176 



AGRICULTURAL RETURNS OF 1903. 



The preliminary statement giving the totals of the acreage 

 under crops and grass, and the number of live stock in Great 

 Britain, as returned by occupiers of land on June 4th last, was 

 issued by the Board of Agriculture on 26th August. Similar 

 information has been published by the Department of Agricul- 

 ture and Technical Instruction for Ireland, and the particulars 

 for both countries are brought together in the following tables. 

 The total area under all crops and grass in Great Britain was 

 32,343,480 acres, or 44,479 acres less than the area recorded last 

 year. In Ireland, on the other hand, the extent of land thus 

 described increased by 3,543 acres, the total being 15,243,678 

 acres. 



The areas under corn crops are shown in the table below. It 

 will be seen that while the figures for Ireland for 1903 exhibit 

 in the aggregate no appreciable variation from those of 1902, 

 those for Great Britain declined by about 124,000 acres. 





Great Britain. 



Ireland. 



1903. 



1902. 



1903. 



1902. 



Wheat 



Barley 



Oats 



Rye 



Beans 



Peas 



Acres. 

 1,581,587 

 1,858,484 

 3,140,242 

 59,064 



239,655 

 181,511 



Acres. 

 1,726,473 

 1,909,383 

 3,057,203 



68,379 

 243,101 



179,751 



Acres. 



37,654 

 158,768 

 1,097,512 

 10,038 



2,075 

 289 



Acres. 

 44,244 



167,877 

 1,082,144 



9,638 

 2,318 

 347 



Total 



7,060,543 



7,184,290 



1,306*336 



1,306,568 



The area of land under wheat in Great Britain in 1903 was 

 1,581,587 acres, compared with 1,726,473 acres in the preceding- 

 year, a decrease of 144,886 acres or 8*4 per cent. ; the acreage 



