402 



Reports on Foreign Crops. 



Crops in Russia. 



The Board have received from Mr. Michell, Her Majesty's 

 Consul-General at St. Petersburg, a despatch furnishing 

 particulars of the preliminary estimates of the yield of cereal 

 crops this year in Russia. These estimates, which are pub- 

 lished by the Ministry of Agriculture, relate to the results of 

 the harvest in European Russia, Poland, and the Northern 

 Caucasus. The following are the estimated yields of the 

 principal grain crops in these divisions of the Empire, con- 

 verted into imperial quarters : — 





Crop. 



European 

 Russia 

 (50 Govern- 

 ments). 



Poland 

 (10 Govern- 

 ments). 



Northern 

 Caucasus 

 (3 Govern- 

 ments). 



Total for 

 63 Govern- 

 ments. 







Qrs. 



Qrs. 



Qrs. 



Qrs. 





Rye 



77,933700 



8,312,250 



736,125 



86,982,075 





Winter wheat 



10,206,600 



3,083,625 



3,874,125 



17,164,350 





Spring wheat 



32,171,850 



23,025 



1,231,125 



33,426,000 





Oats - 



63,829,000 



6,377,654 



1,446,346 



71,653,500 





Barley - 



34,054,110 



2,483,100 



2,275,650 



38,812,860 



Mr. Michell states that the above figures can only be 

 taken as an approximation, and that they are based on the 

 supposition that the area of cultivation was the same as in 

 1897. It appears that a failure, either complete or partial, 

 of the harvest of all grain, both autumn and spring sown, 

 occurred over a large area of country embracing the pro- 

 vinces of Kazan, Samara, Viatka, Simbirsk, Ufa, the greater 

 part of the provinces of Saratoff, Orenburg, Nijni-Novgorod, 

 the eastern districts of the province of Penza, the western 

 and south-western portions of Perm, and the northern 

 circuits of the Don country. The failure of spring-sown 

 grain was more marked than that of autumn-sown crops, 

 and occurred particularly in the m.id-Volga provinces, in 

 that of Samara, and in those bordering on the Ural, as also 

 in the provinces of Tamboff, Riazan, Tula, Vladimir, 

 Kostroma, and some districts of Vologda. 



For purposes of comparison it may be observed that, 

 according to the preliminary estimate published by the 

 ^Ministry of Agriculture, the yield of the principal crops of 



