144 Agriculture 



Possibly in no other direction has research yielded such striking results 

 or suggested such revolutionary changes as in fruit production. There is a 

 definite tendency to grub up old orchards, planted before this new know- 

 ledge was available, and to replant with newer varieties on improved 

 stocks and under conditions more conducive to the control of the many 

 pests which do so much to limit the production of liigh-grade fruit. 

 Many of the older orchards were mixed plantations of plums and apples, 

 an unsuitable combination under modern methods of management. 



LIVE STOCK 



The total number o£ Horses shows a steady decUne from some 33,000 in 

 1913 to 20,000 in 193 7 (Fig. 36), an experience which Cambridgeshire shares 

 with the other arable counties. Though this decline has been more marked 

 in the County than in the Isle, the replacement of the horse by the internal 



13 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 29 30 31 32 33 34 35 36 37 



Fig- 36. 

 Main Live Stock, 1913-37 (Ministry of Agriculture Statistics). 



combustion engine has been taking place quite as quickly in the latter part 

 of Cambridgeshire. The horse still proves an essential supplement to the 

 farm tractor, and now works even more constantly and effectively than 

 formerly. In fact, the introduction of newer types of light-draught 

 implements and of pneumatic tyres for farm carts and, in certain cases, 

 the construction of concrete farm roads have had much the same effect as 

 if there had been evolved by breeding and selection an animal of higher 

 horse power. 



