242 
HOME PRODUCE AND FOREIGN IMPORTS 
IN 1889. 
The Returns of the produce of crops in the United Kingdom issued 
on March 13 1 render it possible to include in this number of the 
Journal a Table (pp. 244-5), giving the actual results of the last 
harvest. There is at the close of every agricultural year, consider- 
able speculation as to the yield of the various crops, and this specula- 
tion is commonly displayed in the expression of the most conflicting 
opinions as to the final outcome of the season. The figures now 
available show that most of these opinions represented facts, but 
that they represented them partially — that, in short, the experience 
of one district was very different from that of another. Without 
attempting to analyse the Returns, this point may be briefly indicated. 
For the purpose of the Returns England is partitioned into four 
divisions, and the figures are given separately for each. It now ap- 
pears that there was a wide difference between Division I., which 
comprises the Eastern counties, and Division IV., which comprises 
the North and North-western counties. In the former all the cereal 
and pulse crops were below the average, and in the latter they were 
all above the average. This can best be shown by the percentage of 
yield below and above an average yield per acre in each case : — 
Crop 
Division I. 
Eastern counties 
Below average 
Division IV. 
North and North-western 
counties 
Above average 
Per cent. 
Per cent. 
Wheat 
4 02 
1850 
Barley 
13-64 
538 
5 05 
113 
10-77 
5 03 
13-49 
3 13 
Division II., which includes the Home counties and the South- 
east of England, had rather better crops than Division I., but they 
were all less than the average, with the exception of wheat. On 
the other hand, in Division III. (Western counties) the yield, though 
not so good as in Division IV., was above the average in every 
case, except peas. » 
1 In the official summary of the Returns, it is remarked that the 
cereal crops " varied greatly in their yield throughout Great Britain, 
though the reports as to quality, except as to barley, are generally 
favourable. Root crops are referred to in many of them as being 
conspicuous both in regard to abundance and quality, while the 
hay crop is almost universally mentioned as being one of the finest 
crops obtained for a long time." 
1 Parliamentary Paper, 0. 5945 (Byre & Spottiswoodc, Bast Harding 
Street, Fleet Street. E C.) Price Ad. 
