1909.'] Agricultural- Statistics for 1908. 



49 



poultry-keeping, bee-keeping, all contribute largely to the 

 sum total of agricultural production, and of all of them the 

 statistical information at present available is very meagre. 

 To remedy in some degree these defects in our knowledge, 

 and to afford a better measure of the economic position of 

 Agriculture in relation to national wealth, are the primary 

 objects of the special inquiries which the Board have under- 

 taken. 



Decrease in the Agricultural Area. — The shrinkage of the 

 acreage returned as under crops and grass, i.e., what may 

 properly be termed the "farmed" area, which has steadily 

 continued year by year for the last seventeen years, was 

 again apparent in 1908, the loss amounting to 32,000 acres 

 on the year. A part of this no doubt consisted of land on 

 the economic margin of cultivation which has reverted to 

 unproductiveness, but a large, and probably a larger, part 

 has no doubt been withdrawn from farming for more, profit- 

 able use. That the latter is the predominant cause at present 

 appears to be indicated by the fact that, generally speaking, 

 the loss of agricultural area has in late years been greatest 

 in those counties where urban extension is most active. It 

 might perhaps be expected that the restriction of agriculture 

 by urban encroachment in some districts would be set off 

 by its extension in other districts, and this does occur to a 

 slight extent. 



Increase in Grass Land. — The conversion of arable land 

 into pasture proceeds with equal certainty and at much 

 greater speed than the reduction of the agricultural area. In 

 1908 the plough was stopped over 170,000 acres, while, on 

 the other hand, 138,000 acres were added to grass. The 

 total extent of arable land, which about thirty-five years ago 

 amounted to 18J million acres, has now fallen to little more 

 than 14J million acres. The loss, as has frequently been 

 pointed out, has been almost entirely in England and Wales, 

 the reduction in Scotland having been comparatively trifling. 

 If the average of the three years 1876-8 be taken as a 

 standard, it will be found that since that period the loss 

 in England and Wales has exceeded 20 per cent., while in 

 Scotland it has been less than 4 per cent. 



Number of Holdings. — The reduction of cultivated area 



E 



