Sept. 1895.] REPORTS ON FOREIGN CROPS, 



151 



REPORTS ON FOREIGN CROPS. 

 Crops in the United States. 



The latest reports of the Statistician of the Department of 

 Agriculture of the United States furnish the following par- 

 ticulars as to the condition of crops in that country. The 

 preliminary returns of the acreage under wheat indicated an 

 area under this crop equivalent to 97 * 1 per cent, of the acreage 

 harvested in 1894, this being a decline of 1,000,000 acres, or 

 33,870,000 acres as compared with 34,882,000 acres. The 

 average condition of spring wheat on August 1st was 95 * 9. 

 This represents a decline of 6*3 points since the previous 

 month. But the August average is the highest for this month 

 in recent years ; last year at the same period it was 67 ' 1, and 

 in 1893 only 67. 



The acreage planted to maize is returned as 107 * 8 per cent, 

 of the area similarly planted last year, which was 76,000,000 

 acres, this being an increase of nearly 6,000,000, and making 

 the area planted this season 82,000,000 acres. On August 1st 

 the average condition of the crop was reported to be 102 • 5, the 

 highest August average reported for some years. 



The average condition of oats in August was 84-3. Last 

 year the condition of the crop at the same date was 76 ' 5. The 

 preliminary returns indicated the acreage of oats to be 103 • 2 

 of last year's area, or 27,888,000 acres as compared with 

 27,023,553 acres in 1894. 



On August 1st the average condition of barley stood at 87 * 2, 

 a decline of 4 • 7 points since the previous month. The barley 

 acreage was returned in June at 104 per cent, of the area under 

 the crop in 1894, or 3,297,000 acres as compared with 3,170,602 

 acres last year. 



The average condition of potatoes on August 1st was 87 * 7, a 

 decline of 3*8 points from the previous month. In August 

 1894 the condition of potatoes stood at 74, and in the same 

 month of 1893 at 86. 



The hay acreage is reported to be 91 * 5 per cent, of that of last 

 year, or 44,214,000 acres as compared with 48,821,272 acres in 

 1894. The condition of timothy on August 1st was 69 * 9, a 

 decline of nearly a point from the previous month. 



On August 1st the condition of apples was reported to be 

 71*2; at the same period last year this crop stood at 44 only. 

 On the whole the condition of the crop would appear to be fair, 

 though in some States the orchards had been severely injured 

 by the spring frosts. 



