82 SCIENTIFIC SURVEY OF NORWICH AND DISTRICT 
Sussex, crossed with the Rhode Island Reds of commercial egg flocks, is 
producing a good class ‘ country chicken.’ 
Ducks —Around Attleborough and Diss and on the borders of Suffolk 
and Norfolk, a very large and long-established duck-raising and -fattening 
industry is operated. The ducks used are of the Aylesbury type, although 
they are not pure. Large-scale operations are carried on, some fatteners 
dealing with a throughput of 50,000 ducks per year. "The ducks are all 
prepared for the London market. Many cottagers in the district keep a 
flock of ducks and sell the resulting young ducklings to the large-scale 
fatteners. 
Norfolk is the premier English county for turkey production. Approxi- 
mately 60,000 per annum are produced. ‘These consist almost entirely 
of the American Mammoth Bronze variety and although production is 
widely scattered through the general farms, the heaviest production is in 
the district of the duck fatteners. In the centre of this area as many as 
7,000 to 10,000 turkeys change hands each year at the Attleborough 
Michaelmas Auction Sales. 
As far as can be ascertained the small black turkey was the original 
turkey imported into Great Britain. A few specimens of the variety still 
exist in Norfolk under the name of the Norfolk Black. ‘The breed was 
in danger of extinction, but a club has now been formed to preserve and 
develop it. The Norfolk Black Turkey, owing to its high table value 
and small size, is eminently suited to the present requirements of the 
market. 
AGRICULTURAL STATISTICS FOR NORFOLK. 
The total area of the county has already been given ; of the 989,034 
acres that are under crops and grass, 697,922 acres are ploughed. The 
statistics for the last ten years, however, show a decline of nearly 67,000 
acres in arable land. This is entirely due to the uneconomic conditions 
that have prevailed during the past few years and the decline would 
undoubtedly have been much greater had not the introduction of the 
sugar beet crop most fortunately coincided with the most intense agri- 
cultural depression, so far experienced perhaps in the history of Norfolk 
farming. : 
Decline in Arable Land. 
Year. Acreage. Year. Acreage. 
1924 . . . 764,661 1929 J - 730,992 
1925) 1% ; aftr, 7585325 1930. : . 727,688 
1926. ; » 751,706 FOS Ey ir ‘ - 719,035 
1927 yours, Soe Wit 746,397 1932) 0019 ban 11 JOR4T9 
1928. ‘ - 741,118 1983 fHris : . 697,922 
In the last ten years there has been a reduction of 33,000 acres in the 
area of the county cultivated. Some of the decline in the arable acreage 
and in the total area under crops and grasses reappears in the figures for 
rough grazings, which have increased by over 21,000 acres in the last 
