222 
The Agricultural Returns of 1866 and 1867. 
tion with the collection of Returns from all occupiers, instead 
of those only who held five acres and upwards, has led to an 
increase in the permanent pasture of 1867. That increase 
amounts to 762,286 acres in England and Wales — towards 
which Wales contributes 214,406 acres, the South - Western 
Counties of England 180,496 acres, the South-Eastern Counties 
74,337 acres, the West Midland Counties 64,273 acres, York- 
shire 61,452 acres, the North Midland Counties 51,632 acres, 
the South Midland Counties 44,997 acres, the North-Western 
Counties 35,855 acres, and the Northern Counties 32,728 acres; 
in Scotland the Increase of pasturage was 160,219 acres — chiefly 
contributed by the Southern, Western, and Midland Counties ; 
in Ireland where no alterations invalidate the comparison of one 
year with another there was an increase of 52,828 acres of 
pasturage, with a coriesponding decrease of 60,851 acres of arable 
land. Tiie pasturage Returns of 1867 show an increase on those 
of 1866 of 7 per cent, in England and Wales, and 18 per cent, 
in Scotland, which must be ascribed to the alterations just 
referred to ; the live stock increased 26 per cent, in England and 
Wales, and 26 per cent, in Scotland, partly in consequence of 
the extension of the Returns to all holdings, but partly also to 
the collection of the Returns at two different periods of the year, 
as well as to other circumstances to which reference will be 
subsequently made. 
The variations in the two years' Returns of arable land are 
inconsiderable, and under this head therefore it may be assumed 
that 17,759,759 acres represent with sufficient exactness the 
extent of land under tillage in Great Britain in 1867. 
A Table appended to this paper (Table I.) shows the distri- 
bution of the arable and pasture land as returned in 1866 and 1867 
for each county of England and Wales, and of Scotland. At the 
present time it does not seem advisable to attempt any minute 
analysis of those detailed facts ; they are recorded for reference, 
and will be valuable for use when the statistics of agriculture have 
resolved themselves into a shape to admit of full investigation. 
And this seems the proper place to give expression to a 
regret that the Agricultural Returns of 1867, like those of 1865, 
are tabulated for counties according to an alphabetical arrange- 
ment, which, for reasons previously stated in this Journal, is 
open to great objection, and for which there appears no sufficient 
reason. The Board of Trade cannot possibly have any interest 
in continuing thus to impair the great usefulness of these Returns 
by adhering to the alphabetical arrangement in preference to 
one based on a topographical system which has the sanction of 
the best statistical authorities. It may be hoped that this 
criticism will be accepted in the same spirit In which it is 
