112 



Parliamentary Publications. 



50 acre farms. In the holdings over 100 acres the conditions 

 are reversed, and the arable area is greater than the pasture. 

 The class of farm in which, on the whole, the use of the 

 plough still most distinctly predominates, is that made up of 

 holdings running from 500 to 1,000 acres in extent. 



For the purposes of comparison, the following table, which 

 gives the figures for 1885 and 1895, may be quoted : — - 



Holdings in Great 

 Britain. 



1885. 



1895. 



5 to 50 Acres 



No. 

 232 955 



Acreage. 

 4-48i,3S4 



. No. 

 235,481 



Acreage. 

 4,53 2 >623 



50 „ 100 



64.715 



4,746,520 



66,625 



4,885,203 



100 300 



79,573 



13.658,495 



81,245 



13 875r9i4 



300 500 „ 



13,875 



5 241,168 



13.56S 



5,113-945 



Over 500 



5,489 



4,029,843 



5.219 



3,803,036 



Total - 



396,607 



32,157,380 



402,138 



32,210,721 



Holdings between 50 acres and 300 acres have thus increased 

 both in number and in acreage, while those above 300 acres 

 in extent have correspondingly diminished. The increase in 

 acreage in the two groups embracing the 50 to 300 acre 

 farms has been 356, 102 acres in the 10 years, while the decrease 

 in the area of the farms lying over the 300-acre limit has been 

 354,030 acres. The holdings between 50 and 300 acres are 

 more numerous by 3,582, or nearly i\ per cent. ; those above 

 300 are less numerous by 577, a decrease of 3 per cent. 



Beyond the half million holdings of Great Britain 

 exceeding an acre, which can be dealt with as regards 

 their number, size, distribution, and agricultural character 

 in some detail, there lie the still more numerous and more 

 minute series of parcels of land occupied by one or other of 

 the many forms of allotment, field garden, or holding of a 

 single acre or less. None of these come within the scope of 

 the regular Agricultural Returns, but a special inquiry into 

 the numbers of these plots has been included in the inquiry 

 of 1895. Although many difficulties were encountered in 

 obtaining the information respecting areas too small to be 



