564 



able scale is the outstanding agricultural development. A large sugar-beet factory at 

 Cantley, on the banks of the Yare, some ten *iiiles from Norwich, was opened in 1912. 

 Despite the torrential rains in August of that year, samples of Norfolk-grown beet yielded 

 as much as the average yield of roots grown in Holland. Farmers who have at first 

 looked askance at the new venture, have since offered land freely. Beet-sugar experi- 

 ments have also been made in Kent and Sussex: the Maidstone Farmers' Club reported 

 in 1912 that satisfactory crops could be grown, and in Sussex it was proposed to form 

 a company to develop the industry on condition that 2000 acres should be placed under 

 the crop for five years. A factory has been established at Hayle in Cornwall. 



Recently tobacco growing has been inaugurated at Methwold in south-west Norfolk on 

 a soil previously thought valueless, except for game preservation. Some experts are of the 

 opinion that this may turn out to be one of the most promising experiments in East Anglian 

 agriculture. In the protracted drought of 1911 the Methwold tobacco prospered well, but 

 in the wet summer of 1912 it succeeded even better, the sandy, porous soil absorbing rain 

 very quickly. 



Heavy losses were sustained by Hampshire agriculturists and market gardeners owing 

 to the dry summer of 1911 and the long continued rains of 1912, but the cultivation of straw- 

 berries did well. The fruit is grown at Swanwick and at Sarisbury, and is sent to market a 

 week or more before the Kent crop. In some cases the plantations yielded a profit of 50 

 an acre, the culture not being confined to small holdings, but carried on extensively on large 

 farms where strawberries have displaced some of the usual crops. The Hampshire County 

 Council purchased 264 acres at Sparsholt near Winchester, for use as a farm school, and have 

 established a system of agricultural scholarships. 



Considerable disturbance in the agricultural industries of Cheshire and Shropshire is 

 reported owing to the change in ownership of thousands of acres of agricultural land through 

 owners of great estates putting them on the market. 



A wide scheme for the reclamation of waste lands in the north of the Isle of Man, the 

 creation of small holdings, and the development of an export trade in the produce to English 

 markets, has been under consideration. 



In the direction of agricultural education mention may be made of the extension of facil- 

 ities by the university of Bristol in adjacent counties. A large technical school with an 

 agricultural department has been established by the Essex Education Committee. The 

 new buildings of the Cheshire Agricultural College and Norris Midworth Museum were 

 opened on July 22, 1912. 



Dr. Clement Stepnenson, F.R.C.V.S., in February 1912, gave 5000 towards buildings 

 for a new agricultural department at Armstrong College, Newcastle-upon-Tyne. 



Mining and Manufactures. Table XVI shows the total number of persons employed 

 at mines in the four divisions of the United Kingdom in 1911. 



Table XVI. Miners, 



Minerals were produced in 1910 to the value of 82,090,108 in England, 23,604,416 

 in Wales, 16,155,377 in Scotland, 216,726 in Ireland, and 38,955 in the Isle of Man. 

 The quantities of various minerals produced in 1911 in the United Kingdom are shown in 

 Table XVII. 



Table XVII. Mineral Production, 1911. 



