FARMING IN LEICESTERSHIRE 53 
the object of showing the nature and extent of such changes, especially 
with regard to cultivated land and the fluctuation in crops and stock. 
Total area (excluding water) ; . 1932 530,642 acres 
Total acreage under crops and grass  . 1932 457,930 ,, 
Rough grazings ‘ : . - 1932 g 072+? ts 
Decline in Arable Land. 
ear, Acreage. 
1870 179,892 
1875 176,249 
1895 120,854 
1914 96,977 
I9Ig 131,023 
1923 107,962 
1926 92,189 
1933 731542 
From the foregoing table it will be seen that during the last sixty years 
or so the arable area has decreased by over 100,000 acres. In more 
recent years, notably the period between 1919 and 1932, it shows a 
decrease of no less than 57,481 acres, and this in a period of only thirteen 
years. Even in the acreage under crops and grass there has been a 
serious decrease, owing, no doubt, to the extension of building schemes 
and other demands upon the agricultural area of the county. 
The enormous change in the arable area has undoubtedly produced 
very great changes in the systems of the farming pursued and -has had 
far-reaching effects on the social life of the country side. Broadly the 
results have been a serious and steady decline in the numbers of the rural 
population and consequently the local and allied industries such as those 
of the blacksmith, wheelwright, and saddler have also declined and in 
some districts have disappeared entirely. 
Generally speaking, grassland requires far less labour than arable land, 
and is usually less productive, though in the case of dairy farming the 
aggregate value of milk produced may well be greater than the value of 
the crops when the land was under the plough. The number of active 
farm workers in such cases may not be seriously less, but taking the situa- 
tion as a whole, it is certain that this great change in arable farming has 
been accompanied by a very considerable decline in the number of agricul- 
tural workers. A still more serious feature of the decline in arable land 
is the fact that during the last ten years there has been an average annual 
decline of nearly 3,500 acres, equivalent to an area of about 5 square miles 
per annum. 
CROPS AND GRASS. 
A steady decline in the acreage of crops and grass is also taking place 
and the figures show that there has been a decline of over 9,000 acres 
