1908.] 



Crop Prospects Abroad. 



615 



and the harvest began ten days earlier than usual. The total yield of wheat is 

 estimated, in a report presented to the Minister of Agriculture by the Agronomic 

 Station, to reach 63,250,000 bushels. The quality is good, and in some districts 

 very good, though bad in the regions where the drought was very severe, such as 

 Braila, Covurlin (Galatz) and Tulcea. Generally speaking, however, the grain is 

 heavy and of good appearance ; 25 per cent, of it is said to weigh over 64 lb. per 

 bushel. The average. yield is about 14J bushels per acre. About 27,500,000 bushels 

 will, it is estimated, be available for export. According to the official statistics 

 published in the Moriiteur Commercial Roumdin (6th October), the area sown in 

 1908 was: wheat, 4,450,161 acres; barley, 1,531,869 acres; and maize, 4,990,178 

 acres. These figures represent an increase of 215,798 acres of wheat and 272,927 

 acres of barley above the figures of 1907, the latter figure being higher than the 

 average of the preceding five years. The acreage of maize was about the average. 

 The British Vice-Consul at Galatz (Mr. N. L. Shadwell) reports {Board of Trade 

 Journal, 22nd October) that the crops are better than was expected, though it cannot 

 be called a good year. The wheat crop is above that of last year and of very good 

 quality. The barley and oat crops are short and of a poor quality. Maize promises 

 to give a good crop. 



South Russia.— H.M. Consul-General at Constantinople (Mr. H. C. A. Eyres) 

 reports, under date of 9th October, that according to information received from 

 Southern Russia the weather was extremely unfavourable just before the time of 

 harvest. In the districts supplying Odessa, Nicolaieff and Kherson, and in the 

 Crimea barley was on the whole a fair average crop, but the quality was greatly injured 

 by rain after cutting. Oats proved a small crop, and rye a total failure. Wheat is 

 under average, but the prospects of maize are excellent. It is not yet known whether 

 the latter will be sufficiently dry for immediate shipment. No reliable information was 

 available concerning the Azov districts. — Board of Trade Journal, i$tk October, 1908. 



Mr. Consul-General Smith, of Odessa, writing on 22nd October, states that the 

 crops in South Russia are officially estimated as follows : — Winter wheat, unsatis- 

 factory ; spring wheat and barley, average : rye, below average ; oats, above average. 



Poland. — The Board have received, through the Foreign Office, a report by 

 Mr. C. Clive-Bayley, H.M. Consul at Warsaw, on the harvest of 1908, based on a 

 report by the Central Agricultural Society of Poland. Winter wheat was satisfactory 

 all over the district, being good in the greater portions of the Governments of Radom, 

 Lublin, Siedlce, and Grodno. Spring wheat was rather above the average, except in 

 a portion of the Government of Grodno, where it was very good. Rye was good in a 

 small portion of Grodno and Siedlce, satisfactory in all other Governments except 

 Kaliz, Pietrkoff and Kielce, where it was very bad. Oats were good in Grodno and 

 Siedlce and satisfactory in the other Governments. Barley was only good in the 

 centre of Poland, but satisfactory elsewhere. 



Canada. — The Crop Bulletin issued by the Census and Statistics Office of the 

 Canadian Government for the month of September estimates, on the basis of the 

 actual threshing results, so far as they had been obtained, that the average yield of 

 wheat is 17 J bushels, indicating a total production of 115,651,000 bushels; of oats, 

 33*7 bushels per acre, or a total production of 267,651,000 bushels; and of barley, 

 29 bushels per acre, or a production of 50,723,000 bushels. The yield of wheat, 

 according to these returns, is less than was anticipated. 



Argentina. — According to a cabled report issued in Dornbuscli 's Evening List 

 (19th October), the Minister of Agriculture estimates the area sown with wheat in 1908 

 at 14,989,000 acres against 14,227,000 acres in 1907, with linseed at 3,814,000 acres 

 against 3,437,000 acres, and with oats at 1,565,000 acres against 703,000 acres in the 

 earlier year. The total yield for the coming season is estimated at 5,760,000 tons 

 of wheat, 1,228,000 tons of linseed and 823,000 tons of oats. The final figures for 

 the 1907 wheat crop were 5,238,705 tons. According to an estimate issued by the 

 Minister of Agriculture on 4th November, the damage done to crops by frost was put[at 



