( f OR THE </ 



THE JOURNAL 



OF THE 



BOARD OF AGRICULTURE. 



Vol. VIII. No. 3. DECEMBER, 1901. 



THE GRAIN HARVEST OF 1901. 

 The preliminary statement of the estimated produce of 

 wheat, barley, and oats for the current year was issued by 

 the Board of Agriculture on the 3rd inst. Taking- Great 

 Britaiu as a whole, the results of the estimates of the three 

 chief cereal crops supplied to the Board gave for wheat 

 only a satisfactory result, the yield per acre both of barley 

 and of oats being reported to be below that of the year 

 immediately preceding and below the average of the ten 

 years 1 891 -1900. 



The estimated total production of wheat in Great Britain 

 in 1901 was about 52 J million bushels, or within 182,000 

 bushels of the aggregate estimate for 1900, in which year, 

 however, the area from which this crop was cut was 144,000 

 .acres larger than in 190 1. In only two previous years since 

 these official statistics were first collected, viz., in 1893 and 

 1895, has the total wheat production of Great Britain stood 

 .at a smaller figure. 



This result is, however, due to the diminished acreage and 

 not to a defective harvest. A comparison of the average 

 yield per acre in the present year with that of previous years 

 makes it appear that in only six out of the seventeen 

 years, 1884 to 1900, has the estimated wheat yield per acre 

 been higher than in 1901. The yield of 30*84 bushels of the 

 past season is 2-J bushels a,bove that of 1900 and about one 

 bushel above the ten years' average for Great Britain 

 generally. As over 95 per cent, of the total wheat area is in 



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