THE GREAT WAR 39 



Other crops, including potatoes, turnips, cab- Acres, 

 bages, mangolds, vetches, lucerne, hops, 

 small fruit, clover, grasses under rotation, 

 etc. . 5,339,260 



Total .... 27,129,382 



The above figures are for England and Wales 

 only. If we take the whole of the United 

 Kingdom the latest statistics (1914), as regards 

 grass, are still more striking, e.g. : 



The total surface of the United Kingdom, ex- Acres. 



eluding water, is 76,642,731 



Total area cultivated in crops or grass is . . 46,743,816 



Of this area there are : 



Acres. 



In grass for hay 6,489,885 



In grass not for hay 20,859,765 



Cultivated in wheat, there are only . . 1,905,933 



The most striking feature in these statistics 

 is the preponderance of grass land. During the 

 early "seventies" of last century, agriculture 

 was fairly prosperous. It began to suffer by a 

 period of bad harvests which culminated in the 

 disastrous year of 1879. The bad times for 

 agriculture then began, and led to the laying 

 down of arable land to grass, a process which 

 has been continued, almost without intermission, 



