June 1896.] 



REPORTS ON FOREIGN CROPS. 



2T 



average condition of each kind of crop, where 1 represents 

 " very good " and 5 " very bad/' were officially issued by the 

 Imperial Statistical Bureau at Berlin, and refer to the middle 

 of May : — 





Wheat. 



Rye. 



Clover 



and 

 Lucerne. 



Pasture. 



Autumn. 



Spring. 



Autumn. 



Spring. 



May 1896 

 April 1896 



2-5 

 2-3 



2-6 



2-6 

 2-3 



2-4 



2-9 

 2-6 



2-6 

 2*3 



The autumn-sown crops generally, which in April were some- 

 what above the average, owing to the comparatively mild winter, 

 show some decrease in condition. This is due to the weather, 

 which, at tirst wet and cold, was followed by cold drying 

 winds in the western and central parts of the empire ; in the 

 east the wind was accompanied by heavy showers. Wheat 

 appears to have generally suffered less than rye. Night frosts 

 have not done much damage, but a certain amount of land has 

 been ploughed up in Southern Germany, owing to the corn not 

 having wintered well, or on account of the ravages of mice. 



Spring sowing, which had commenced in some districts towards 

 the end of March, had to be suspended during the first half of 

 April owing to snow and rain. The unfavourable weather had 

 checked the progress of the spring corn, which had till then 

 presented a fair appearance. The average condition, as indicated 

 in the table above, is not, however, a representative figure, for 

 in many late districts the com had not yet appeared above 

 ground. 



Potato cultivation was almost everywhere very late, and the 

 reports to hand were not very promising. 



Clover suffered in the autumn from mice, and in some 

 localities it had dried up in consequence of drought in the late 

 autumn ; while some damage had been caused by frost, the 

 small amount of snow having been insufficient to protect the 

 crop. Considerable areas appear to have been ploughed up, and 

 the general condition was rather behindhand. 



Mice damaged the pastures in Wurtemberg and Alsace Lorraine, 

 but not to any very general extent, and the outlook as a whole 

 was fair, although it had gone back somewhat from its forward 

 condition in April. 



Crops in Hungary. 



The Wiener Landwirtschaftliehe Zeitung of the 25th April 

 states that unfavourable weather in Hungary during the first 

 half of April had caused a slow development of vegetation and 

 hindered work in the fields. Autumn wheat generally was 



