AGRICULTURE 



table showing at intervals of ten years the area under the principal crops and the number of 

 live stock officially returned in the county since 1867 : — 



A. Area under Crops 



Note. — The above figures apply to the stock kept in the county in the summer time. From the 

 prevailing practice of the county it may be assumed that a winter census would show more cattle and 

 fewer sheep. 



It will be seen that in 1867 arable land occupied three-fifths, and in 1907 only two-fifths 

 of the cultivated surface, the decline being heaviest in v\heat, beans, peas, clover and turnips. 

 The grass area shows a corresponding extension. 



As regards live stock the chief features to be noticed are the large increase in cattle, especi- 

 ally cows, indicating possibly an extension of dairying, and the steady decline in the number 

 of sheep, of which, however, Kent still maintains a larger number per acre than any otherEnglish 

 county. None of the foregoing changes have been peculiar to Kent, which has only shared, 

 in some cases to a greater, in others to a lesser degree in movements which have been general 

 throughout the country. 



But in one feature of its agriculture the experience of Kent during the last eleven years 

 presents a striking contrast to that of nearly every other part of the country, for while there 

 has been a distinct tendency in England for medium-sized holdings to increase in number 



1 In the formation of the County of London in 1893, 19,570 acres were taken from the area of Kent. 

 « In 1888. 



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