March 1897.] 



THE HAY CROP OF 1896. 



359 



THE HAY CROP OF 1896. 



And the recent Imports of Hay. 



The drought in the early part of 1896 led to some apprehen- 

 sion that the experience of hay-growers in Great Britain, or at 

 all events in southern England, in 1893, might be again repeated. 

 Sufficient is now known of the past year's estimates to show 

 that, while a large decrease of aggregate production occurred in 

 England and Wales, both iu clover-hay and in that from per- 

 manent grass, the loss, whatever may be the case in special 

 localities, has been generally by no means so heavy as in the 

 earlier year. 



Contrasting the total hay crop of both descriptions in 1896 

 with the immediately preceding year, 1895, there is shown a 

 smaller supply by very nearly one million tons, for the collective 

 acreage of both descriptions of hay was smaller by about a 

 quarter of a million acres than in 1895, and the yield, except in 

 Scotland, was short by several hundredweights per acre. 



Taking first separately the hay cut from clover and rotation 

 grasses last year, the estimators' returns compared with the 

 results of 1895 account for half of the aggregate loss : — 



Hat cut from Clover and 

 Rotation Grasses. 



Estimated 

 Total Produce. 



Estimated 

 Yield per Acre. 



Average 



Yield 

 per Acre 

 1886-95. 



1896. 



1895. 



1893. 



1895. 





Tons. 



Tons. 



Cwts. 



Cwts. 



Cwts. 



England 



1,806,000 



2,429,000 



22-55 



27*89 



28*11 



Wales 



161,000 



186,000 



18-17 



21*13 



22*91 



Scotland 



657,000 



502,000 



33-44 



26-00 



30*22 



Great Britain 



2,624,000 



3,117,000 



24-16 



27*06 



28*10 



The 1895 figures were themselves slightly below those of 1894, 

 but both those years, so far as the English crop of clover-hay was 

 concerned, showed nearly double the poor yield of 1893, the past 

 year's total coming about midway between these extremes, and 

 leaving the crop of 1896 for Great Britain, as a whole, under, 

 but not by any very large proportion, the 2,700,000 tons of 

 clover-hay estimated to have been secured in 1892. The yield 

 per acre in 1896 is given as 4 cwts. short of a 10 3 T ears' average, 

 while that of 1893 was nearly 10 cwts. short of this figure. 



Turning to the crop cut from permanent grass, on an acreage 

 less by 120,000 acres than was mown in the former year, there 

 is estimated to have been a total reduction of 500,000 tons 



