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Parliamentary Publications. 



imported would have been more seriously felt had it not been 

 for the increased supplies of chilled and frozen beef from 

 Argentina. 



The relative proportions of the supplies of wheat and wheat 

 flour from British Possessions and foreign countries are concisely 

 shown, the total quantity of wheat and flour expressed as wheat 

 imported in the past year being greater than any previously 

 recorded, amounting to 5,396,000 cwt, and of this 1,272,000 cwt., 

 or nearly one-fourth, came from British Possessions, Canada 

 now taking the second place as a source of supply to the 

 United Kingdom. 



The information relating to Colonial and foreign agriculture 

 has been brought down to the latest possible date, although 

 figures for 1902 are available in comparatively few instances. 

 A comparison of the yield per acre of the cereal crops of foreign 

 countries with those of the United Kingdom shows that this 

 country, with an average yield of 3 1 bushels of wheat per acre 

 for the years 1 897-1 901, has distanced any European com- 

 petitor, and has still more exceeded the yield of the wheat areas 

 of the United States over the same period, which was but little 

 more than 13 bushels per acre. 



The latest estimates place the numbers of cattle in the 

 United States at 61,764,000 head, a figure considerably below 

 the 67,800,000 head suggested as the census total. In sheep 

 the new figures indicate a larger increase in the latest year, 

 while the estimated numbers of swine appear to have declined 

 by nearly two millions. 



It would appear that while the twelfth census of the United 

 States was more comprehensive in the scope of its enquiries 

 than any of its predecessors, this fact necessarily involves 

 difficulties in comparing its results with those of earlier years. 

 Nevertheless, the tentative comparison of the census volumes is 

 quoted as indicating approximately the movement in the live 

 stock industry of the United States over six successive decades. 

 The differences between these census figures and those which 

 appear in the tables constructed from data supplied by the 

 Agricultural Department of the United States illustrate, it is 

 pointed out, the inconvenience of having in a single State 

 varying systems of enumerating agricultural facts. Major 



