The Agricultural Returns of 1866 and 1867. 223 
offered, and that the Returns of 1868 will be free from what 
cannot but be regarded as a defect. The facts given in the an- 
nexed Table V. have been remodelled from the Official Returns 
in accordance with this view of the matter, but the labour thus 
necessitated should hardly have to be incurred by the student of 
future Returns. 
Subjoined is the distribution of the arable land under the 
various kinds of cultivation (see page 224). 
According to this statement 55 per cent, of the arable land of 
England and Wales was under corn crops in 1867, the corre- 
sponding proportion for Scotland being 41 jier cent., for Ireland 
38^ per cent., and for the adjacent islands 36 per cent. Under' 
all kinds of green crops (including clover and artificial grasses 
under rotation) the ratio of acreage to the entire arable area was 
39 per cent, in England and Wales, 56 per cent, in Scotland, 
56 per cent, in Ireland, and 58 per cent, in the Islands. The 
proportion of bare fallow or uncropped arable land was "5 per 
cent, in Ireland, 6 per cent, in England and the Islands, and 
3 per cent, in Scotland. Flax culture employed 5 per cent, of 
the arable land of Ireland, and hops in England occupied "4 per 
cent, of the arable acreage. 
The variations in the acreage under " bare fallow," as returned 
for the two years, are partly owing to mistakes or misconceptions 
in some districts as to the land that should have been returned 
under that head. 
Of the 64,280 acres bearing hops in England in 1867 nearly 
two-thirds (40,762) were in Kent, 9989 acres in Sussex, 5335 in 
Hereford, 2992 in Hants, 2421 in Worcester, and 2193 in 
Surrey : the increase of nearly 8000 acres of hops in 1867 over 
1866 is not accounted for in the Returns. 
In so far as the Returns for the two years are comparable, the 
following Table shows the fluctuations of the acreage under 
cultivation for the several crops. Thus, in England and Wales, 
16,465 acres more of wheat were sown in 1867 than in the 
previous year; 16,968 more of barley; 12,854 more of beans; 
226,064 more of clover and other grasses in rotation ; and 15,998 
more of turnips and swedes. On the other hand, there was a 
diminution of 20,729 acres of potatoes; 2516 acres of oats; 
8567 acres of rye ; 2041 acres of peas ; 31,326 acres of cabbage, 
kohl-rabi, and rape ; 32,999 acres of other green crops ; and 
31,390 acres of bare fallow. In Scotland there was an increase 
in the acreage under wheat, barley, potatoes, turnips and swedes, 
and clover ; a decrease in the oat, bean, pea, and all green crops 
except turnips and potatoes, as well as of acreage under bare 
fallow. In Ireland, the extent of wheat and oat crop was dimi- 
nished, while the barley acreage increased ; potatoes were reduced 
