388 ' AGRICULTURE IN ICELAND. 


on corn without reference to the country of origin Germany 
has become an exchange for cereals. The imports, however, 
greatly exceed the exports; and although there is an ever- 
increasing demand for foreign wheat, there is a customs 
duty of 35 marks per 1,000 kilos (7s. 7d. per quarter). 
Complaints are made that the prices obtained for home- 
grown wheat have for some time piust been comparatively 
low. One reason for this Mr. Schwabach considers to be that 
the wheat grown in Saxony especially consists largely of 
English varieties, or of their progeny, which have replaced 
the German kinds on account of their being much more 
prolific:: But these English sorts, although otherwise of 
excellent quality, are stated to be deficient in gluten; the 
consequence of which is that bakers have to mix other flour 
with it, and it is thus not so highly valued as foreign wheat, 
while a good deal of it is exported. 
Mr. Schwabach thinks that a further cause of the low 
prices of inland wheat has probably been the suspension of 
the Berlin Produce Exchange, and the consequent diminution 
of enterprise and speculation in grain. 

AGRICULTURE IN ICELAND. 
The Foreign Office have recently issued a report relating 
to the trade of Iceland during the period 1897-99, and Mr. 
Vidalin, H.M. Consul at Reykjavik, gives the following 
information regarding the agriculture of the island. 
The number of farm animals in 1897 was :—Cattle, 23,109; 
sheep, 754,115; and ponies, 42,470; the gross value of the 
stock being estimated at £568,000. The yield of hay, which 
is the only farm crop raised in Iceland, was nearly 170,000 
tons, of. which 110,000 tons were from grass grown on 
uncultivated land and the remainder was obtained from 
44,160 acres of pasture and irrigated meadows. There isa 
small,area under kitchen gardens. 
Great progress appears to have taken place during the 
last few years. in levelling, breaking up, and draining the 
