Reports on Foreign Crops. 



261 



favourable localities. Lack of warmth and sunshine during 

 the month of June retarded the growth of Indian corn for 

 ensilage, and the crop will therefore be considerably below 

 the average. 



The fruit crop, which promised to be exceedingly abundant 

 in the period of bloom, w^as seriously affected by the wet and 

 cold weather which succeeded the blossoming season, and 

 the returns from the great fruit region of the Cornwallis 

 valley were discouraging. 



, Crops in Ontario. 



The crop estimates of the present year, compiled by the 

 Ontario Department of Agriculture, were issued in the August 

 Bulletin of that department. The jdeld of grain is only 

 estimated, and will be revised from the actual threshing 

 results. The area under winter wheat is 1,048,182 acres, 

 compared with 950,222 acres last year. This is the largest 

 acreage devoted to winter wheat since 1883, when 1,097,210 

 acres were reported. The large increase of nearly 100,000 

 acres this year is partly due to the fact that only 

 25,159 acres were ploughed up this spring, as against 

 55,477 in 1897. It is estimated that the yield will 

 amount to 25,305,890 bushels, or an average of 24-1 bushels per 

 acre. The yield in 1897 was 23,988,051 bushels, which w^as 

 the largest recorded during the fifteen years for which reliable 

 estimates are available ; the average yield in that period has 

 been 18,022,748 bushels. The produce of the winter wheat 

 crops of the present season is, therefore, the largest 

 yield ever recorded in the Province. The spring wheat 

 area is 389,205 acres, yielding 6,714,516 bushels. With 

 regard to barley, the acreage, which has fallen steadily 

 since 1890, when it was 701,000 acres, showed a further 

 decline to 438,784 acres, yielding 12,048,245 bushels, which 

 is a little above the yield of last year. Oats, on the other 

 hand, have shown an increase in area of recent years, though 

 this year's acreage is somewhat below that of last year, being 

 2,376,360 acres against 2,432,491 acres in 1897, but compared 



