364 



GREAT BRITAIN. 



The post-office savings-banks have been rap- 

 idly and steadily growing in favor, as can be 

 seen from the following table. 



The agricultural returns for 1874 show the 

 following number of acres to have been de- 

 voted in the United Kingdom to the different 

 crops : 



Crops. Acres. 



Corn crops 11,364,834 



Green crops 4,957,683 



Other crops 12,558,126 



The live-stock of the United Kingdom was 

 as follows in June, 1874 : 



Number. 



Horses 1,845,054 



Cattle 10,270,516 



Sheep .. 84,537,206 



Pigs . " . . 



In 1875 the extent of land in Great Britain 

 producing wheat was 3,342,388 acres ; barley, 

 2,509,598 acres ; oats, 2,664,048 acres ; potatoes, 

 522,634 acres; and hops, 69,203 acres. 



In 1875 Great Britain had 6,012,605 heads 

 of cattle, 29,165,278 sheep, and 2,229,870 

 pigs. 



The results of the herring-fisheries of Scot- 



land in 1874 were 1,000,561 bbls. cured, 517,- 

 558 bbls. branded, and 737,314 bbls. exported. 

 These figures are the largest on record. The 

 increase in 1874 over the average of the seven 

 preceding years was 27 per cent, in the quanti- 

 ty cured, 46 per cent, in the quantity exported, 

 and 59 per cent, in the quantity branded. The 

 cod and ling fisheries in 1874 produced 6,754 

 bbls. cured in pickle, against 12,381 in 1873.; 

 and 143,466 cwts. cured dried against 160,716 

 in 1873. The returns of the cod and ling 

 fishery of 1874 were not so good as in 1873 ; 

 but the year 1873, as compared with 1872, 

 showed an increase of 14,740 cwts. cured 

 dried, and of 441 bbls. cured in pickle. This 

 increase was not produced, as in some former 

 years, by importation, the result of successful 

 expeditions from Shetland to the Faroe Islands 

 and Iceland, but was obtained from the home 

 coasts, and chiefly from the fishing by boats 

 off Shetland, Orkney, and the Hebrides. The 

 number of fishing-boats in Scotland in 1874 

 was 14,847, and of fishermen and boys, 45,226. 

 In 1871 the total estimated value of the sea- 

 fisheries of Scotland was 1,505,431. 



In 1874 the amount of coal exported was 

 13,927,205 tons, of iron and steel manufactures 

 2,487,522 tons, and of pig iron 776,116 tons. 



The finances, commerce, and movement of 

 shipping of the British colonies were as fol- 

 lows, according to the " Statistical Abstract 

 for the Colonial and other Possessions of 

 the United Kingdom, 1859-1873" (London, 

 1875): 



