Agricultural Returns of 1902. 



203 



The total area accounted for has, it will be seen, again slightly 

 diminished during the year. Wheat, however, which in 1901 

 showed a decrease of 144,000 acres, has on this occasion 

 recovered 25,500 acres — an increase of ij per cent, on the 

 surface devoted to this cereal. The small area under rye and 

 that shown as under peas exhibit relatively large extensions, 

 and the oat crop shows a rise of 2 per cent. Barley, on the 

 other hand, has diminished by rather more than 3 per cent., 

 and a reduction by a similar percentage occurs in beans. The 

 area under all six corn crops is, however, greater on the year 

 by nearly 50,600 acres. The area under turnips is once again 

 diminished, the loss being 55,900 acres, or 3*4 per cent., for 

 which, however, some compensation appears among other green 

 crops. An increase in mangolds of 42,600 acres makes the area 

 under this crop greater than in any previously recorded year, 

 while the cultivation of the minor crops of cabbage and kohl- 

 rabi has extended. Lucerne continues to increase in 

 favour, and the additional 10,100 acres recorded this year is 

 equivalent to an augmentation of 23 per cent. Neither in clover 

 and rotation grasses nor in permanent grass is any significant 

 change exhibited, and though the aggregate area returned is in 

 both cases less than last year, the quantity cut for hay in 

 1902 appears to have been greater than in any year since 1895. 

 The arable land left uncropped, which has shown a tendency 

 to decline for some years past, now stands at a lower figure 

 than in any previous year. 



Turning to the statistics of live stock, which are recorded in 

 the following Table, it will be seen that the horses employed in 

 agriculture were fewer by I per cent., although a slight increase 

 appears in the unbroken horses returned. Both cattle and sheep 

 in Great Britain declined, but there was a recovery from the 

 small total of last year in the number of pigs recorded. 



It may be noted that fewer cattle of all ages were returned 

 in 1902 than in any year since 1897. The total decrease in, 

 the past year amounted to nearly 208,000 head, or 3*1 per 

 cent., the heaviest relative reduction — 67 per cent. — occurring 

 in the group of cattle of two years old and above, which were 

 most readily marketable. Sheep also continue to diminish, 

 the aggregate showing this year a loss of 611,500, or 2-3 per 



