i9o6.] 



Agricultural Statistics, 1905. 



309 



teration of butter. Such information as the Board of Agricul- 

 ture required in reference to these articles was deduced from the 

 results of the analyses and duly reported to the Board. 



Amongst the other miscellaneous samples submitted were two 

 specimens of blue vitriol," solutions of which are used by farmers 

 for dressing wheat as a preventive of " smut." One of the 

 samples proved to be adulterated with no less than 82 per cent, 

 of sulphate of iron or " green vitriol." A powder used for dress- 

 ing sheep was also forwarded for examination, and proved to be 

 ordinary flour. 



There were also a number of samples referred by magistrates 

 to the Government Laboratory under the provisions of the Sale 

 of Food and Drugs Act and the Fertilisers and Feeding Stuffs 

 Act. 



The complete volume of agricultural statistics for 1905, 



published by the Board of Agriculture and Fisheries, which is 



prefaced by a Report by Major Craigie, 



Ag'ricultupal bring-s together the information collected in 

 Statistics, 1905.* , . , , , , 



the agricultural returns already separately 



issued, and furnishes particulars of the imports and exports 

 of agricultural produce, the prices of corn, of live stock 

 and other commodities, together with the latest statistics 

 relating to the agriculture of British possessions and foreign 

 countries. 



The Annual Returns for 1905 complete a series of forty years' 

 official records, the particulars as to the acreage under crops in 

 Great Britain having been first published by the Board of Trade 

 in 1866, and advantage is taken of this fact to describe briefly 

 the gradual development of statistical data respectirig the 

 agricultural position of this country since that time. 



Major Craigie, in the course of his Report, deals with many 

 points of general interest in connection with the distribution of 

 the cultivated surface, changes in crop areas, produce of crops, 

 and numbers of live stock, among which may be mentioned a 

 valuable deduction which is drawn from a comparison of 

 the area of land farmed by owners at different dates. The 

 earliest figures available on this point are those for the year 1888, 



* AgriailHiral Statistics^ 1905, Cd. 3061, Price is. 6d. 



