The Express.
London, England, 1867-01-01 00:00:00

AGRICULTURAL STATISTICS.

The returns of the Board of Trade relating to
the acreage of land under crops, bare fallow, and
grass, in the United Kingdom, in the year 1866,
taken in conjunction with the census of live stock
published in May last, complete what we hope will
be the preliminary chapter to a regular and sys-
tematic account year by year of our statistics of
agriculture, for it is undeniable that such an ac-
count is fast becoming a necessity of our position.
The acreage returns for Great Britain have been
collected from occupiers of five acres of land and
upwards ; in Ireland the returns are obtained by
the Registrar-General from all occupiers of land ;
while in the Isle of Man the limit was lowered to
two acres, and in the Channel Wands to one acre,
in consequence of the smaller subdivision of hold-
ings therein.
We regret to have need of finding fault on the
very threshold of an analysis of these returns, but
really it is most provoking that our official statists
cannot agree amongst themselves to adopt a uni-
formity of plan which will render their figures com-
parable. Fur instance, the total area of the United
Kingdom is put at 77,513,585 acres, and the next co-
lumn in the return professes to show the total acreage
under all kinds of crops, bare fallow, and grass ;
but wanting to see the total acreage so cultivated
in the United Kingdom we find a blank, with a
note intimating that as hill pastures are excluded
in Great Britain and included in the Irish returns,
the total acreage under cultivation cannot be given.
For the United Kingdom 11,493,6/16 acres are re-
turned as under corn crops (including wheat, bar-
ley, oats, rye, beans, and peas) ; 5,055,020 acres
under green crops (including potatoes, turnips,
swedes, mangold, carrots, cabbage, kohlrabi, rape,
vetches, lucerne, and any other crop except clover or
grass) ; 1,004,278 acres under bare fallow ; and
5,324,119 acres under clover and artificial and other
grasses under rotation. Of the 11,493,666 acres
under corn crops, 32 per cent. were under wheat,
21 per cent. under barley or here, 39 per cent.
under oats, and the remaining 8 per cent. under
rye, beaus, and peas. Of the 5,055,020 acres under
green crops, 31 per cent. were under potatoes, and
54 per cent. under turnips, swedes, and mangold.
The total area of Great Britain is 56,964,260
acres; of which 28,704,867-50 per cent—are re-
turned as under cultivation in holdings of 5 acres
and upwards. The estimated ordinary stock of
cattle is 4,935,647, and the sheep returned at the
recent census numbered 22,048,231, so that the
proportion of cattle and sheep is 17.2 and 76.8 to
every 400 acres under cultivation, the relative Pro-
portions to the total area being 9 and 39 per cent.
respectively.
In England there are 22,261,833 acres under
farm cultivation, out of a total area of 32,590,397
acres-68 per cent. ; in Wales, 2,284,674, out of
4,734,486-48 per cent. ; in Scotland, 4,158,360,
out of 19,639,377-21 per cent. ; in the Isle of
Man, 82,94, out of 180,000-46 per cent. ; and in
the Channel Islands, 32,356, out of 46,684-69 per
cant. In Ireland, 15,549,796, out of 20,322,641
acres-76 per cent —are returned as under culti-
vation, but as hill-pastures are included, com-
parison of this with other parts of the kingdom is
inadmissible. These discrepant proportions are to
some extent consequent on the want of uniformity
and other imperfections in the returns, which
should be remedied another time.

The following ratios, calculated on a uniform
basis of 100 acres, show at a (Any crtr;l the distribu-
tion of the soil under the various kinds of cultiva-
tion in the three divisions of Great Britain.

England. Wales. Scotland.
Acres. Acres. Acres.
33-3 22.8 3211
12*4 6'l 151
. 34 411 21

Under corn crops
Under green crops
Under bare fallow
Under clover and artificial and

other grasses under rotation 101 111 274
Permanent pasture, meadow, or
gru.... not broken up in rotation
(eseiusiv• of hill.pustures) 40•4 551 21'5
Hole .