The Pamphlet Collection of Sir Robert Stout: Volume 29
The Crops of the World
The Crops of the World.
The
New Zealand Times publishes the following recent statistics of the yield per statute acre of the chief agricultural products in various parts of the world. It will be seen that New Zealand stands very nearly at the top of the tree as regards foreign countries, and quite so as regards other British Colonies:—Colonies. | Years. | Wheat. | Barley. | Oats. | Potatoes. |
---|---|---|---|---|---|
Bushels. | Bushels | Bushels. | Tons. | ||
New South Wales | 1874-75 | 12.9 | 17.3 | 16.3 | 2.8 |
New South Wales | 1875-76 | 14.7 | 20.5 | 18.7 | 3.0 |
Victoria | 1874-75 | 14.6 | 21.0 | 18.5 | 3.5 |
Victoria | 1875-76 | 15.5 | 22.2 | 21.9 | 3.1 |
South Australia | 1874-75 | 11.7 | 15.2 | 14.7 | 3.7 |
South Australia | 1875-76 | 12.0 | 14.1 | 16.7 | 4.5 |
Western Australia | 1874-75 | 12.0 | 16.0 | 16.0 | 3.0 |
Tasmania | 1874-75 | 18.5 | 24.5 | 26.8 | 3.7 |
Tasmania | 1875-76 | 16.4 | 27.8 | 25.4 | 3.5 |
New Zealand | 1874-75 | 28.2 | 29.4 | 35.2 | 5.2 |
New Zealand | 1875-76 | 31.5 | 35.9 | 38.0 | 4.9 |
Thus we see that in point of productiveness the land of New Zealand is far ahead of that of the sister Colonies, and that Tasmania stands next upon the list.
Let us now compare these figures with the published statistics of the Colonies of Southern Africa, Cape of Good Hope, and Natal, the
only other British Colonies of importance in the Southern Hemisphere, and the result will still further prove our superiority :—
Colonies. | Years. | Wheat. | Barley. | Potatoes. |
---|---|---|---|---|
Bushels | Bushels. | Tons. | ||
Cape of Good Hope | 1865 | 6.9 | 8.9 | — |
Cape of Good Hope | 1875 | 8.9 | 15.4 | 1.36 |
Natal | 1874 | 12.6 | 8.0 | 0.75 |
Natal | 1875 | 10.8 | 13.2 | 2.2 |
Returns for Oats are not given.
We now come to the statistical returns for Europe and America, placing the returns for New Zealand underneath for easy reference.
Countries. | Years. | Wheat. | Barley. | Oats. | Potatoes. |
---|---|---|---|---|---|
Bushels. | Bushels | Bushels. | Tons. | ||
Russia | 1872 | 5.5 | 8.0 | 16.6 | 3.9 |
Sweden | 1874 | — | — | — | 4.1 |
Norway | 1870 | 22.1 | 30.3 | — | — |
Bavaria | 1863 | 16.3 | 20.1 | 22.5 | 3.4 |
Wurtemburg | 1875 | 18.1 | 21.2 | 29.3 | 1.9 |
Holland | 1874 | 28.4 | 41.9 | 44.4 | 4.1 |
Belgium | 1866 | 20.3 | 34.9 | 41.2 | — |
France | 1875 | 13.4 | 18.7 | 23.8 | 3.75 |
Portugal | 1865 | 8.9 | 11.1 | 18.6 | — |
Austria (Prussian) | 1875 | 12.5 | 13.5 | 16.2 | 3.6 |
Hungary | 1872 | 8.6 | 13.6 | 16.5 | 1.7 |
Greece | 1867 | 13.2 | 18.8 | 19.0 | — |
Egypt | 1871 | 15.4 | 20.2 | — | — |
United States | 1874 | 12.3 | 20.6 | 22.0 | 3.5 |
New Zealand | 1874-75 | 28.2 | 29.4 | 35.2 | 5.2 |
New Zealand | 1875-76 | 31.5 | 35.9 | 38.0 | 4.9 |
In the Dominion of Canada the average yield of four principal States for 1871 was 10.3 bushels of wheat and 4 tons of potatoes.