1909.] Notes on Crop Prospects Abroad. 



farmers in that county having experienced losses, due to the poor 

 condition of the ewes owing - to the wet during the last few months of 

 1908. From Berkshire it is stated that the drought and cold had had 

 a serious effect on the crops, the wheat suffering least. The rain at 

 the beginning of June benefited both oats and barley. Another report 

 from Berks confirms this, and adds that all farm work is now in a 

 forward state. 



Germany. — According to the Report of the Imperial Statistical 

 Bureau referring to the middle of May, the condition of the crops was 

 as follows : — Winter wheat, 3*1; spring wheat, 

 Notes on Crop 2'6; winter rye, 3*0; spring rye, 2'6; barley, 



Prospects Abroad. 2'6; and oats, 27; (i=very good, 2 = good, 

 3 = medium (average); 4 = small). 



The weather during the previous month was not generally favourable. 

 The area ploughed up owing to the crops not coming through the 

 winter well amounts, in the case of winter wheat, to 10*2 per cent., 

 of the area sown, which compares with 2'4 in 1908, 27*4 in 1907, and 38*1 

 in 1901. This crop made little progress during the month, the weather 

 being against it. Spring grain is generally in fair condition though 

 somewhat backward. 



Hungary. — A despatch from H.M. Consul-General at Buda Pesth, 

 dated May 5th last, states that the harvest prospects notified from 

 various parts of the country were not encouraging. Spring wheat had 

 suffered considerably in consequence of the prolonged drought, with 

 warm, windy weather during April, which changed to sudden cold and 

 rain on the last of the month and beginning of May. Autumn wheat 

 is also stated to have been kept back for similar reasons in various 

 districts. It is hoped, however, that the rain came just in time to save 

 the country from a really bad harvest, which was reported as certain 

 on April 29th if rain did not fall within two or three days. 



According to the Report issued by the Hungarian Ministry of Agri- 

 culture in the middle of May, wheat has grown slowly, and is weak 

 and much infested with weeds, though latterly it has improved. The 

 unsatisfactory winter sowings have been replaced with spring wheat, and 

 the condition of these later sowings is satisfactory. 



Hop Crops of Austria and Hungary in 1908. — The despatch men- 

 tioned above also contains a statement by Mr. Sigmund Utitz, Reporter 

 in Nuremburg to the Hungarian Ministry of Agriculture, from which 

 it appears that Austria's hop crop in 1908 was the largest on record. 

 The land in hop cultivation in that year was 62,649 acres, and the crop 

 amounted to 368,953 cwt., as compared with 267,581 cwt. in 1907. The 

 land under hops has been doubled since 1881, and the crop trebled. 



In Hungary, 2,850 acres were planted with hops, giving an output 

 of 17,899 cwt., an increase of about 10 per cent, on the previous year. 

 Hungarian hops are said to be rising in favour in foreign markets, and 

 at the Berlin Hop Exhibition in October last, no less than 15 prizes 

 were awarded to Hungarian hop-growers. 



Roumania. — The Moniteur Commercial Roumain (May 15th, 1909) 



