Dec. 1896.] 



REPORTS ON FOREIGN CROPS. 



271 



Wheat has yielded better than last year, the harvest of 1896 

 representing, for autumn wheat, an out-turn of 2G*7 bushels per 

 acre, and for spring wheat 22*1 bushels per acre. Last year the 

 preliminary estimates were 24*8 bushels and 20 5 busheh respec- 

 tively. The harvest is thus considerably above the average. 

 On the whole, the central districts — especially Saxony and Hesse 

 — appear to have yielded the best results; in Prussia there are 

 large variations, good yields being reported from some districts, 

 while adjacent regions may have had poor crops. In Southern 

 Germany the harvest was uniformly inferior, the average yield 

 of autumn-sown rye for the whole of Bavaria and Wurtemberg 

 being 20*3 bushels per acre. 



The barley harvest would appear to be slightly below that of 

 1895, although over average in quantity, the estimated out-turn 

 being 2 9 '4 bushels per acre. But excess of rain has done con- 

 siderable damage to this grain, and much of it cannot be utilised 

 for brewing. The quantity yielded appears to be distributed in 

 different districts almost exactly like the wheat harvest : Hesse 

 and Saxony show the heaviest returns, while Wurtemberg reports 

 an average of only 21'7 bushels, and Bavaria one of 24'6 bushels 

 per acre. 



The yield of autumn rye, to judge by reports received of the 

 earlier threshings, varies in Prussia from 16'8 to 30'2 bushels 

 per acre, with an average of 20*8 bushels ; spring rye gives from 

 8*7 to 21*5 bushels, with an average of 12*8 bushels per acre. 

 In Bavaria the average for autumn rye is 21*1 bushels, and for 

 summer rye 15'0 bushels per acre. It must be borne in mind 

 that the final yields may be somewhat below those just given* 

 as in some cases the estimate is based upon seed corn, that is to 

 say, upon the best samples. 



The potato crop in Prussia was expected to be a little under 

 average, as there was a good deal of disease. From clover and 

 lucerne an average yield appeared probable. 



Crops in Russia, 1896. 



The Board have received, through the Foreign Office, a report 

 drawn up by Mr. John Michell, Her Majesty's Consul-General afc 

 St. Petersburg, on the results of the Russian grain crop of 1896, 

 as estimated by the Ministry of Agriculture and Imperial 

 Domains upon the basis of communications received from 600 

 of its correspondents in the various agricultural districts of the 

 Empire. 



It would appear that the deficiency of the yield in European 

 Russia alone of all the grain crops of this year amounted to 

 37,430,678 cwts. Adding to these figures the short yield of the 

 grain crops in the provinces of the Vistula and Cis-Caucasia 



