270 



REPORTS ON FOREIGN CROPS. 



[Dec. 1896. 



kingdom, reproduced from official sources in the Wiener Land- 

 wirtschaftliche Zeitung, show that of this year's harvests, buck- 

 wheat and millet were satisfactory, but maize was behindhand 

 in many places, and the yield proved to be considerably below 

 expectations. 



Hemp, flax, tobacco, and roots had all given more or less satis- 

 factory results. Potatoes had suffered much from the rain, there 

 being a great deal of disease over the whole country. Pasture* 

 under the influence of the wet weather, was good ; while vines had 

 been much damaged, and the prospects of a good vintage were 

 steadily becoming poorer. 



Crops in Belgium. 



The official estimate of the Belgian harvest of 1896 indicates 

 the crops to have been generally good, and, with the exception 

 of oats, of which the yield was considerably less than the mean 

 for the two preceding years, to have given a return very similar 

 to that of 1895. The quality is declared to have been good on 

 the whole. 



The following table shows the average yield of the four chief 

 cereal crops during the last five years : — 







Bushels per Acre. 





Year. 













Wheat. 



Rye. 



Barley. 



Oats. 



1892 ----- 



29-7 



31'4 



42-0 



42-6 



1893 ----- 



26-6 



27-1 



37-0 



32-6 



1894 - 



27-5 



29-4 



39-2 



44-6 



1895 - 



28-0 



29-1 



41 -4 



47-4 



1896 ----- 



29-2 



29-7 



40-1 



38-0 



On the assumption that the acreage under wheat and rye 

 amounted to 1,358,500 acres, the yield of these two principal cereal 

 crops in Belgium is estimated at 40,150,000 bushels, or 1,375,000 

 bushels more than the corresponding quantity produced last year. 

 If the present yield be taken to represent the quantity of avail- 

 able home-grown cereal products, and without considering the 

 quantity required for seed and for feeding, or the yield from 

 other crops, there is an estimated deficiency of cereal food in 

 Belgium for the season 1896-97 amounting to 9,625,000 bushels. 



Crops in Germany. 



The returns prepared in the Imperial Statistical Office afc 

 Berlin give preliminary estimates of the results of the harvest 

 of wheat, barley, and rye in Germany in the season of 1896. 



