The yield per acre for the Province is an average one, although less than that of the preceding year by 1.8 bushels. This, with the decrease in the area, makes the falling off in the total yield 708,771 bushels compared with 1897. The figures given for yield, however, are more or less conventional, as much of the rye raised in the Province is grown for green feed.

PEAS.

According to the August reports the yield of peas varied greatly, even in the same county or township. The crop got a good start, but the continued drouth checked the growth, and caused the vines to ripen too early. The frost of July 10th also did considerable injury to this crop. The straw though short was bright, and will make good fodder. The "bug" was frequently complained of in the Lake Erie district, but further east it did not appear to give mach trouble. The yield per acre for the Province fell short of the average, and ran all the way from ten to thirty bushels to the acre.

The November returns were not favorable concerning peas, as will be seen from the following summary given in the bulletin: "This appears to have been the most unfortunate of the grain crops. The drouth of the early part of the summer, and a frost about the 10th of July, told upon the growth, and the 'bug' made its appearance in nearly every section of the Province. Some of those reporting are inclined to take a discouraging view of the outlook for pea growing owing to this pest. A few correspondents speak of a good crop, but many report the opposite. The crop continued to drop in yield, so that the final statement gives 13,521,263 bushels, somewhat under the previous year, and 15.6 bushels per acre, as compared with 19.6 bushels per acre, the average for the period." The acreage and yield, by county groups and for the Province, are given in the following table:

The Province.....

865,951 13,521,263 15.6 896, 735 13,867,093 15.5 728,256, 14,248,380 19.6

The acreage of peas is less than in 1897, and the total yield also falls below the figures for that year. The average yield per acre is only 15.6 bushels, being but .1 bushel above the low yield of the preceding year, and exactly four bushels less than the average for the seventeen years. Not a single group in 1898 reached the average yield per acre of the Province for the seventeen years, while the East Midland group had only 13.4 bushels per acre. The Lake Ontario counties have the largest area in peas.

REMARKS OF CORRESPONDENTS.

(FROM THE AUGUST RETURNS.)

Colchester N., Essex: I have heard of some fall wheat having been threshed, weighing from 62 to 64 lbs. per bushel.

Gosfield N., Essex: Peas are a fine crop where grown. The farmers just turn their hogs in to fatten on them, and do not harvest the crop.

Malden, Essex: Peas are not a success on account of the bugs, which are very bad.

Mersea, Essex: Many are cutting the oats before ripening on account of the grasshoppers, which are literally swarming by the millions.

Harwich, Kent: There is more barley grown than for years. Farmers are growing it to grind for hogs instead of peas, as the bugs are so bad in the latter.

Orford, Kent: Wheat has been a splendid crop. It is a first-class sample, and has been harvested in first-class order.

acre.

Raleigh, Kent: We know of one field of Dawson's Golden Chaff which threshed out 46 bushels per

Yarmouth, Elgin: The date of harvesting oats here, was from the 22nd to 30th of July. It was never known to be earlier in this township.

Townsend, Norfolk: There was no rain from July 1st to the 26th, when we had a good heavy shower. Crops are about all secured.

Thorold, Welland: The midge has again appeared, but not to a great extent.

Bertie, Welland: Some fields of fall wheat have been threshed, yielding 40 bushels to the acre.

Bosanquet, Lambton: The bug is the main drawback to raising peas here. Farmers are sowing them late, which avoids injury from this insect to a certain extent.

Sarnia, Lambton: We have had but one shower in about a month. Hay and fall wheat were saved in prime condition. A good deal of the wheat has been already threshed, and I hear of some testing from 62 to 65 lbs. to the bushel.

Goderich, Huron : Grain of all kinds is really the brightest and cleanest we have had for a number of years. There is scarcely any rust to be seen, and we shall have clean threshing this year.

Howick, Huron: I have never seen the oat crop freer from rust. The straw is clean and bright. Peas were much injured by frost on July 10th.

Tuckersmith, Huron: Crops are very irregular, which will apply to all kinds of grain crops this year. Amabel, Bruce: Fall wheat is the best crop in twenty years, with few exceptions in places where it has been winter-kuled. Early sown oats as a rule are a heavy and well filled crop, while late sown are dried and shrivelled up.

Greenock, Bruce: The pea weevil seems not so bad as last year. Pods are plentiful, but short and not well filled.

Kinloss, Bruce: Late sown wheat was very thin and a partial failure. Early sown was splendid. Bentinck, Grey: Oats promised to be an enormous crop before the drouth set in, but while straw is abundant, the grain is very light.

Bentinck, Grey: The fall wheat crop was perhaps, the best ever harvested in this part of the Province, and it has been housed in the best condition. Many fields will average fully forty bushels an acre, but a portion of the crop was sown on land not suitably prepared, on which the yield was not large, which brings the general average much lower than it should be.

:

Glenelg, Grey Oats ripened too quickly on account of drouth and heat. The grain will probably be light in weight, and late oats short in straw. It is difficult to estimate returns.

Sullivan, Grey. The drouth has hastened maturing. The crop will not be so heavy as appearance indicated three weeks ago.

Medonte, Simcoe : Some fields of peas have been completely killed by the drouth, and have not a filled pod in them.

Orillia, Simcoe: On some farms they will have forty bushels to the acre. I never saw fall wheat so good for years. The straw is yellow and the grain plump.

London, Middlesex: Grain ripened a little too quickly owing to drouth and heat. The berry is not so large as usual.

Westminster, Middlesex: The demand for hogs has stimulated the growing of peas, and it is far superior to corn for quality and earliness.

Blenheim, Oxford: Late peas are not worth cutting, and many fields are being plowed down or fed to

cattle.

Zorra W., Oxford: The best of the fall wheat lodged. The poorer had some rust. On the whole it is a fair crop, although the sample is not so good as last year.

Elma, Perth: Early sowing appears to insure the best and heaviest crops of fall wheat in this township.

Logan, Perth: Early peas suffered much from frost; on mucky land they were almost ruined. Garafraza, Wellington: A severe frost in the early part of July did serious damage on some farms Tender vegetables were totally destroyed, and in many cases barley, oats and peas were injured.

Mulmur, Dufferin : Drouth and frost have done more or less injury to grain crops on some farms. Clinton, Lincoln: The midge has hurt the fall wheat quite a bit. Oats ripened too fast on account of the dry weather.

Barton, Wentworth: A great many grass peas were grown this year.

Esquesing, Halton: The pea crop never looked better up to the time of blossoming. Since then heat and drouth caused them to ripen too soon, and the grain is small.

Albion, Peel: Peas are very small, and a great many pods have nothing in them.

Markham, York: The harvest is nearly finished. It is the earliest and quickest on record. Peas are somewhat shrunken from premature ripening.

Vaughan, York: There are some good fields of peas and others are very poor. Some think the frost hurt them, but I think it was the heat. They bloomed well and then wilted.

Scott, Ontario: The best crop of fall wheat in twenty-five years. Threshing has been general since he 23rd of July.

Darlington, Durham: Large quantities of peas were injured last year for seed by sprouting. Not enough allowance was made for this in sowing, which caused a thin crop in many places.

up.

Athol, Prince Edward: Some early varieties of peas are good, but late ones are very poor, having dried

Crosby N., Leeds: All the grain crops are the best for a number of years, except peas, which will be only a fair yield.

Osgoode, Carleton: Owing to the rise in the price of wheat there has been double the quantity sown this year-spring wheat only being grown.

Fitzroy, Carleton: Grain crops in this township look execedingly well. They are well filled in head, and free from rust and blight.

Lanark, Lanark : Late sown wheat did not do very well, which brings down the average.

Monaghan N., Peterborough: Early peas are good, but late ones are small, having ripened too soon on account of the drouth.

Monmouth, Haliburton: Frosts on the 10th and 11th of July did much damage to the grain crops, and the hot, dry weather almost finished the rest.

Huntingdon, Hastings: I saw six acres of peas threshed. There was an abundance of straw, but only 25 bushels of grain.

Sidney, Hastings: Early sown spring wheat was a good crop, and looked splendid; late sown, however, is shrunk and will be almost useless for flour. The straw of both kinds is bright, and will be good for feed.

Monck, Muskoka: There was enough spring wheat to carry 20 bushels to the acre, but the crop was in many places hurt by the frost, and there will be only about two-thirds an average yield. Some will have a half yield of peas, while others are curing the crop for fodder or are feeding it green. Perry, Parry Sound: The frost on the 11th July and the dry hot on all grain crops, and it is impossible to give a fair estimate of yield. over two-thirds of an inch of rain fell here during the month of July.

weather is having a disastrous effect Rain is badly needed. Only a little

Lash, Rainy River District: On the 11th of July we suffered damage from a heavy hail storm which lasted fifteen minutes. It is the first we have met with here.

CORN.

The August bulletin had the following concerning corn: "This promises to be a fair crop in the Lake Erie counties, but in the other districts much injury has been done by the frost of the second week of July. The drouth has also told against the crop in every section of the Province. Several Middlesex correspondents refer to the large numbers of crows and black birds having attacked the young corn."

Corn was thus alluded to in the November bulletin : "In the more western counties of the Lake Erie group the crop was an excellent one, but from the remainder of the Province variable reports come, some describing the crop as being a good one, while neighboring correspondents report the yield and general condition as poor. Drouth and an attack of frost in July wrought considerable injury. The crop, however, turned out better than was expected earlier in the season."

The following table gives the acreage and yield of corn, by classes, for 1897 and 1898, and the total area for both years and for 1882-98 :

There has been a decrease in the acreage of corn both for husking and for the silo and fodder, especially in the case of the latter. The average yields per acre of both classes of corn is almost an average. Corn for husking has its greatest area and highest yield in the Lake Erie counties, while corn for the silo and fodder is most largely cultivated in the St. Lawrence and Ottawa group, where it also is credited with the best average yield.

FROM THE MAY RETURNS.

Malahide, Elgin: There were a few new silos built last year, and this winter's feeding has well satisfied the owners as to their utility. The cows especially have come through looking fine where they were fed on ensilage.

Stanley, Huron: There has been a considerable amount of corn used during the winter, and with good results. Several new silɔs were built last summer, and the likelihood is that some more will be built this

summer.

Downie, Perth: The use of ensilage and roots is becoming more universal every year. Nearly every one has a silo, or is preparing to build one.

Mara, Ontario: Several farmers here have silos which they fill in the autumn season with corn, which is the principal feed during winter.

Drummond, Lanark : Corn growing for cattle feeding is carried on by nearly every farmer in the township. Silos are gradually gaining in favor.

Eldon, Victoria: Farmers are giving more attention to cattle fattening and hog raising. We have a fine silo recently built in our township, and more are to be erected.

FROM THE AUGUST RETURNS.

Harwich, Kent: Grain harvest came on before farmers were through cultivating corn, and much of the corn had to be neglected and is weedy. Where well tilled it will be good.

Colborne, Huron: Frost on the 10th of July cut corn on low land badly. Drouth has since retarded it, so it will be late and short.

Bentinck, Grev: There was considerable damage by frost on July 11th, but it is now growing rapidly, and promises to be an average crop.

Elma, Perth: Frost on the 10th of July did serious injury to corn and other crops. The flow of milk will not reach the average for lack of corn fodder.

Hamilton, Northumberland: Corn started well, but the drouth seems to have spoiled it.

Denbigh, Lennox and Addington: Some corn was slightly injured and some fields were entirely killed by frost.

Storrington, Frontenac July frost hurt the corn in many places, and it is the poorest crop of the

season.

Leeds and Lansdowne, Leeds: It has been too dry for a first-class crop of corn. There has not been as much grown as last year.

Osgoode, Carleton: Grubs destroyed acres of corn, and a number of fields have been plowed up and sown with buckwheat.

Drummond, Lanark: Some complain of poor seed, and with good cause, as I had some of the dwindling stuff, to my sorrow.

Otonabee, Peterborough: Fodder corn is in poor condition except upon rich soil. On low land the leaves were frosted but they are reviving some, and will do all right if we had rain.

Monmouth, Haliburton: Corn is good where not injured by frost. The frost cut some of it to the

ground.

Brunel, Muskoka : Corn suffered severely from frost. I have lived in Brunel twenty-eight years, and this is the first season that frost took everything from me.

Campbell and Carnarvon, Algoma: Corn is grown by only two men in this neighborhood. One has enlarged his silo and has a good crop.

FROM THE NOVEMBER RETURNS.

Gosfield S., Essex: There is only one silo in the township that I am aware of.

Harwich, Kent: There are very few silos in this locality.

Raleigh, Kent: I know of only two silos in this district.

Yarmouth, Elgin: There are very few silos in this section.

Charlotteville, Norfolk: I know of only one silo hereabouts.

Walsingham S., Norfolk: Ensilage is getting into the background.

Windham, Norfolk: Ensilage is not much in favor around here, although those who have built silos appear to be satisfied with them.

Sherbrooke, Haldimand: Ensilage corn is raised for summer feeding, and dried for winter feeding to some extent, but we have no silos yet.

Moulton, Haldimand: Silos have not come into favor, especially as hay has been so good and cheap. Walpole, Haldimand: Three new silos went up in the neighborhood this summer.

Bosanquet, Lambton: There are a few silos in tais township.

Warwick, Lambton: Silos are not thought much of here.

Ashfield, Huron : Ensilage is known in practice in this township.

Colborne, Huron; There have been several silos built this year, and the corn was good.

Grey, Huron Silos are scarce in this part of the county. The one nearest me is empty.

Morris, Huron : There is not a silo on this side of the township that I know of.

Stephen, Huron : The practice of ensilage has not been adopted.

Wawanosh W., Huron: There have been three new silos erected this fall. Corn is the only crop grown for the silo.

Arran, Bruce: Every season farmers are putting up some silos.

Brant, Bruce: The silo has come to stay.

Bruce, Bruce: Ensilage has been adopted more than usual this year.

Greenock, Bruce: Farmers are very chary about building silos. They do not seem to be satisfied with experiments.

Kinloss, Bruce, Ensilage has been adopted here to quite an extent this season.

Bentinck, Grey: There are no silos in this locality.

Sydenham, Grey: There are not many silos here.

Innisfil, Simcoe: There is only one silo in the township.

Medonte, Simcoe: Ensilage is being more generally used.

Vespra, Simcoe: Ensilage is being adopted very slowly here, but will eventually become almost the main dependence for cattle feed.