BRITAIN'S CROPS FAIL.

Hawera & Normanby Star, Volume LII, Issue 9210, 3 October 1906, Page 8

BRITAIN'S CROPS FAIL.

BLIGHT AND STORM WRECKS - POTATO AND HOP HARVEST. WHEAT YIELD. Two of Britain's crops this year ha^e failed. In Ireland so much <>f the potato harvest has been devastated by blight tint it is feared the Government will again havo to come to the aid of the people, if absolute destitution is not to prevail; and in the hop-producing counties of England I the shortage of the crop owing to the I blight amounts to 22,750 tons? Not only has the blight been responsive for the destruction rof Irebnd'a potato harvest, but tlijo recent torrential rain has caused disease to become prevalent throughout tlio western districts. The . other crops have suffered in a similar degree from storms, and thte late hay crop is lying almost rotten in the fields. In North Wales — notably in Anglesey and Carnarvonshire — scores of acres of potatoes nave been ruined by blight, and Etrenuous efforts aro being made to check the ravages of the potato disease in Sussex. Blight, however, has been detected I in now fields in the other potato-producing counties of the British Islej. RUINED HOPS. All the speakers at the East Kent Chamber of Agriculture were agreed that the blight of the pre<»ent season is the most severe experienced since 1882. Kent, it was stated, wouki. not yield j more than 6cwib per acre, and maaiy growers thought it would be less. Worcester and Herefordshire they set at 4cwt per acre, Sussex at scwt,c wt, and Farnham at , dewt per aojpe. That worked out at 155,000cwt, or a deficiency, compared with the consumption, of 455,000cwt. In Cambridgeshire-, Huntingdonshire a/nd Bedfordshire, where the recent storm*, wrought terrible havoc among the crops, 1 o j the estimated amount of £60,000, the far- j mers are face to face with Tuin, and it j is proposed to appeal for a Mews&oia. House fund to aid the'« sufferers. j There are, however, satisfactory reports from all the apple-growing districts in the \ United Kingdom. Not for, many years have -the prospects iof so large a harvest been as goood. Already, though somewhat early in the season, large quantities of apples, are arriving daily at Covent Garden in excellent condition. Pears, too, will be plentiful. This is mainly .accounted fior by the increasing number, of farmers who aie plao'ting land, which it does not pay to crop, with fruifc trees. „♦ GENERAL CROP PROSPECTS. Wheat and barley appear in each division of Great Britain to be over average, while oats are slightly oven? aveTage in aS. divisions with, the exception of the North of England and the East of Scotland Mangolds generally promise better than turnips. The hay crop is reported as deficient in the Eastern, No|th-Eastern, South-Eastern, 'and East Midland counties, while the yield in the West Midland and South- Western counties will barely reach an average. In tho North and NorthWestern counties, Wales and Scotland the crop is distinctly over average. • It is estimated this year fihat the wheat yield of the world will be the largest on record, and it t is expected that at least 360,000,000 quarter? will be harvested.