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Parliamentary Publications. 



shown as covered with water, 32,437,000 acres appearing 

 under the various headings which make up the category of 

 cultivated land, 12, goo, coo acres, of which nearly three- 

 fourths occur in Scotland, consisting of rough grazings of 

 mountain or heath land, while, according to the special 

 returns last collected in 1895, woods and plantations cover a 

 further area of 2,726,000 acres. 



Major Craigie, in his prefatory report, notes the further 

 contraction of the land under the plough in Great Britain 

 and, by means of a diagram, illustrates the annual course of 

 the changes in this direction since 1870, with the more than 

 parallel increase which has occurred in the surface of per- 

 manent grass freshly brought into reckoning in the cultivated 

 area, or resulting from the conversion of arable land into 

 pasture. 



The returns of the produce of crops, which were briefly 

 summarised in the last number of this Journal, are now 

 shown in full detail for each county, and the yield of the 

 crops of the past season and of each of the last ten years is 

 compared with the estimated average yield over the ten- 

 year period 1 891-1900, with comments on the general 

 character of the past season. 



In the returns of live stock here given it is noted how 

 slight was the total increase in cattle in 1900, while horses, 

 sheep, and pigs all showed a more or less distinct decrease 

 on the preceding year. 



The prices of corn and meat in the past year are compared 

 in the report with the corresponding data for previous seasons, 

 the level of the grain prices showing a slight increase in both 

 wheat and oats, and a slight decrease in barley. As regards 

 meat, the data now available in various forms is found to 

 indicate the prevalence of a higher level of values than in 

 the preceding twelve months. 



The report refers also in detail to the numerous tables of 

 imports of agricultural produce for a long series of years 

 which are placed for convenient reference in this annual 

 volume. Attention is drawn to the changes which the 

 sources of our imports of wheat have undergone in the past 

 year, and in the previous decade, the large augmentation of 



