The Sun.
London, England, 1855-05-30 00:00:00

IPRIcE SD.

AGRICULTURAL STATISTICS IN ENGLAND

The reports of the Poor-Law Inspectors on the ex•
tended experiment made last year for collecting aruicul.
tnral statistics in England have just been 'printed, and
present rather discouragi ig results as regards the pro-
bable efficiency of the methods thus far adopted, but
show that all difficulties would most likely vanish if a
coherent system were Introduced based upon a Legis-
lative enactment, and provided for with the liberality
warranted by the importance of the object. The first
attempt at collecting these statistics took place in Nor-
folk and Hampshire in 1853, and with sufficient success
to induce a repetition of the plan on a " Considerably
extended scale " last year. For this the sum voted was
only 4,0001., and, as the inquiry was carried on in 11
counties, a niggardly rate of remuneration seems to
have been adopted, which has contributed, with other
causes, to its partial failure. Among the impedi-
ments, the fact that a large number of the agricul-
turists refuse to make returns under a voluntary
system, which gives no certainty that if they comply with
the request their neighbours will also do so, appears to
have been the most prominent ; bat the unfitness of the
machinery of the boards of guardians was evidently a
serious drawback. On the whole the statements and cor-
respondence furnished by this document tend to esta-
blish the conviction that, if Cie Government had attached
interest to the measure equal to that which has long
prevailed respecting it among all the intelligent classes
of tie country, and had proceeded to the task in a
spirited instead of a peddling way, the system might
have been in successful working at this moment, so as to
convey the assurance that, by the first fortnight of next
August, the momentous question of the results of
the approaching harvest would he entirely removed,
from the range of wild- and— spe.cntattva eenje-oltiFe:
As to the nature of the steps, if any, which, may
be in progrei.s towards that end at the present,
moment, very little seems to be known, but a heavy re-
sponsitility will have been incurred for whatever neglect
may have taken place at a juncture so critical. The
counties seleetid last year were Hants, Wilts, Leicester,
Norfolk, Suffolk, Berks, Worcester, Brecknock, Salop,
Denbigh, and the West Riding of York. In these the
schedules required to be filled up amounted altogether to
118,287. In 93,117 cases the occupier complied, but
17,042 were filled up by enumerators from such infor-
mation as they could get, and in 8,128 no information
whatever was obtained. An approach to statistical ac-
curacy was therefore rendered impracticable. A general
summary has, however, been framed in such way as the
materials would admit, and by estimating the other
counties to produce acre for acre in proportion to those
included in the present inquiry, the 37,324,915 acres in
England and Wales may be supposed to have been em-
ployed as follows :

Acres.
3,807,846
2,667,776
1,302,782
73,731
698,188
218,551
2,267,200
177,263
12,633
193,287
10,156
18,976
1,079
97,334
895,960

Wheat .
Barley .....
Oats
Rye
Beans and peas.
Vetches
Turnips .
Mangold'.
Carrots
Potatoes
Flax
Hops
Osiers
Other crops, such as cabbages, &c
Bare fallow

Total under tillage
Artificial grasses... 2,820,066
Permanent pasture 8,874,946
Irrigated meadows 1,292,329
Sheep walks 2,224,862
Total under grass

Houses, gardens, roads, &o 976,197
Waste
Wood and plantation
Commons 1,937,164
Holdings of less than two acres 459,447
Not accounted for 3,814,108

37,324,915
With regard to live stook, the estimates are as fol-
lows :

Horses 1,050,931.
Colts 258,079
Much cows 1,376,703
Calves
Other cattle, including working oxen 1,339,270
Tups 244,106
Ewes
Lambs 6,937,982
Other sheep
Swine