June 1896.] 



REPORTS ON FOREIGN CROPS. 



25 



REPORTS ON FOREIGN CROPS. 

 Crops in Austria. 



The Wiener Landwirtschaftliche Zeitung of the 6th May 

 contains a note, compiled from the Official Report issued by the 

 Austro-Hungarian Ministry of Agriculture, upon the condition 

 of the crops in Austria. It appears from this report that the 

 crops have come through the winter very well. In a few 

 localities the spell of cold weather at the beginning of April 

 proved unfavourable to the autumn- sown crops, for they had 

 come on fast during March, and were afterwards exposed to 

 night frosts, with wind and drought, in some instances. This 

 involved ploughing up in a few districts, but this was the 

 exception, and the condition of autumn crops must be generally 

 considered hopeful. Nevertheless, the total yield this year from 

 autumn -sown crops is expected to be below that of 1895 ; for 

 much seed was destroyed by mice in Bohemia and elsewhere in 

 the northern portion of the Empire, in addition to which the 

 threatened ravages of these mice were the cause of some land 

 being left unsown. These animals had also in many places, 

 particularly in Bohemia, damaged the clover fields. Pasture 

 which had suffered from drought had very generally recovered. 

 Rape had wintered well, but was mostly somewhat later than 

 usual. 



The cultivation of spring crops, commenced in March in all 

 the warmer districts, had been interrupted by the cold spell, and 

 could only be resumed during the last half of April ; but in 

 some localities cultivation had not begun owing to the fields not 

 being sufficiently dry. Generally, barley, oats, spring wheat, 

 and spring rye were in the ground, and work in connection with 

 maize was approaching completion in the south. Root cultiva- 

 tion was in full swing. 



Crops had generally come up well, although in many cases 

 the young plants only became visible about the end of April. 

 Hops had done very well, and vines had made good strong 

 wood ; these latter having only suffered from frost, in Lower 

 Austria and Moravia, in cases where the stocks had last year 

 been injured by the Peronospora. Fruit-trees had not suffered 

 during the winter, and there was a fair amount of bloom. 



Crops in Argentina. 



According to information published in the Buenos Aires 

 Standard, the rains in the early part of April caused great 

 damage to the wheat of the Republic. The losses in some cases, 



