Notes on Crops Abroad. 



[APRIL, 



ing crops stand well. Our brooks and rivers are yet very low." In 

 order to show the backwardness of the season a correspondent has 

 supplied the following statement : — 



Dates of sowing onions, carrots, and parsnips in a well-kept garden 

 having easy-working soil — the earliest chance of good sowing being 



taken : — 



Year. Date of Sowing. 



1 90 1 March 16th. 



1902 ... March 5th. 



1903 March 26th. 



1904 March 14th. 



1905 February 25th. 



1906 March 6th. 



1907 March 1st, 



1908 March 13th. 



1909 No chance of sowing 



properly all through 

 March. 



Argentina. — According to a despatch from the Charge" d'Affaires 

 at Buenos Ayres, dated February 1st, the harvest was being reaped 

 under most favourable circumstances, and 



Notes on Crops reports with regard to the maize crop were 

 Abroad. ver 7 reassuring. The Ministry of Agriculture 



estimated the total yield at about six million 

 metric tons. The past year is regarded as the best yet recorded in both 

 the pastoral and agricultural industries. 



Italy. — A report received from the Acting British Consul-General 

 at Naples (Mr. G. Turner) states that agriculture in Southern Italy 

 has languished during 1908 owing to a drought such as has not been 

 known within the memory of man. Among the crops which have 

 failed are the corn crops, including maize, of which some 9 million acres 

 are planted annually, while the green crops, including hemp, flax, 

 lucerne, and beans, are seriously affected. The scarcity of corn will 

 necessitate a large importation. (Board of Trade Journal, March 4th, 

 1909.) 



New Zealand. — H.M. Trade Commissioner in New Zealand (Mr. 

 G. H. F. Rolleston) reports (Board of Trade Journal, March 18th, 1909) 

 that the season has been a splendid one for all classes of farm produce, 

 and that the output of wool, meat and butter will be unusually large. 

 Abundance of grass ensures a good season for fattening, and heavy 

 cargoes of mutton and lamb are going forward; the prices are well 

 up to the average. The dairy industry is having a record season, and 

 the quantity of butter and cheese exported will far exceed the output 

 of any previous year. 



A later report given in the Board of Trade Journal (April 1st) states 

 that there is every prospect of an exceptionally heavy yield of grain. 

 The area under crops this season is much larger than usual, and in 

 spite of the damage done in some instances by wet, the average return 

 per acre should be heavier than is usually the case. In Canterbury 



