INSTITUTE OF AGRICULTURE

New Zealand Times, Volume XXXIX, Issue 8784, 14 July 1914, Page 8

INSTITUTE OF AGRICULTURE

The May number of the “Bulletin of Agricultural and Commercial Statistics” of the International Institute of Agriculture, issued in Romo, publishes in the first table, the data for the production of beet sugar in the current season in the chief European countries and in the United States, The quantity of beet sugar, expressed as raw sugar, produced up to the end of March, 1914, in the following countries : Germany, Austria, Hungary, Belgium, Prance, Netherlands, Roumania, Russia, Switzerland, Denmark, Italy, United States (for the last throe countries the figures in the table refer to the total production of the season! is 83,072,825 quintals against 84,. 383,361 produced in the corresponding period of last season, or ’qua] to 98.4 per cent. Tho “Bulletin” then gives information concerning sericulture, the general conditions of which are good in Austria, Hungary, France, Italy and Rouinnnia. Tho quantity of eggs placed, for the spring rearing in Japan is estimated at 502,000 hectogrammes against 494,259 hectogrammes last year, and tlie condition of the silkworms' is average. The cereal crops, the areas of which are also indicated in tho “Bulletin,” are progressing under favourable conditions generally in the greater number of the European countries, and in tshe United States. Special reference is made to the good •:ondition of tho crops prevailing in Russia and Roumania, whilst damage caused by drought are reported in Italy, Algeria, Tunis, and Egypt. Tho Crop Reporting Board of ■Washington, basing its calculations upon the condition of winter wheat on May Ist, estimates the production in the United States at 171,460,800 quintals against 142,491,362 quintals in 1913. The vines and olive trees have passed through tho winter without damage in almost all the countries, and their condition is good in Austria, France, Algeria and Tunis, and fairly good in Hungary and Switzerland, Tho development of the" Tax, sugar, beet, and potato crops is, however, generally not so favourable, on account •if damage caused by drought and frosts.

The “Bulletin” gives next the final results of the cereal production in 1913 in Denmark, Netherlands and Russia, and of the production of cocoons in Japan, and at tho end of the agricultural part of the “Bulletin” are given the most recent live-stock statistics for Great Britain and Ireland, India and Argentine. In tho commercial xiart the "Bulletin” gives the usual tables of imports and exports of cereals, linseed and cotton, «f visible supplies and prices of these products on the principal markets of the world.