1907.] Cultivation of Lavender. 531 



An increased yield is recorded in both classes of hay, both as 

 compared with last year and with the average for the ten years, 

 in Great Britain. In the case of hay from clover and rotation 

 grasses there is an excess of nearly 4 cwts. to the acre in England 

 over the average, in Wales of 2\ cwts., and in Scotland of 

 nearly if cwts., producing in Great Britain as a whole an average 

 yield per acre of nearly 3$ cwts. over the preceding ten years. 

 In hay from permanent grass England had nearly 3 J cwts. 

 over average, Wales 2\ cwts., but Scotland only \ cwt. more 

 than the mean. The net result for Great Britain is a crop of 

 meadow hay 3 J cwts. more to the acre than the average. By 

 adding the production of the two crops together a total of nearly 

 ten and a-half million tons of hay will be seen to have been 

 secured, or nearly two million tons more than was obtained 

 last year. 



The average yield per acre of hops was over 3 cwts. in excess 

 of the very low yield of 1906, but fell nearly \ cwt. short of the 

 decennial average. The total production was 374,000 cwts., 

 as against 246,000 cwts. last year. 



Summing up the results of the harvest of 1907, two features 

 stand out prominently. Firstly, and chiefly, the abundance of 

 the production in Great Britain as a whole, the yield of all the 

 cereals and pulse crops as well as clover hay being within 

 measurable distance of record ; while meadow hay and roots 

 are also heavy crops. Only potatoes and hops fall somewhat 

 below the 10 years' average. The second noteworthy feature is 

 the fact that England has this year fared much better than 

 Scotland : all the crops have yielded, relatively to their average, 

 more abundantly in the south, although barley, turnips and 

 swedes, and mangold are the only crops, in addition to potatoes, 

 which actually gave less than the 10 years' mean in Scotland. 



Lavender has long been grown in this country for the 

 production of oil of lavender. The species cultivated for this 

 purpose {Lavandula vera) is an ever- 

 Cultivation of green shrub about 2 ft. in height. It 

 Lavender. was ^introduced into England in 1568 



and flourished remarkably well under 

 cultivation, yielding an oil far superior in delicacy of fragrance 

 to that obtained from the wild plant or from the same plant 



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