STATISTICAL SURVEY OF IRISH AGRICULTURE. 



309 



statute acres of arable land as the unit, we find that there were in each such 

 area the following percentages devoted to the several varieties of crops : — 



Comparing the year 1901 with 1900 in regard to the area under cereals 

 and green crops, we find the following results 



The most noticeable features in these Tables are the decreases in the 

 areas under the cereal crops, barley, wheat and oats (the last-named has 

 fallen continuously from 1,254,837 acres in 1894 to 1,099,335 acres in 1901) ; 

 and the quite remarkable shrinkage in the area under potatoes. The 

 present year is the thirteenth in succession in which the acreage under 

 potatoes has decreased. In 1888 it stood at 804,566; in 1901 it is 635,321 

 — a decline of 169,245 acres in thirteen years. 



The continuing and serious decline in the area under turnips is also 

 worthy of attention, as is the increasing popularity amongst Irish farmers of 

 mangel wurzel. Turnips and swedes have apparently been found a pre- 

 carious and, therefore, an expensive crop, both in Ireland and Great Britain, 

 if we may judge from the shrinkage in the areas under this class of roots. 

 Mangel wurzel is less liable to disease, and more and more attention is 

 being devoted to its cultivation in this country. As will be seen the loss in 

 the area under turnips for 1901 was practically identical with the gain in 

 the area under mangel wurzel. 



Our industrial fibre crop, flax, shows, in 1901 as compared with 1900, an 

 increase of 7,991 acres, or 16.8 per cent., following an increase of 12,462 

 acres, or 35.6 per cent., in 1900 7is compared with 1899. As usual, the culti- 

 vation of flax was almost entirely confined to Ulster, the area covered by 

 the crop being 54,898 acres; in Leinster the extent was only 191 acres; 

 in Munster, 49 acres ; and in Connaught, 304 acres, to which amount the 

 County Mayo contributed 273 acres. In regard to our chief cereals, the cul- 

 tivation of both barley and wheat — though more evenly distributed than 

 flax — is still considerably localised ; while the culture of oats, on the other 

 hand, is like that of potatoes, spread over almost every district of the country. 



