British Crops of 1898. 



437 



The Hay crop of 1898, like that of wheat, proved, as has 

 been generally recognised, greatly above the average, and 

 showed a higher yield per acre than has been previously 

 recorded since the Produce Returns were first collected, 

 although in 1889 the estimate for Great Britain approached 

 it very closely, and in the English counties slightly exceeded 

 last year's record. It will be seen from the tables given 

 below that clovers and rotation grasses gave nearly 

 6 cwts. per acre above an average, while permanent grass 

 gave a little more than 6 J cwts. in excess. Adding together 

 the total yield of hay of all kinds, it will be found to amount 

 to 10,639,000 tons, an aggregate in excess of any recorded 

 year except 1889, when the acreage mown was considerably 

 larger. 



The past year's figures for hay from clovers and rotation 

 grasses show that the yield per acre in England and Scotland 

 was almost precisely the same ; but as the calculated ten 

 years' average is considerably higher on the north than on 

 the south side of the Border, the crop of 1898 was relatively 

 much better in England than in Scotland. It may be men- 

 tioned, too, in this connection, that whereas in England not 

 a single county, and in Wales only one, appears to have 

 fallen below the average, in Scotland there were several 

 which fell below the standard. In fact, as between the north 

 and south of the country the position of 1897 was reversed 

 in 1898 with respect to the clover hay crop. 



Hay cut from Clover and 

 Rotation Grasses. 



Estimated Total 

 Produce. 



Estimated Yield 

 per Acre. 



Average 



Yield 

 per Acre, 

 1888-97. 



1898. 



1897. 



1898. 



1897. 



England - - - 

 Wales - 



Scotland . - - 

 Great Britain 



Tons. 

 3,034,000 



285,000 



688,000 



Ions. 

 2,434,000 



248,000 



638,000 



Cwts. 

 34-09 

 28-52 

 34'2i 



Cwts. 

 2875 

 25-26 



32-13 



Cwts. 

 27-48 

 22-58 

 31-06 



4,007,000 



3,320,000 



33-65 



29-04 



27-76 



