The evening times. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1895-1902, 1901-05-22
OATS AND BARLEY IN RUSSIA
The Average Yield Per Acre in 10th
Grains show an Increase

4iittlt tt Agriculture ne Cdla from
which the article has been compiled was
obtained from successive publications Of
the Central Statistical Committee OF the
Russian Ministry of the Interior The ar
tiCle says
In the last three of its annual reports
the committee has published returns for
y provinces, namely, the 50 provinces Of
ssEUropean Russia proper. the 10 of Rus
sian Poland, and each in Northern eau
Casia, Siberia, and Central Asia. On the
other hand the data furnished by the
committee for the first five years GSS3-
$3.50 were for only the SO provinces first
named, and it Is by a gradual process
that the other % provinces covered by the
most recent of the committees reports
have been brought within the field of its
statistical enquiries. As there is still a
large part Of AsiatiC Russia for which no
returns are published, further additions
TO the number of provinces covered by the
official reports will no doubt be made in
The future, especially as some of the scan
tily peoDIed areas now omitted gain in
creased agricultural Importance through
the influx of settlers from the more pop
ulOus portions of the Empire
Owing to the facts just set forth it is
only for European Russia proper that
comparisons can be made between the
earlier and the later years. In that di-
vision the average area under oats for the
FIVE years from 1888 to 1885, inclusive, was
stated in the 'Annuaire Statistique de IA
Russie' for 1890 at 81, So, S24 acres. The
average area for the five years 1853 was
35,504,444 acres, an increase of 81, go acres,
or not quite Is per cent If, instead of
the five years 1859. the seven years
Is94-1900 be taken, the annual average is
1856, 422 acres This gives an increase of
5I2.59S acres, or somewhat less than Is per
cent, as compared with the average for
1SS3-S7. 1t may, therefore. be said that
the area under oats shows no very mate
rial change as between the five years
1SS3-S7 and the five years 1858, or the
seven years 1S94-190o.
with barley the case is widely differ
ent- The average area under that grain
in European Russia proper for the five
years 1SS3-T is stated in the Annuafre
already mentioned at r. AL. 567 acres The
average area for the five years 1859 was
16.9SI,503 acres. and that for the seven
years 1S9i-1900 was I6,S97. OPS acres If the
average area for 1sS3-S7 be compared with
the average for 1858 the increase is 365
per cent If it be compared with the av-
erage for the seven years 1S9f-1960. the in
crease is 35-S per cent.
For the interval between 1887 and 1885,.
statistics on area are wanting
In average yield per acre, both grains
show an increase. Of oats. the average
was 15-2 bushels for 1Ss3-s7. and Il bush
els for 1859, the difference being Is
bushels per acre, or lis per cent Of bar
ley, the average was 10.S bushels for the
earlier, and 12-7 bushels for the later of
the two fve-year periods, the difference
being 10 bushels per acre. or I7-6 per cent
It VIII. perhaps. be remembered that
wheat and rye also showed an increase in
average yield.
The smallest of the eighteen oats
crops covered by the table was that of
lSs5, which amounted to 389. So Win
chester bushels, while the largest was
that of 1883, which amounted to 76f. 1870. 90
Winchester bushels in the same division
Of the Empire TO which the earlier fig
ures relate. namely. European Russia
proper The crop of 1885 is the only one
that fell below 100000 900 Winchester bush
els, and that Of 1899 is the only one that
rose above 100000 600 of such bushels in
the division named. In only five of the
eighteen years QS3-I900) did the oats
crop Of that division fall below 500 0C0 600
bushels.
The barley crop of 1885, like the oats
crop of the same year. was the smallest
OF the whole period, amounting to only
IVJ,i65. 545 winchester bushels The largest
vas mat OF 1893, which is set down at
Z95,566.4 As bushels Of the same kind In
twelve Of the eighteen years the CROP fell
DeloW ZtJ,CJO.0JJ Winchester bushels ris-
ing above that figure in the other six
years In each of these cases the figures
are, Of course, for European Russia prom
CT, the only division for which conlpari-
year period.
1t may. be well to remind the reader
that for the last six years QSg5-I900l the
RUSSIAN official statements of the C41sr-
titieS produced have been made only in
units of weight, and that the quantities
Tor those years, as stated in Winchester
puSheis' are only approximate equivalents
ioT me russian figures. The reason for
TINS IS, that the official figures as TO the
average number Of pools to the chetvert
by means OF which pools are reduced first
to chetverts and then to Winchester bush
els, must be regarded only as APPROX
mateiy exact. The statements in bushels
OF weight for these six years may, on the
oIEef ndnd, De regarded as practically
exact equivalents of the Russian state
ments in pools.
In comparing the two kinds Of bush
els, it viii be noticed in the case OF oats
that the number Of bushels Of weight is
IN every instance greater than the num-
Der OF Winchester bushels, the actual
weight Of the Winchester busheI of this
grain being considerably in excess Of 81
pounds in each Of the grand divisions Of
Russia The averages for the several di-
VISIONS as ofnCIaliy stated range from
81 10 % pools to the chetvert, or from
5i.J to 20 pounds to the Winchester bush
el- The lower of these averages is that
Of the fifty provinces of European Russia I
in five out of the seven years for which
statistics on the average weight of the
ChetTeTt are included in the official re
ports II also occurs in two years as the
average for Poland, and in one year as
the average for Central Asia
The higher average, on the other hand. /
occurs only once, namely, as the average
for Central Asia in 1899 The average for /
the whole of Russia and for the whole /
period covered by the figures on this sub
JeCt is therefore, much nearer 10 the I
lower limit (34.5 pounds TO the bushvD /
than to the higher go pounds to the {
busheD. In fact, it is not quite 3f2z pounds F.
to the busheL On this basis the busheI (
OF 3 pounds is about 81 per cent of a /
measured Winchester busheI-
In the case Of barley. il viii be seen /
that the number Of Winchester bushels is (
sometimes greater and sometimes less /
than the number Of bushels Of 43 pounds. /
In European Russia proper and Central /
Asia Il IS usually greater. and in Siberia |
II IS greater in every year for which there 1
is q return for that division. In Poland /
the average weight Of the bushcI there
being more than IS pounds The average [
weights for this grain range from SIS 70 /
35 pools per chetyert. or 41-2 to 56.4 .
pounds per bushel. The lower is the aver
age for 1855 in Central Asia, the higher /
being the average for 1888 in Northern
C ucasus- The general average for the /
whole period is about Al pounds"
INSOLVENT BANK DIVIDENDS.