Caradoc, Middlesex : Ensilage has not been grown in this township to any extent. Ekfrid, Middlesex: There are very few silos in this locality. Williams E., Middlesex: The silo is steadily coming into favor. Brantford, Oxford: Ensilage is not increasing much. There is more corn in the shock than in any other form. Oxford E., Oxford: There are a number of silos in this township. Zorra E., Oxford: No new silos have been put in this season in this locality. Zorra W., Oxford: Several new silos have been built this season. Dumfries S., Brant: A few silos have been built this year. Garafraxa W., Wellington: Ensilage is not common, very few having a silo. Waterloo, Waterloo : There are only a few silos in this section, but those who have them speak well of them. Woolwich, Waterloo: Ensilage has not been adopted to any great extent; only one new silo has been built this season. Grantham, Lincoln; There are but few silos in this township. Nassagaweya, Halton: Silos have not been adopted to any great extent. Etobicoke, York: Nearly every farm has a silo. Scarborough, York: A number of silos have been put up and filled with corn. Vaughan, York: There are hardly any silos in this township. York, York: Nearly all large farms have adopted the ensilage system. Scugog, Ontario: There is only one silo in the township. Cartwright, Durham : Several new silos have been built. Clarke, Durham: The silo has not made very much progress here. Haldimand, Northumberland: Every year adds to the number of silos. Hamilton, Northumberland: Every year sees a few silos built, although they cannot be said to be general. Percy, Northumberland: A number of farmers here have silos. Athol, Prince Edward: A few silos have been built. Hallowell, Prince Edward: Silos seem to have lost their grip here. Marysburg N., Prince Edward: There is only one silo in this township. Marysburg S., Prince Edward: Ensilage has not been adopted this year as much as in former years. Richmond, Lennox: The practice of ensilage is waning. There is a marked falling off in the amount of corn grown. Pittsburg, Frontenac: Very little corn is prepared in the way of ensilage. Storrington, Frontenac: All the best farmers here have silos. Bastard, Leeds: About one-tenth of the farmers here have silos. Crosby N., Leeds: A few have built silos, and like them. Elizabethtown, Leeds: Ensilage has been considerably adopted. Williamsburg, Dundas: The practice of ensilage is coming more into vogue. Matilda, Dundas: A number of farmers have built stave silos. Kenyon, Glengarry: Silos are very much used. Caledonia, Prescott: Corn is grown in large quantities, but only a small quantity for the silo. Hawkesbury W., Prescott: Ensilage is used to a great extent. The crop generally grown is corn, planted in drills three feet apart, cut when nearly ripe and cut up immediately, and deposited in the silo." Cumberland, Russell: There are a few silos in this neighborhood. Corn has not been as good a crop as it was last year. Gower N., Carleton: I know of no new silos having been erected this year. Horton, Renfrew: A good many silos have been built this year and a large area of corn sown. McNab, Renfrew: There are very few silos in this township. Bathurst, Lanark : Silos are growing in favor in this section. Dalhousie, Lanark : There are only two silos in the township, and ensilage corn has been good. Drummond, Lanark: Silos are being built every year. Corn is the only crop used. Almost every known variety is used. Eldon, Victoria: I know of no silo in this township. Laxton, Victoria: One silo has been erected in this township. Verulam, Victoria: There are a few silos. Corn is the only crop grown for ensilage, and it was fair. Harvey, Peterborough: No corn is grown for the silo here. The farmers raise fodder corn, however, and dry it in the stook. Otonabee, Peterborough: There is only one silo in this township. Monmouth, Haliburton. Some ensilage corn has been grown here, and it has done well, but there is not a silo in the township. Huntingdon, Hastings: Several silos have been built, but corn has not been abundant this year. Thurlow, Hastings: Silos are not generally used. People are not planting western corn for cow feed as much as they used to do. They can get more milk by feeding common hill corn. Medora and Wood, Muskoka: There is only one silo in this locality to my knowledge. Corn put in sheds seems to be preferred. Thessalon, Algoma : There is only one silo in the township. BUCKWHEAT. This crop does not seem to be a general one, and correspondents had not much to say regarding it. The November bulletin said that buckwheat was badly affected by drouth at the time of blossoming, and frost also did considerable injury. The consequence was that the crop was a comparatively poor one, although some correspondents reported a good yield. The following table gives the acreage and yield by county groups and for the Province : There has been a slight falling off in the total acreage, but the small average yield per acre has brought the total yield for the Province down to 2,373,645 bushels compared with 3,464,186 in 1897. Not one district in 1898 equalled the average yield of the Province for the seventeen years. Over one half of the buckwheat raised in Ontario is grown in the Lake Ontario and the St. Lawrence and Ottawa districts. BEANS. Judging by the remarks of correspondents, beans do not appear to be increasing in popularity as a field crop. The August bulletin said that the crop was more or less affected by drouth and frost, but despite these drawbacks it would be a little above the average for yield. 66 The November bulletin had the following to say: Correspondents are far from unanimous regarding this crop. However, it appears to have turned out best in the Lake Erie counties, where the bulk of the crop is grown. Frost and drouth were the chief drawbacks." The acreage and yield of beans are given in the following table by county groups and for the Province : The average yield per acre is 16.8 bushels, which is 2.6 bushels less than that of the preceding year, and .6 bushel below the average of the seventeen years. There is also a decrease in the total acreage of beans, the result being that the total yield for the Province is 759,657 bushels, or 221,683 bushels less than in 1897. The Lake Erie group grows about three-fourths of the beans of the Province. FIELD ROOTS. The following opinion was expressed in the August bulletin regarding roots: "The large majority of reports as to the root crops are encouraging, the only drawback being the excessive and long-continued drouth which has retarded development in many localities. With a due amount of moisture during the remainder of the season there will be a good yield, but otherwise the crop will be a light one. Little injury has been done by insects, except that two or three correspondents refer to the ravages of grasshoppers in Muskoka and Manitoulin." POTATOES. The August bulletin contained the following: "The potato crop will be considerably below the average in most localities owing to the late frosts in June and July, which were very destructive in the Northern Districts and some low-lying lands elsewhere, and the more recent drouth, the effects of which have been generally felt throughout the Province. A good yield is anticipated in the St. Lawrence counties, where the conditions have been more favorable, and timely rains may bring some improvement in the case of late-planted crops. The ravages of the beetle are noted by some correspondents as an additional cause of the shortage, and blight has appeared in a few sections." "The potato crop Potatoes were thus referred to in the November bulletin: is light throughout the Province, owing to the effects of the late frosts and the protracted drouth. Early potatoes suffered most severely, being a complete failure in many instances. The quality of the crop secured is almost uniformly good, and but few cases of rot are reported; neither do the ravages of the potato bug appear to have been so destructive as formerly. The yield was nearly all out of the ground as correspondents wrote, except in a few localities where delay has been occasioned by wet weather." Per acre. The following table gives the acreage and yield of potatoes by county groups and for the Province: The Province 17,664 1,660,236 94 17,840 1,189,427| 67 16,631 1,655,854 100 12,873 1,437,265 112 14,397 1,782,944 124 27,861 3,243,762 116 33,586 13,851 1,141,532| 82 3,640,868 108 38,192 4,609,737| 121 12,361 1,450,596 117 3,683 527,608 143 169,946 14,358,625 84 169,333 16,100,797] 95 159,584 18,348,634 115 The acreage of potatoes is slightly larger than in the preceding year, but the total yield is only 14,358,625 bushels, or 1,742,172 bushels less than in 1897, and 3,990,009 less than average for the seventeen years. This is owing to the very poor average yield, which is but 84 bushels an acre, compared with 95 bushels in the preceding year and 115 bushels for 1882-98. The St. Lawrence and Ottawa group has resumed its place in the lead in the matter of acreage. MANGEL WURZELS. The following appeared in the November bulletin: "This has probably been the most successful of any of the root crops during the past decidedly unfavorable season, yielding well in most parts of the Province. Several correspondents point out that mangels have stood the continued drouth better than turnips, though the size, of course, is smaller and the plant more rooty than would have been the case with a more even distribution of moisture. Very little of the crop remains to be taken up." The acreage and yield of mangels is given in the following table by county groups and for the Province : Every group except the Northern Districts shows an increased area given to mangels compared with the previous year's figures. The yield per acre is 458 bushels, being 18 bushels more than in 1897 and 15 bushels above the average for the seventeen years. The total yield is 21,957,564 bushels, which is 3,854,177 more than in the preceding year. The West Midland counties have the largest acreage in mangels. CARROTS. Correspondents for the November crop report had not a great deal to say regarding carrots. Their remarks were thus summarized: "Where grown, carrots have, as a rule, done well, especially in the west, though affected like other root crops by the dry weather. The yield has been got under cover in good condition in nearly all localities." The table following gives the acreage and yield of carrots by county groups and for the Province: The number of acres of carrots grown in the Province has been increased by 393, but the acreage is still very small compared with that of the other field crops. The yield per acre for 1898 is 347 bushels, which is 22 bushels less than in the previous year and 6 bushels below the average for the seventeen years. The crop appears to be increasing in popularity in the St. Lawrence and Ottawa district, and the reverse in the West Mid land group. TURNIPS. The November bulletin said: "There has been a fair average yield of turnips, the crop thriving better as a rule in the western rather than the eastern districts. Many correspondents note the ravages of the green aphis, which seems to be especially destructive to the Swede turnip, though the drouth was the principal drawback. The recent wet weather has caused rot in some neighbourhoods. The crop has been secured except in a few places." The acreage and yield of turnips, by county groups and by the Province, is given in the following table: |