INTERNATIONAL CROP PROSPECTS

Dominion, Volume 10, Issue 3059, 21 April 1917, Page 2

INTERNATIONAL CROP PROSPECTS

INFLUENCE OF THE SEVERE' WINTER IN EUROPE. ... The cold wave which set in during January throughout Europe,' bringing tho temperature down to exceptionally low levels in mauy places, has done damage to autumn sown crops and has considerably interfered with field work in that month. This is tho chief feature in tho reports published in the February number of tho "Bulletin of Agricultural and Commercial Statis-' tics of the International Institute of Agriculture."

In Franco ploughing and sowing wore' perforce stopped, and nothing but' carting of fertilisers was accelerated By tlie abnormal temperature., In that country a noticeable decline' in tlie: area placed under cereals during the i autumn of 1916 is. reported. The wheat area on January 1, 1917, was only 4.277 thousands of hectares, or 85 per cent.; of that sown at the same date in 1916; i tlio area under , ryo was 828 thousands of hectares (90 per-cent.), and that under oats was 651 thousands (95 per, cent.). The only ir.cfoaso is'in. the area under barley, amounting, to 10 : per cent, over that of 1916; this year'sreturn is for 109 thousand hectares. • Tho condition of autumn , sown crops 1 on January 1, 1917, was lower than that of the same dato last year, for wheat, barley and oats, while for rye it was practically similar. In Great P.ritaiu and Ireland heavy snowfalls' icy winds nrevailcd during the greater part of tlie month, and caused much, retardation, in field ivorkV Still the crops that are above ground look well in places where the'snow.-is no£ ; lying, but aro not sufficiently advanced for the time- of year.- : ." '■'"': - In Italy the weather.' was almost as ■inclement as in the other two countries mentioned. 'The. condition of crops is an average .one, but the pre- 7 narations for spring.: sowing in North! Italy have been iiii-ugurated only in a , few P Provinces. In tho peninsula plentiful rains h.ayo beeu generally favourable to these preparations, • ~ In British India, the sowing season for wheat lias been favourable'on the whole, iii spito of too much rain iu certain provinces, which, however, do not account for more than 25 per cent, of tho whole area under this crop. On the other hand tho important. ricegrowing regions of Bengal, Bihar and Onssa (where about one-half the yield of British India is produced as a rule); have suffered from heavy rains and ; floods, causing injury which cannot bo' disregarded. In Japan, the sowing of', wheat and barley has been slightly re- i tnrded by rains. .-.," j Passing to tho countries of the; southern hemisphere, where the cereal I harvest of 1916-17 is now completed,' it may bo noted that Australia has! 'modified previous estimates and now,' publishes tho following figures :—■ ' Wheat, 39.048 thousands of quintals,' or 100 per cent. of.the crop of 1915-16; rye, 34 thousands of quintals; barley, 912 thousands of quintals; oats, 3.012 thousands; maize,.2.159 thousands of quintals. Tho result is that tho crops for 1916-17 of the two principal countries in the southern homisphoro (Ar-' geiitina and Australia) reach only GO.lll thousands of quintals of wheat as compared with 85.907 thousands in 1915-16, or 70 por cont. of tho last-' v mentioned yield, By comparison with' the average yield of tho • five tears: 1909-10 to 1913-14, this year's crop is only 92 per cent. There areTio great changes observable in the results of tho harvest of 1916 in the northern, hemisphere.' As regards tho potato crops, the 1 bulletin of tho ..Rome Institute, sow under- roviow-, -sums -up : tho' yields of France, Great Britain' and Italy, the Netherlands, Canada, the , ,IJjiited l .S.tatcs^i ( nd.Jap.qiO'ith a total ■of*-286.634-' -thousands— -of''-.quintals, against 331.701 in 1915, and 364.578 the average of 1909 to. 1913, representing respectively' 86 anct 79 per. cent, of these two figures.' This is an unsatisfactory crop, especially considering that tho cereal harvests havo been, by no means brilliant, and that potatoes are. consequently more in request than normally. Tho agricultural portion of the bulletin also includes estimates of the number of farm animals in some countries. In. Great Britain and botweon June, 19io, and a twelvemonth later, tho number of horses increased 6 per cent., that of cattle and sheep 2 per cent., while pigs decreased 5 per cent. In the United States on' January 1, 1917, only cattle and muleswere inoro numerous than on January 1, 1916, while horses, sheep, and pigs were very much on a par at tho two dates. : •