Agricultural Statistics. 
571 
times, the area of England and Wales was computed at 29,000,000 
of acres. " The mode of levying the revenue of the Anglo-Saxon 
kings," says Dr. Beeke,* " led to a more minute investigation 
of the extent and cultivation of their territory than has ever 
recently been attempted. The celebrated Domesday Book of 
the Norman conquerors was evidently formed on a more ancient 
register of the same kind, to which it continually refers.^' The 
acreage estimated by Gregory King, who wrote about the close 
of the seventeenth century, amounts to 39,000,000. The dif- 
ferent estimates given by Grew, Templeman, Sir William Petty, 
Arthur Young, Halley, Middleton, and others, vary between 
31,648,000 and 46,916,000 acres (!). The last, which is Arthur 
Young's, was actually adopted by Mr. Pitt in his estimate of 
the probable produce of the Income Tax. The more accurate 
computation made by Dr. Beeke, amounted to 38,498,572 acres. 
This, however, was still considerably in excess. According to 
results founded originally on the Ordnance survey, compared 
■with the population returns, used by Mr, Rickman at the taking 
of the census of 1831, the area of England and Wales was re- 
duced to 36,999,680 acres. At the last Census the amount is 
taken as 37,324,915. 
In the case of Scotland, the table deduced from Arrowsmith's 
map, given in the ' General Report' of Scotland, states the acreage 
of the land, exclusive of lakes, of that part of the United Kingdom 
as nearly 19,000,000 acres (we give the nearest round numbers for 
convenience). This measurement has been adopted by the 
French author Lavergne in his recent work on British Agricul- 
ture, in preference to the earlier computations of Mr. Templeman, 
and of Pinkerton, by whom it is stated at 17,788,160 acres. The 
great irregularity of the geographical figure of Scotland, its 
numerous lakes and mountains, furnish a sufficient excuse for 
the difficult task of ascertaining its true area. The two most 
reliable authorities, M'CuUoch and Porter, estimate its area, 
respectively, inclusive of lakes and islands, at 19,352,320, and 
20,586,930 acres. The portion included in Mr. Hall Maxwell's 
' Statistical Returns' is 12,613,345^ acres. 
The estimates of the acreage of Ireland, whose outline presents 
a much less difficult problem of measurement, have, though few 
in number, differed very widely. The lowest was that of Sir 
William Petty, made in Cromwell's time, called the Down 
Survey, which, as far as it went, was a work of great accuracy, 
but omitted the greater part of the province of Connaught. This 
survey extends to about 17,000,000 acres. Dr. Beaufort's mea- 
surement, deduced from a collation and a correction of the best 
* Observations on the Income Tax, p. 10. 
