520 



British Crops of 1904. 



[dec, 



than that recorded in any year since the produce returns were 

 first collected in 1884. As was noted in the September Journal, 

 the area under this crop in 1904 was the smallest ever returned, 

 and the yield per acre has not sufficed to bring the total produc- 

 tion up to the 37,176,000 bushels reaped in 1895. It may also 

 be noted that a yield lower than 26*82 bushels per acre over the 

 whole of Great Britain has hitherto only been twice recorded, 

 viz., in 1893, when it was nearly a bushel less, and in 1895. 



The shortage in the wheat yield, considerable as it is, was 

 confined to England, there being nearly half a bushel per acre 

 more than the average in Wales ; while in Scotland the 38*53 

 bushels reaped on an acre represented practically a whole bushel 

 more than the mean. In spite of this, however, the quantity grown 

 in Wales and Scotland is relatively so small that the 26*52 

 bushels noted in England were only raised by less than one- 

 third of a bushel for the whole of Great Britain. 



Barley, like wheat, was in 1904 sown on the smallest area on 

 record, and again, like wheat, the total production is the lowest 

 of the twenty years. In only two years (1893 and 190 1 ) was a 

 smaller yield per acre returned. In this cereal also the defi- 

 ciency occurred in England, which, with 30*47 bushels, was just 

 2\ bushels below the mean ; the Scottish yield being exactly 

 equal to the ten years' mean. 



Oats, on the other hand, were satisfactory, the yield being 

 fractionally above the average; only in 1894 and in 1902 has 

 a greater total crop been returned. This result must be largely 

 attributed to the Welsh harvest, which was if bushels over 

 average ; England in this case also yielding less than the mean 

 by a quarter of a bushel ; and the Scottish yield being prac- 

 tically normal. 



Beans were estimated as the worst of the cereal crops in 

 Great Britain as a whole. In England the deficiency from 

 the ten years' mean was nearly 5 \ bushels, which represents 

 a reduction per acre of almost 20 per cent. Scotland, on the 

 other hand, had nearly two bushels more than the average, and 

 this crop may rank as the best of the cereals there, although 

 it is of small importance in that country. Peas are negligible 

 outside England, where they were about half a bushel below the 

 average. 



