Mutton in United states. 



225 



sumed in Oran were imported from Spain, and a large fleet 

 of small vessels (feluccas) was engaged in the trade. When 

 the phylloxera was raging so badly in the south of Spain a 

 law was passed forbidding the importation from that 

 country of any fruit or vegetables into Algeria. This measure 

 was taken ostensibly to protect the Algerian vineyards from 

 the scourge, although the phylloxera had been officially 

 recognised as already existing in Algiers. At all events, the 

 Government prohibited the trade, and for some two years all 

 fruit and vegetables rose to an exorbitant price, which 

 stimulated the colonists, and more particularly those in the 

 neighbourhood of towns, to dig wells and search for water, 

 many finding it where it had hitherto been considered 

 impossible. The result is that vegetables are now as cheap as 

 in Spain itself, and although the interdiction referred to above 

 was raised some six years ago, the trade has never revived, 

 and the province is now able to export a large quantity of 

 early vegetables and fruit, which, in 1898, amounted to 1,905 

 tons of vegetables, 1,538 tons of fruit, and 788 tons of 

 potatoes. 



\ Foreign Office Report, Annual Series, No. 2,302.] 



The Production of Mutton in the United States, 



The number of sheep estimated to exist in the United 

 States on the 1st January in each of the five years 1891 to 

 1895 inclusive amounts to a yearly average of 44,449,000 head, 

 while the average annual sheep stock for the period 1896 to 

 1899 inclusive works out to only 37,972,000 head. But not- 

 withstanding the apparent diminution in the flocks of the 

 country, sheep rearing is held to have made substantial 

 progress, and according to a bulletin issued by the Depart- 

 ment of Agriculture at Washington the production of mutton 

 for American and European markets is rapidly becoming 

 an industry of considerable proportions. In connection 

 with this statement, however, it may be observed that 

 the flocks of the United States have, as yet, barely pro- 

 duced sufficient meat to satisfy the home demand, for although 

 the exports of sheep from American ports have in some 



P 



