GEEAT BRITAIN AND IRELAND. 



371 



threats and public invitations to general outrage and 

 private assassination have been circulated, and sub- 

 scriptions for these purposes have been openly col- 

 lected in the United States and actually expended for 

 these purposes. More than one attempt of the kind 

 has been made in England by miscreants hired and 

 dispatched from America for this purpose, and their 

 work has been publicly claimed by their instigators as 

 a reward of past and a motive for fresh subscriptions. 



The Government had already made repre- 

 sentations to the Government of the United 

 States regarding the incitements to outrages 

 contained in certain American newspapers. 

 The new doctrines in English law, formulated 

 to suit the case of the "Freiheit," seem to 

 have emboldened the Government to make 

 the novel request that the Government at 

 Washington should stop the utterances of the 

 incendiary sheets, characterized by the Home 

 Secretary as the "assassination press." The 

 invectives and menaces of the " Irish World," 

 the " United Irishman," and the " Sunday 

 Democrat," which alarmed the British Gov- 

 ernment, were recited and noted with terror 

 throughout England. But the public formed 

 a more sober judgment than the Government 

 displayed concerning the infernal machines. 

 The fact of the detailed information which had 

 been forwarded to the authorities, coupled with 

 the other fact that, although a complete trap 

 was laid for the consignees, no one appeared 

 to claim the goods, led to the conclusion that 

 the infernal machines were dispatched in or- 

 der to create a sensation, and to either spread 

 terror and dismay in Great Britain or to at- 

 tract contributions to the " skirmishing fund " 

 in the United States. A man named John 

 Tobin was arrested at Bradford in November 

 and brought to trial for treason-felony, a num- 

 ber of pistols having been found in his posses- 

 sion, and documents showing his connection 

 with a Fenian organization called the Irish Re- 

 publican Brotherhood. 



The area in Great Britain reported under 

 cultivation in 1881 was 32,212,000 acres, an 

 increase of 110,000 acres as compared with 

 1880 ; but this increase consists, as for several 

 years back, only in the inclosure of waste land 

 for pasturage. The grain acreage was 8,848,- 

 000 acres, showing a decrease of 28,000 acres ; 

 the acreage of green crops, 3,510,000 acres, an 

 increase of 34,000 acres; acreage of grass or 

 clover in rotation, 4,342,000 acres, a decrease 

 of 92,000 acres; total area of arable land, 17,- 

 568,000 acres, a decrease of 107,000 acres. The 

 area devoted to pasture was 14,643,000 acres, 

 showing an increase of 216,000 acres. The 

 acreage of permanent pasture has increased 

 from 12,435,000 acres in 1871, while that of 

 arable land has fallen away from 18,403,000 

 acres to the present figures. The area under 

 wheat, 2,806,000 acres, is 103,000 acres less, 

 and that under barley, 2,442,000 acres, 25,000 

 acres less than in 1880 ; but the acreage of 

 oats, 2,901,000 acres, has increased 104,000 

 acres. The number of cattle in Great Britain 

 in 1881 was 5,911,642, against 5,912,046 in 



1880 ; pigs, 2,048,000, against 2,000,000 ; sheep, 

 24,581,000, against 26,619,000. The decrease 

 in the number of sheep, amounting to 8 per 

 cent, was due to severe winter and spring 

 weather, causing many deaths everywhere, to 

 a bad lambing season in many districts, and to 

 the disease called liver-rot. The British flocks 

 have decreased 19 per cent since 1874. The 

 stock of horses shows a steady increase. 



In Ireland there was an increase of 10,000 

 acres in the grain acreage, oats showing an in- 

 crease to about that extent, and wheat increas- 

 ing and barley decreasing some 6,000 acres. 

 Potatoes show an increase of 34,000 acres; 

 clover and grasses of 89,000 acres ; and flax a 

 decrease of 10,000 acres. While the cultiva- 

 tion of crops was extended, the land under 

 permanent pasture diminished in the year 170,- 

 000 acres. There was a slight decrease in the 

 number of horses and an increase in cattle. 

 The losses of sheep were in the same propor- 

 tion as in Great Britain. In the number of 

 pigs the large increase of 289,000 was reported. 



The following table affords a survey of the 

 agricultural statistics of the whole United King- 

 dom for the two years : 



Of the total area of the British Islands, 77,- 

 829,000 acres, 61 per cent is cultivated in 

 Scotland only 25 per cent of the whole area, 

 in England and Ireland 74 per cent. Of the 

 cultivated area 22 per cent is devoted to grain, 

 10 per cent to green crops (potatoes, turnips, 

 etc.), 18 per cent to meadow, 2 per cent to 

 other crops, and 52 per cent to pasturage. 



The year 1881 was another calamitous one 

 for British agriculture. The losses of farming 

 capital actually incurred in the series of bad 

 seasons are estimated at 120,000,000, which 

 was fully one third of the aggregate capital of 

 British agriculturists. The severest losses fell 

 in the wheat and sheep raising districts, in 

 the south and east of England and the midland 

 counties. In the wheat districts more than 

 half of the farmers' wealth has disappeared. 

 The crop of 1879 was the worst since the be- 

 ginning of the century, and only two good 

 crops have occurred in ten years. Owing to 

 enormous imports from the United States, no 

 rise in prices compensated for the deficient 

 product. The general level of prices for agri- 

 cultural products has not declined, however, 

 notwithstanding the importation of vast sup- 

 plies from abroad. Comparing the averages 

 of the years 1860-'64 with 1875-'79, the im- 

 ports of live cattle have increased 90 per 

 cent, while the price has risen 16 per cent ; 



