowing time and during the 

 greater part of the growing period was unfavourable, and the total yield was only 

 28,000,000 bushels compared with about 37,000,000 bushels in 1906. There was 

 very great variation in the results obtained from different areas, and in regard to this 

 point some interesting remarks are made. It is observed that in earlier years, when 

 the production of grain was confined to a limited area, there was a more or less 

 constant danger of a serious failure of the crop. Owing to the fact that settlement was 

 not very widely distributed, the soil presented comparatively uniform features. Modern 

 methods of cultivation had not been extensively adopted, so that the uniformity of 

 conditions increased the liability of a general visitation of any of the destructive 

 influences feared by the farmer in former days. 



Conditions at the present day are different in many respects from those of even a few 

 years ago. Agricultural operations have been extended to many new districts, and 

 the area of the districts now partly under cultivation is over 73,000,000 acres. It is 

 evident that in this large expanse of country, there is much less liability to a general 

 failure of the crop. The varied character of the soil, the improved methods of cul- 

 tivation, the scattered areas of tilled land, and the complexity of weather conditions 

 peculiar to such a large territory, all tend to reduce to a minimum the probability of 

 anything like a general failure. 



In the past season, the oat crop amounted to 29,168,000 bushels from 772,770 

 acres, being the largest on record. The average yield was 37I bushels per acre, a 

 figure which has only been exceeded on two previous occasions. Barley is but little 

 cultivated, but the yield of 30 bushels is higher than in any year since 1 901, when 

 about 31^ bushels were obtained. The total production in 1907 was 1,903,000 bushels 

 from 60,261 acres. 



United States. — According to the December Report of the Department of Agri- 

 culture, the newly-seeded area of winter wheat is estimated at 31,069,000 acres, a 

 decrease of 2 per cent, compared with the similar area in 1906. 



South Australia. — The Board of Trade correspondent at Adelaide (Mr. J. 

 Cresswell) reports, under date of 31st October, that the wheat harvest is estimated 

 to return 15,000,000 bushels against 21,000,000 bushels last year. It is anticipated 

 that the whole of the surplus supplies will be absorbed in Australia. The hay crop 

 will be light and prices will run high. Wool is fetching good prices, and sheep- 

 farming generally is in a prosperous condition. The fruit crop is expected to be a 

 good one. According to Beerbohm's Com Trade List (29th November) the pre- 

 liminary official estimate of the wheat crop is 15,782,000 bushels. 



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