Russian Harvest of 1898. 



375 



of over 250 acres in Belgium, 309 are in Namur. It is note- 

 worthy also that the four provinces with over 100,000 holdings 

 each, viz., Brabant, East and West Flanders, and fiainaut, 

 form the most important dairying districts of Belgium, and 

 are at the same time the only provinces containing over 

 100,000 milch cows apiece. It would seem, therefore, that i n 

 Belgium there is a close connection between small holdings 

 and dairying. 



Comparing further the system of tenure in the different 

 provinces, and considering only the holdings which are 

 entirely occupied by the owner or the tenant, the two Flanders 

 are quite distinct from Hainaut, as the farming tenants out- 

 number the owners by seven or eight to one in the former, 

 and are little more than double in the latter. Only in the 

 province of Luxemberg are the cccupying owners more 

 numerous than the tenants, and here they number 19,000 

 against less than 8,000 tenants. 



The Russian Harvest of 1898. 



Particulars of the acreage and production of the four 

 principal cereals and of potatoes in the Russian Empire for 

 the year 1 898 have already been given in this Journal*, but 

 the following additional details of the crops, as well as some 

 observations by Mr. Consul-General Michel! on the effect of 

 the failure of the harvest in the eastern provinces on the 

 agricultural population of these districts may be of interest. 



According to the finally adjusted returns of the Central 

 Statistical Department of the Ministry of the Interior, the 

 area under cultivation of all grain and potatoes in 1898 in the 

 72 provinces and regions of the Empire amounted to 

 209,773,046 acres of arable land, of which 80,689,482 acres, 

 were under winter-sown grain, and 120,237,428 acres repre- 

 sented spring-sown cereals, potatoes occupying 8,846,236 

 acres. The above areas yielded a total of grain and potatoes 

 amounting to 1,516,026,375 cwts. Of this quantity winter- 



*Vol. VI. No. 1, June, 1899. 



