142 



Notes on Crops Abroad. 



[May, 



Hungary. — According to the report of the Ministry of Agriculture on 

 the crops at the beginning of April, the condition of wheat and rye was, 

 on the average, satisfactory. This was con- 

 notes Oil firmed in the report issued in the middle of 

 Crops Abroad. the month, although the weather during the 

 first half of April was not very favourable 

 to the crops. Complaints were made of the condition of winter barley 

 and rape, which appeared to have suffered from the long winter; in 

 most parts of "the country they are poor, and in places have been 

 ploughed up. Spring sowing is in progress, and has been favoured by 

 the weather. 



Germany. — The report issued by the Imperial Statistical Bureau for 

 the middle of April gives the arithmetical condition of the crops as 

 follows: — Winter wheat, 3*1 ; winter spelt, 2*7; winter rye, 3*0 ; clover, 

 2'8; and Lucerne, 27 ( 1 = very good, 2 = good, 3 = medium or average, 

 4 = small). The figures for the three grain crops at the same time last 

 year were, respectively, 2*5, 2*3, and 2' 6. 



The condition of the autumn-sown grain crops is, in general, only 

 medium, in consequence of the late sowing which resulted from the 

 autumn drought. The hope is expressed that, with mild weather and 

 sufficient moisture, they will recover from the damage they have 

 suffered during the winter. 



Holland. — According to a report issued by the Dutch Ministry of 

 Agriculture on the 22nd April, the weather in the autumn was dry 

 and, on the whole, favourable for the winter grain. The winter, how- 

 ever, was cold and unfavourable, and the state of the crops is very 

 backward throughout the country, though less so in the south than in 

 the north. Except in Zeeland, wheat had to be reploughed more 

 or less in nearly all provinces. The condition of wheat is, on the 

 whole, indifferent. Red clover and cabbage seed have suffered a good 

 deal, it being estimated that not more than 30 per cent, of the cabbage 

 seed sown remains. Pasture is also very backward in development. 



As regards horticultural produce, there is a general complaint of 

 the consequences of a long and severe winter, and many kinds of vege- 

 tables are backward. In Westland it is stated that only plants under 

 glass show healthy signs. In the open air the results are moderate and 

 even bad. 



In the nurseries the winter did not make itself so seriously felt. 

 Although in the neighbourhood of Boskoop conifers suffered slightly, 

 and in some places rose-bushes which were insufficiently covered were 

 destroyed by frost, the condition of plants is generally described as good 

 or very good. 



Canada. — The total grain production of Canada in 1908 is given by 

 the Ministry of Trade and Commerce as follows: Wheat, 126,795,137 

 bushels; oats, 254,615,670 bushels; barley, 47,242,130 bushels; peas, 

 8,265,869 bushels; maize, 24,817,835. 



Victoria. — According to Dornbusch's Evening List (April 1st) the 

 wheat yield of Victoria for the current year is officially estimated at 

 2 3>345> 000 bushels, as compared with 12,100,000 bushels last year. 



India. — According to the Second General Memorandum on the Wheat 

 Crop, the total area sown for the season 1908-9 is 25,985,200 acres, as 



