[united
AGRICULTURE These show differences amounting to 2,058,046 acres for wheat, 863,049 acres for barley, and 529,699 acres for oats. The acreage of wheat, therefore, has fluctuated the most, and that of oats the least. Going back to 1869, it is found that the extent of wheat in that year was 3,981,989 acres, or very little short of four million acres. The acreage of rye grown in the United Kingdom as a grain crop is small, the respective maximum and minimum areas during the period 1875-1900 having been 102,676 acres in 1894 and 47,937 acres in 1880. Eye is perhaps more largely grown as a green crop to be fed off by sheep, or cut green for soiling, in the spring months. Of corn crops other than cereals, beans and peas are both less cultivated than formerly. In the period 1875-1900 the area of beans in the United Kingdom fluctuated between 574,414 acres in 1875 and 230,429 acres in 1897, and that of peas between 318,410 acres in 1875 and 163,325 acres in 1899. The area of peas has thus shrunk nearly onehalf, and that of beans more than one-half. Taking cereals and pulse corn together, the aggregate areas of wheat, barley, oats, rye, beans, and peas in the United Kingdom have varied as follows over the five quinquennial intervals embraced in the period 1875-1900 :— Year. Acres. I Year. Acres. 1875 . . 11,399,030 i 1890 . . 9,574,249 1880 . . 10,672,086 J 1895 . . 8,865,338 1885 . . 10,014,625 | 1900 . . 8,707,602 Disregarding minor fluctuations, there has thus been a loss of corn land over the quarter-century of 2,691,639 acres, or nearly 24 per cent. The area that has been withdrawn from corn growing is not to be found under the head of what are termed “ green crops.” In 1900 the total area of these crops in the United Kingdom was 4,301,774 acres, made up thus Crop. Acres. Potatoes ...... 1,227,569 Turnips and swedes .... 1,994,421 Mangel ...... 484,050 Cabbage, kohl-rabi, and rape . . . 242,967 Vetches or tares ..... 181,679 Other green crops ..... 171,088 The extreme aggregate areas of these crops during the quarter-century were 5,057,029 acres in 1875 and 4,261,441 acres in 1898. At five-year intervals the areas have been:— Acres. Year. Acres. | Year. 4,534,145 5,057,029 | 1890 1875 4,399,949 4,746,293 I 1895 1880 4,301,774 1885 4,765,195 i 1900 These crops, therefore, which, except potatoes, are used mainly for stock-feeding, have like the corn crops been grown on gradually diminishing areas. The land that has been lost to the plough is found to be still further augmented when an inquiry is instituted into the area devoted to clover, sainfoin, and grasses under rotation. In the period 1875-1900 this area has fluctuated between 6,557,748 acres in 1878 and 5,862,754 acres in 1894, whilst the areas at five-year intervals are given in Table IV. Under the old Norfolk or four-course rotation (roots, barley, clover, wheat) land thus seeded with clover or grass seeds was intended to be ploughed up at the end of a year. Labour difficulties, low prices of produce, bad seasons, and similar causes provided inducements for leaving the land in grass for two years, or over three years or more, before breaking it up for wheat. In many cases it would be decided to let such land remain under grass indefinitely, and thus it would no longer be enumerated in the Agricultural Returns as temporary grass land, but would pass into the category of permanent grass land, or what is often spoken of as “ permanent pasture.” Whilst much grass land has been laid down with the intention
from the outset that it should be permanent, at the same time some considerable areas have through stress of circumstances been allowed to drift from the temporary or rotation grass area to the permanent list, and have thus still further diminished the area formerly under the dominion of the plough. The column relating to permanent grass in Table IV. shows clearly enough how the British Isles have Table IV.—Areas of Grass Land (excluding Heath and Mountain Land) in the United Kingdom—Acres. Temporary (t.e. | ^oUbroken up’5 Year. I under rotation). j V notation). 1875 1880 1885 1890 1895 1900
6,337,953 6,389,232 6,738,206 6,097,210 6,061,139 6,024,317
23,772,602 24,717,092 25,616,071 27,115,425 27,831,117 28,261,529
Total. 30,110,555 31,106,324 32,354,277 33,212,635 33,892,256 34,285,846
for the last quarter-century been becoming more pastoral, whilst figures previously quoted demonstrate the extent to which they have become less arable. In the period 18751900 the extreme areas returned as “permanent pasture” —a term which, it should be clearly understood, does not include heath or mountain land, of which there are in Great Britain alone about thirteen million acres used for grazing—were 23,772,602 acres in 1875, and 28,261,529 acres in 1900, whilst the totals at five-year intervals are stated in Table IV. Comparing 1900 with 1875 the increase in permanent grass land is found to amount to close upon 44 million acres, or about 19 per cent. On account of the greater humidity and mildness of its climate Ireland is more essentially a pastoral country than Great Britain. The distribution between the two islands of such important crops of arable land as cereals and potatoes is indicated in Table V. The figures are those Table V.—Areas of Cereal and Potato Crops in Great Britain and Ireland in 1900. Barley. Wheat. Acres. i Per Cent. Acres. ! Per Cent. 1,990,265 j 92 1,845,042 I 97-2 Great Britain 174,006 1 8 53,797 I 2-8 Ireland . Total. Great Britain Ireland . Total.
1,898,839 i 100-0 Oats. 73-3 3,026,088 1,104,848 26-7
2,164,271 | 100 561,361 654,413
46 54
4,130,936
1,215,774
100
100-0
for 1900, but, though the absolute acreages vary somewhat from year to year, there is not much variation in the percentages. The comparative insignificance of Ireland in the case of the wheat and barley crops, represented by 2-8 and 8 per cent, respectively, receives some compensation when oats and potatoes are considered, fully one-fourth of the area of the former and more than half that of the latter being claimed by Ireland. It is noteworthy, however, that Ireland is year by year placing less reliance upon the potato crop. In 1888 the area of potatoes in Ireland was 804,566 acres, but it coptinuously contracted each year, until in 1900 it did not exceed 654,413 acres, or 150,153 acres less than twelve years previously. A similar comparison for the several sections ox Great Britain, as instituted in Table VI., shows that to England belongs about 95 per cent, of the wheat area, over 80 per cent, of the barley area, over 60 per cent, of the oats area, and 70 per cent, of the potato area, and these proportions do not vary much from year to year. The figures for
