1921. ] 



Acreage and Live Stock Returns. 



993 



extensive use of fields for allotments. The proportion of the 

 cultivated area under the plough in 19-20 was slightly less than 

 in 1919, but was still somewhat greater than twenty years 

 ago; while the proportion of the total cultivated area which 

 was under corn was 24 J per cent, against only 21 J per cent, 

 in 1914, and the proportion under other arable crops was 

 well maintained. In comparing the acreage of crops in 1920 

 with the average of the three years 1911-13, it is shown that 

 the acreage of corn per 1,000 acres of cultivated land was 

 increased chiefly in the counties where the bulk of the land 

 is under pasture, and showed least progress in the specially 

 arable counties where the margin for possible extension is 

 relatively small. 



As regards the number of separate holdings, the Returns 

 show that the number was increased in 1920 for the first time 

 for several years, the number of small holdings being increased 

 from 272,568 in 1919 to 274,796 in 1920. 



Perhaps the most striking feature in the returns in 1920 

 was the heavy reduction in the number of cattle and sheep.. 

 The decline in the number of cattle was about 650,000, which 

 was mainly due to a large reduction in the number of calves 

 being reared as a result of the disproportionately high prices 

 which were paid for calves for slaughter during the year. 

 The number of cows and heifers in milk or in calf was, how- 

 ever, still at such a level that the herds of the country could 

 be brought up to their recent numbers fairly quickly if farmers 

 are convinced that the prices of meat and milk rre such 

 as will yield a moderate return for the capital and energy 

 which must be invested in the enterprise. The number of 

 sheen last year was the smallest on record, and the restora- 

 tion of the flocks of the country to their former level must 

 of necessity be slow as the ewe flock was correspondingly 

 small : but the decontrol of prices of fat sheep which took place 

 during 1920, combined with the high prices which flock- 

 masters received for the wool clip of 1920. should encourage 

 more breeding. Pigs, on the other hand, were increased in 

 numbers, there being 15| per cent, more breeding sows in 

 England and Wales in 1920 than in 1919. 



