Reports on Foreign Crops. 



391 



Crops in Austria. 



The Wiener LandwirthscJiaftliche Zeitung of November 6th, 

 quoting- from the official returns, states that the preliminary 

 threshings indicated that the wheat and rye crops were 

 almost everywhere under average ; complaints, both as to 

 quality and quantity, being very numerous. Barley had 

 suffered seriously from the weather, and good malting grain 

 was comparatively scarce. In many mountain districts the 

 oats had not ripened, and altogether the outlook for the 

 harvest was not favourable. Potatoes were scarcely up to 

 the average, either in quantity or quality, disease being 

 widely prevalent. Sugar beet was generally reported as an 

 average crop. 



Young crops, where sown in the second half of September 

 or early in October, presented a satisfactory appearance ; 

 but elsewhere the unfavourable weather which had since 

 prevailed had caused great delay in preparing the land, and 

 in such cases it was expected that the young crops would 

 not come too well through the winter. 



Crops in Argentina. 



According to reports received by La Agricultura up to 

 the end of November locusts had made their appearance 

 over a large area of Argentina, but in the principal wheat- 

 growing provinces the crops had, up to that date, escaped 

 serious injury from the ravages of the pest. In Cordoba and 

 Santa Fe the wheat fields were reported to be generally 

 in a satisfactory condition, and equally favourable accounts 

 were forthcoming from Entre Rios and Buenos Ayres. On 

 the other hand, the provinces of San Luis and Mendoza had 

 been visited by immense swarms of locusts, which had done 

 much injury to crops of maize and wheat. 



The general tenour of the reports indicated that, in spite 

 of the presence of locusts, there were, in November, prospects 

 of a fair wheat harvest. From observation made in Santa Fe 

 and elsewhere, it appears that the locusts possess less 

 vitality this year than in 1896. 



