48 Agricultural^ Statistics for 1908. [april, 



During the past month, the Board of Agriculture and 



Fisheries have published Parts I. and II. of the Agricultural 



Statistics for 1908. Part I. [Cd. 4,533, 



Reports on the price 6d.] contains the complete and 

 Agricultural Statistics c , r aU t 



for 1908 * nnal returns 01 the acreage under crops 



and number of live stock, while Part 

 II. [Cd. 4562, price 4ji.] gives the corresponding returns 

 of the produce of crops. Each part is prefaced by a report 

 by Mr. R. H. Rew dealing with various points of interest 

 arising in connection with the Returns. 



Census of Production.— The amount of information which 

 occupiers of land were asked to supply in the annual schedule 

 was increased by the addition of certain questions relating 

 to the agricultural side of the Census of Production, 

 but farmers have met these increased demands in a very 

 public-spirited and enlightened way, and it has been found 

 that out of about 517,000 schedules nearly four-fifths con- 

 tained more or less detailed answers to the supplementary 

 inquiries. Information on various points is also being 

 obtained by means of special schedules, in regard to which 

 the Board hope to secure the further co-operation of those 

 specially concerned. 



In regard to these special inquiries, Mr. Rew observes 

 that it is perhaps not always appreciated that British agricul- 

 ture in these days is not so much a single industry as a 

 congeries of industries. Corn-growing, stock-breeding, 

 stock-feeding, milk-selling, butter-making, cheese-making, 

 although to a large extent interdependent and overlapping, 

 are also each of them specialised branches of agricultural 

 production; and the calculation of the output from each 

 branch requires the collection of separate data which are only 

 in a partial degree available, and which it is impracticable 

 to obtain by an annual inquiry. But beyond these main 

 branches of farming there are now many other so-called minor 

 branches which cannot be overlooked in considering the total 

 production of the land, and which, with the increase of 

 intensive cultivation, are yearly becoming of greater impor- 

 tance. Fruit-growing, vegetable-growing, flower-growing, 



* The preliminary total figures of acreage and live stock were dealt with in this ■ 

 Journal September, 1908, p. 423, and those relating to the produce of the crops in the 

 issue for December, 1908, p. 660. 



