AGRICULTURE AND BRITISH FORESTRY 69 



crease in the rearing of cattle, are the chief changes in the 

 principal productions of British agriculture. The increase 

 in the area under cultivation, as represented by crops 

 and grass, of over 500,000 acres in Great Britain, was 

 accompanied by a decrease of nearly 3,000,000 acres in 

 arable land, showing that wheat was not the only crop 

 which decreased on that class of land, while permanent 

 pasture greatly increased. The decrease in sheep was 

 entirely confined to England, and probably connected with 

 the decrease in arable land. 



These various changes would indicate that land suited 

 for the production of beef and milk is of relatively greater 

 value and importance to the agriculture of England than 

 that suited for sheep or wheat production alone, as the 

 case may be. In Scotland, the changes throughout the 

 period were comparatively small, although relatively the 

 same with regard to wheat as in England, and showing 

 the same tendency to increase in the head of cattle, the 

 sheep stock remaining practically the same. These and 

 other well-known facts which cannot be gathered from 

 statistics, lead to the conclusion that land capable of 

 producing good grazing is of the greatest importance in 

 the development of modern agriculture; while land un- 

 suited for grazing cattle on account of its rough or broken 

 surface, or which produces such poor pasture that cattle 

 will only thrive and fatten with the assistance of artificial 

 feeding in summer, is of least significance to the grazier. 

 In a general way, it may almost be said that the whole 

 of the agricultural value of the British Isles at the present 

 time is determined by its beef and milk producing 

 capacity. The highest rents are paid for soils rich in 

 these elements which maintain the fertility of land when 

 under permanent pasture, the lowest for those which 

 exhibit a tendency to become unfertile unless repeatedly 

 manured or broken up by the plough. With the former, 



