530 



Reports on Foreign Crops. 



The Polish Harvest^' of 1898. 



In a report on the results of the harvest of 1898 in Poland, 

 Her Majesty's Consul-General at Warsaw draws attention to 

 what he describes as two very remarkable features in the 

 agriculture of that country. The first is that, although a 

 good crop after an inferior one may make the reverse appear 

 to be the case, the amount of grain grown in Poland is 

 actually diminishing, owing to the fact that the large estates 

 are being gradually parcelled out into small holdings in the 

 hands of peasant farmers, whose crops, grown with an 

 inferior system of agriculture, are'jnot so good as those grown 

 on the same ground by large landed proprietors with an 

 improved system. 



The other feature is that, although Russia is a grain 

 exporting country, the production of cereals in the ten Polish 

 Governments is not sufficient to supply the needs of the 

 population of Poland for whom grain has to be brought from 

 other parts, so that the price of grain in Poland is higher 



than elsewhere. 



The produce of the different cereals in Poland and Lithuania 



in 1898 was estimated as follows, and taking the diminution 



of production in Poland, explained above, into consideration 



may be considered a good yield : 



Crop. 



Poland. 



Lithuania. 





Quarters. 



Quarters. 



Winter Wheat 



3,083,625 





Spring Wheat ----- 



15,525 



115,875 



Barley 



2,483,100 



1,818,100 



Oats 



6,218,200 



4,703,063 



Rye ------- 



8,312,250 



6,819,525 



Buckwheat 



100,000 



141,165 



Millet 



50,000 





Peas - - 



792,900 



491,950 



The crop the success or failure of which affects the well- 

 being of all classes in Poland is not, as in Russia proper, 

 rye, but potatoes, which form almost the sole food of the 

 labouring classes, and supply also a large part of the income 

 of the farmers who grow them for sale to the distillers. 



A failure of the potato crop means, therefore, famine to 



