774 



Notes on Crop Prospects Abroad. [jan. 



Mr. Consul-General Smith, writing from Odessa on 5th December, states 

 that so far the prospects of the 1909 grain crop are very good. Sowing was 

 a little late, but was conducted under favourable circumstances, and at the 

 time of the first frosts the winter crops looked very well. 



A later report, dated 26th December, states that at the beginning of the 

 autumn the weather in the northern part of Russia was too wet for the easy 

 preparation of the ground and too cold for the good growth of winter seed ; 

 in the central portions it was about normal, and in the south it was warmer 

 than usual, and over-dry. Much variation in the weather, followed, but about 

 the middle of December it was stated that the greater part of European Russia 

 had a promising winter crop ; in other parts the crop is precarious, and in 

 considerable areas it is unpromising. 



India. — According to a telegraphic report in Beerbohm's Corn Trade List 

 (31st December), the official estimates for Bombay and Sind, the Central 

 Provinces and Berar, and the North-West Frontier, give the area under wheat 

 as 5,911,000 acres as against 5,671,000 acres last year. 



United States. — The final estimate of the United States crops issued by the 

 Bureau of Statistics of the Department of Agriculture is as follows : — 





1908. 



1907. 





Thousands 



Thousands 



Thousands 



Thousands 





of acres. 



of bushels. 



of acres. 



of bushels. 



Wheat 



47,557 



664,602 



45.2H 



634,087 



Maize 



101,788 



2,668,651 



99,931 



2,592,320 



Oats 



32,344 



807,156 



31,837 



754,443 



Barley 



6,646 



166,756 



6,448 



153,597 



Potatoes 



3.257 



278,985 



3.124 



297,942 



The World's Hop Crop. — The Board have received the Report issued by 

 Messrs. John Barth and Son, of Nuremberg, on the hop crop of 1908. 

 According to the estimate of this firm, the area under cultivation in the past 

 season has amounted to 269,244 acres, as compared with 286,460 acres last 

 year. The total production is put at 1,978,000 cwt., as against 1,881,800 in 

 1907, 1,577,000 in 1906, and 2,428,000 in 1905. The figures for the principal 

 countries are as follows : — 



1907. 1908. 



Thousands Thousands 



of cwts. of cwts. 



Germany : 



Bavaria ... ... ... ... ... ... 258 301 



Wurtemberg ... ... ... ... ... 60 67 



Baden ... ... ... ... 28 34 



Alsace Lorraine ... ... ... ... 93 102 



Prussia and other districts ... ... 22 22 



Austria-Hungary : 



Bohemia ... ... ... ... ... 232 255 



Other districts 81 60 



France 78 79 



Belgium and Holland ... ... ... ... 54 77 



Russia and other Continental countries k ... 79 74 



England 1 ... 373 491 



America ... ... ... ... 510 402 



Australia ... ... ... ... ... ... 14 14 



1,882 1,978 



