1 904-] 



AG RIC U LT U RAL STATISTICS, 



247 



holdings of Great Britain, according to size, for the purpose of 

 comparison with earlier enquiries. Tables which furnish such 

 data as are available respecting the changes which have occurred 

 during thirty years in the annual value of land, according to 

 the assessments in force for income tax and rating purposes, are 

 also given. 



The growth or diminution in the several grades of holdings 

 exceeding five acres is traced by contrasting the earlier data 

 with the latest returns, and the number of separate " occupations " 

 at the last three investigations shown as follows :— 



Years. 



Small 1 



(Over 5 and not 

 exceeding 50 

 acres). 



Medium 



(Over 50 and not 

 exceeding 300 

 acres). 



Large 

 (Over 300 acres). 



Total 

 Holdings 

 above 5 acres. 



18S5 



232,955 



144,288 



19,364 



396,607 



1895 



235,481 



i47, c 7o 



18,787 



402,138 



1903 



232,892 



1 50,055 



18,081 



401,028 



The changes thus indicated are discussed in Major Craigie's 

 introductory' report, and attention is directed to the fact that 

 the average size of a farm in Great Britain has slightly 

 decreased within the past eighteen years. 



The Report includes a comparison of the chief meteorological 

 features of 1903 with those of 1879, a year of agricultural 

 disaster, and distinguished by a very wet summer. The par- 

 ticulars supplied by the Meteorological Office for this com- 

 parison are given, and it is noted that the first quarter of 1879 

 was, in England, a good deal wetter than that of 1903, but 

 that the reverse held good north of the Border. Both the 

 second and third quarters were, except in Scotland, rather wetter 

 in 1879 tnan m 1903. The rainfall of June, July, and August, 

 in the earlier season, indeed, nearly reached 14 in., as against 

 a normal supply of 8 in., while last year it was 10 J in. The 

 rainfall in the fourth quarter of 1879 was, however, singularly 

 small, and, indeed, the autumn fall in 1903 was nearly three 

 times that of the same months of 1879. 



Striking an average for Great Britain, the total fall in the 

 first nine months of these two years was practically identical : 

 and it was the deficiency in the autumn [rains off 1879 which 



