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IX. — Oil the Comparative Agriculture of England and Wales. 
By William Topley, F.G.S., Geological Survey of England 
and Wales. 
That Agriculture is carried on under widely different circum- 
stances in different parts of England is well enough known. 
Until quite recently, however, there have been no certain data 
on which to institute a comparison between one district and 
another ; but the publication of the Agricultural Statistics pre- 
pai'ed by the Board of Trade enables tliis now to be done with 
some degree of accuracy. On some points, however, information 
is totally wanting. There is no return for Woodland and Fruit : 
the former is important in every county, and the latter is espe- 
cially so in some. With one other exception, the Returns are 
fairly complete for acreage, and that exception is, an estimate 
of unenclosed land, hill-pastures, &c. ; all, in fact, which is 
commonly understood as " Waste Land." 
These statistics give the actual acreage of each crop ; but the 
numbers, tliough essential for obtaining an accurate knowledge 
of the producing power of a county, are useless, as they stand, 
for comjmring one county with another. This can only be done 
by obtaining percentages, which may be calculated on different 
bases. For general purposes, the total acreage is decidedly the 
best, and is the only one which affords a sufficient test of the 
agricultural value of the various counties. 
In order to obtain some accurate knowledge of the distribution 
of the different crops, with the view of comparing them with the 
physical structure of the country, I have calculated the percent- 
age of acreage devoted to each. The numbers thus obtained are 
embodied in the following Table, so that the productiveness of 
any county may be seen at a glance. Some of the more obvious 
results will be noticed presently. It must be remembered that 
the numbers here given are percentages only, and afford no 
information upon the actual acreage of crops. This must be 
sought for in the original Returns. Thus, in comparing the 
counties of Huntingdon and Lincoln, the acreage under wheat in 
1869 was more than six times greater in the latter county than 
in the former ; yet there is a larger percentage of Huntingdon 
under wheat than of Lincoln. Again, Cambridge, which is the 
most productive county in the kingdom in proportion to its size, 
and which excels especially in corn, is yet itself exceeded in 
actual acreage under corn by eight counties, two of which, Devon 
and the West Riding,* are not even considered as corn districts. 
* The three Ridings of Yorkshire rank as separate counties in the ' Keturns.' 
In his Introduction to these Returns, Mr. A. W. Fonblanque gives a list of ' Corn' 
