Comparative Agriculture of Em/land and Wales. 283 
ties. Leicester lias G7'3 per cent, of Its arable land under corn, 
wliilst the average of the corn counties, so called, is only 60'4 
per cent. Even the arable land of tlie northern counties carries 
a larger percentage of corn than would at first sight appear. 
The mean of the four is about 48 per cent. ; and Northumberland 
has nearly 49 per cent. 
By comparing the proportional area of each corn crop with the 
total area under corn we obtain the following result: — wheat is very 
evenly distributed. The most striking variations are in the 
Welsh counties bordering on the coast and in the north-west of 
England. The highest percentage is in Hereford, which has 
55"4 per cent, of its corn area * under wheat ; the lowest is 
Anglesea, which has only 7'2 per cent. The west-midland coun- 
ties stand high. The district in which the percentage is largest 
is that which overlies the New Red Sandstone plain, and the Old 
Red Sandstone adjoining : the Carboniferous series is but feebly 
developed in that area. 
The distribution of barley has been already referred to in part. 
Although requiring a high summer temperature, much higher 
than oats, it requires it for a much shorter time than wheat, — 
barley ripening rapidly. Hence the growth of barley on the 
western coasts, where its culture is controlled by climate. In 
the east of England the distribution of barley is regulated by soil. 
Norfolk stands highest amongst the English counties; next to 
that comes Rutland; then follow Suffolk, Cornwall, and Dorset. 
Oats have a very large excess in the western counties, parti- 
cularly in Westmoreland and Anglesea. Every county of Wales 
and the north-west of England which touches the coast, excepting 
Flint, has a high percentage. It is also high in all the northern 
counties, and again, though in a smaller degree, in the south-east 
of England. 
The large preponderance of permanent pasture in the western 
counties is mainly due to the influence of climate : the moister 
air and more equable temperature being especially suited to 
grass ; whilst it is adverse to the production of wheat. Through 
the eastern part of England, the varying proportions of pasture 
and corn depend mainly upon soil. Leicester, which has already 
been shown to be truly a wheat county, has its large area of 
rich pasture land upon the Lias Clays.f The other counties 
have an excess of pasture, pretty much in proportion to the area 
of bare Oolitic clays and Chalk Downs which they contain. 
Of Potatoes there are high percentages in some of the western 
* By this is meant — not the area of Hereford within which com is grown — but 
the sum of the acreage under all corn crops in 1869. This result is particularly 
worthy of note, as Hereford is not one of the corn counties. 
+ See Section No. 2. 
