Parliamentary Publications. 



Ill 



to 5 acre holdings. More than two-thirds are farms not 

 exceeding 50 acres in extent, while the larger farms exceeding 

 300 acres form little over per cent, of whole number. The 

 average size of a holding comes out at 63 acres for Great 

 Britain as a whole, but the tables show great differences 

 between the prevailing size of farms in different countries. 



The following table shows the distribution of the holdings 

 in three groups in the four Agricultural divisions of 

 England, in Wales, and in Scotland. 





From I to 5 Acres. 



P'rom 5 to 50 Acres. 



Above 



50 Acres. 



Agricultural 















Divisions. 

















No. 



Acreage. 



No. 



Acreage. 



No. 



Acreag e . 



ENGLAND. 















I.— Eastern and 



20,189 



60,830 



33.757 



636,103 



27,237 



5,577.712 



North - Eastern 





Counties. 















11.— South • Eastern 



17,600 



53.696 



32,883 



628,015 



26,247 



4,982,648 



AND East-Midland 















Counties. 















III.— West Midland 



24,212 



71,900 



41,678 



795.197 



32,313 



5.524.983 



AND South - West 









ern Counties. 















IV. — Northern and 



25.054 



78,842 



62,273 



1.229,354 



36,736 



5,205,408 



North - Western 











Counties. 















Total for England - 



87,055 



265,268 



i70,5Qi 



3,288,669 



122,53} 



21,290,751 



Walvs .... 



10,763 



35,633 



30969 



635,024 



18,556 



2,167.702 



Scotland 



20;I5-3 



65,891 



33.931 



608,930 



25.568 



4,219,645 



GREAT BRITAIN - 



117,968 



366,792 



235.481 



4.532,623 



166,657 



27,678,098 



With regard to the proportion of pasture and arable land, 

 it is observed that many of the smallest type of holdings prac- 

 cally consist of plots or paddocks of permanent grass. While 

 the proportion of arable land to pasture in Great Britain as a 

 whole, in 1895, was as 49 to 51 — a nearly equal division of the 

 cultivated area — in the " i-acre to 5-acre " group of holdings 

 twice as much grass as arable land is accounted for, and in 

 over 61,000 instances, in this group of the smallest agricul- 

 tural holdings in Great Britain the plots are wholly grass. 



In the two next larger classes, embracing the holdings 

 from 5 to 20 and 20 to 50 acres, the proportion of arable land 

 to pasture is also far below that of the country as a whole, 

 and there are nearly two acres of grass for every single acre 

 of arable land farmed by the 235,000 occupiers of these 5 to 



