Dec. 1896.] 



REPORTS ON FOREIGN CROPS. 



269 



The yield of apples in the present season is reported to have 

 b>een greater than for many years past, and the fruit is said to 

 be remarkably free from insect pests. Other kinds of fruit 

 appear to have been quite up to the average, and, taken 

 altogether, the summer of 1896 is considered to have been 

 a record season in respect of fruit supply. 



The total number of cattle of all kinds in the province on 

 July 1st was returned at 2,182,000, of which 920,000 were milch 

 cows, an increase of about 32,000 over the previous year. Sheep 

 showed a decrease, the numbers being 1,849,000 against 2,028,000 

 in 1895. Pigs numbered 1,269,600 as compared with 1,299,000 

 in the previous year. Live stock were reported to be generally 

 in a healthy condition. 



The Bulletin contains a reference to the attack of the " Army 

 worm," from which it appears that in seven counties of Ontario 

 this insect occasioned considerable loss, but in many of the others 

 the damage was slight, as the caterpillars were too late in arriving 

 to do much harm, owing to the advanced condition of the crops 

 attacked. Some observers reported a loss of 50 per cent, in oat 

 fields, but in most of the other cases the damage was comparatively 

 slight. 



Crops in Austria. 



It appears from the report of the Austrian Ministry of Agri- 

 culture for October last, as published in the Wiener Lanclwirt- 

 schaftliche Zeitung of the 31st of that month, that the various 

 Austrian districts could, so far as concerns the four chief cereals 

 (wheat, rye, barley, and oats), be divided into two main groups. 

 In the first of these, comprising the north-west, west, and south 

 of the empire, the harvest could only be described as rather 

 under average. In the second (north-east) group, however, the 

 harvest must be considered to be one of the best which had been 

 experienced for a long series of years. 



Much disease was present among the potatoes, and there were 

 complaints of the small size of the tubers ; in Galicia, however, 

 prospects were more encouraging, yields of 4 to 6 tons per acre 

 being reported. Sugar-beet had improved both in size of root 

 and in sugar-contents, but there were reports of poor harvests 

 in some localities, notably in South Bohemia. Flax had suffered 

 from the rain. The vintage, with few exceptions, had turned out 

 badly, so far as it was completed. 



Crops in Hungary. 



Estimates of the yield of wheat, rye, barley, and oats in 

 Hungary in 1896 were given in the September number of this 

 Journal, and the later reports of the condition of cereals in that 



