218 
Tlie Agricultural Returns of 18G6 and 1867. 
It further appeared that there were nearly as many acres 
(2,152,050) in th(! hands of 2038 l^nglish fanners havino^ farms 
of 700 acres and upwards, as there were acres (2,141,990) in the 
occupation of 97,800 small farmers ; and the Census Commis- 
sioners remark upon this " that when agricultural statistics are 
obtained, the comparative results of farming in the large and 
small way will be evident." At present our Returns are defi- 
cient in this particular, but as the object of the Board of 
Trade should be to get the statistics of agriculture for Great 
Britain into a form which shall admit of full and exact compari- 
son with the admirably complete system that Mr. Donnelly has 
long since perfected in Ireland, it may reasonably be asked that 
information as to the number and size of holdings shall be in- 
cluded in subsequent Returns. Meanwhile the statement, official 
though it be, that the present occupiers of land in Great Britain 
amount to 469,452 ; and that the average size of their farms is 
about 63 acres (exclusive of woods, plantations, or mountain pas- 
turage), must be accepted with reserve until an explanation, which 
will remove the difficulties above referred to, is forthcoming. 
The Commissioners of Inland Revenue in their Report for the 
year 1866-7 (p. 15) state that "The owners and occupiers of 
land in England have in many instances again shown reluctance 
to affi)rd the information required, and have occasioned the' 
officers much additional trouble. In Scotland they have, as 
before, manifested the greatest readiness to make the returns, 
and in that part of the kingdom there are very few cases in 
which it has been necessary to resort to estimates." 
To what extent the Returns for 1867 are the result of estimate 
is not stated, but I am informed that the proportion is lower 
than in the previous ^ ear ; the omission of this information 
from the Cattle Census of 1866, which was remarked upon 
in a former article in this Journal, was in some degree sup- 
plied in a subsequent Parliamentary Return (No. 528, Session of 
1866), whence it appears that of the 29,311,736 head of stock 
accounted for in 1866 as existing in Great Britain, 677,577, 
or a little over 2 per cent., were estimated by the collecting 
officers in default of returns by owners. The ratio of defec- 
tion varied greatly in different localities : in England 1*69 per 
cent, of cattle, 3'15 per cent, of sheep, and 2"18 per cent, of pigs 
were arrived at by estimate ; in Wales the corresponding ratios 
were 1*64, 1*78, and 1*95 per cent. ; while in Scotland they were 
•75, 'DO, and -38 per cent. Of the 34 Scotch counties the 
Returns were complete in 7 for all kinds of stock, in 8 for 
cattle alone, in 14 for sheep, and in 11 for pigs; in England 
and Wales the county of Rutland supplies the solitary instance 
of no defaulters under either head. The English Returns Avere 
most defective in the following counties : — 
