1920.] 



Agricultural Returns, 1920. 



587 



AGRICULTURAL RETURNS, 1920. 



The following memorandum on the Agricultural Returns for 1920 was 

 issued by the Ministry on 13th August : — 



The preliminary tabulation of the Agricultural Returns shows that the 

 total acreage under crops and grass in England and Wales on June 4th hist 

 was about 26,520,000 acres, a net decline on last year 

 Crops. q£ 228,000 acres. Arable land accounts for 12,020,000 



acres, and permanent grass for 14,500,000 acres. The chief features of the 

 returns are a reduction in the corn area and an increase in the area of clover 

 and rotation grasses and green crops, together with large reductions in the 

 number of cattle and sheep. In the case of pigs, there has been an increase. 



The acreage under Wheat, 1,877,000 acres, is 344,000 acres less than in 1919 r 

 and only 70,000 acres above that of 11)14. Oats are also being grown to a less 

 extent than last year, the decrease being about 300,000 acres ; but the total, 

 2,267,000 acres, is still 340,000 acres greater than in 1914. On the other hand 

 the acreage of Barley has been increased by 127,000 acres to 1,637,000 acres, 

 the highest acreage recorded since 1904. Beans occupy 258,000 acres, or 

 nearly 10 per cent, less than last year, but the area under Peas has been 

 slightly increased. The total area under Cereals and Pulse is 6,450,000 acres, 

 or 540,000 acres less than 1919, but still some 325,000 acres above the average 

 of the ten years 1910-1919. 



Potatoes are being grown on a largely increased area, the total, 544,000 acres, 

 being 70,000 acres greater than last year, and apart from 1918 is the largest on 

 record. There is little change in the root crops. 



Among other crops the most noticeable changes are the very large increase, 

 58 per cent., in the area devoted to vetches and tares, and the comparatively 

 smaller but still large increases in the case of cabbage, kohl-rabi, rape, lucerne 

 and mustard. The area of sugar beet, about 3,000 acres, is about eight times 

 as large as last year, whilst Max occupies 22,000 acres, or 4,000 acres more than 

 in 1919. The acreage devoted to hops has risen by about 4,000 acres. The 

 area of bare fallow, though less than last year, is still much above the pre-war 

 average. 



Clover and rotation grasses have been increased by 190,000 acres to 

 2.448.000 acres, of which about two-thirds, or 1,670,000 acres, were reserved 

 for hay, this being an addition of 170,000 acres. The acreage of meadow hay 

 was also increased, and the total area mown for hay this year was 6,080,000 

 acres as compared with 5,670,000 acres last year. 



H<»ises used for agricultural purposes were reduced by 25,000. and there- 



j . -i ., was some falling off in the number of foals, which 



L.1VG btOCk. were 7 ()00 legg fchM] m 



A serious decline is shown in the total number of cattle, the figures being- 

 only 5,547,000 against 6,194,000 in 1919, a reduction of more than 10 per cent, 

 and the smallest number recorded since 1903. The decline is most pronounced 

 in young cattle under one year old, the reduction in this class being nearly 

 300,000 or 25 per cent. The number of young cattle was exceptionally high 

 during the War, but the serious reduction which has now taken place makes, 

 the number on farms on June 4th less than in any year since 1893, when the> 

 numbers of this class were Hist distinguished. The number of cattle from 



