3G2  Statistics  afecting  British  Agricultural  Interests. 
figures  of  1895  and  1903  are  not  strictly  comparable  with  those 
of  1885,  the  latter  including  holdings  of  exactly  one  acre, 
which  were  not  included  in  the  Agricultural  Returns  after  1892. 
Taking  all  the  groups  into  calculation,  it  appears  that  the  • 
present  average  size  of  holdings  in  Great  Britain  remains 
practically  the  same  as  in  1895,  viz.,  63  acres;  or,  to  take  the 
figures  as  extended  to  decimals,  63T  acres  in  1903,  as  against 
62’6  acres  in  1895.  If,  however,  the  first  group  of  holdings, 
viz.,  “Above  one  acre  and  not  exceeding  five  acres”  be 
eliminated — which  for  reasons  explained  in  Major  Craigie’s 
Report  makes  the  resulting  figures  more  representative  of 
ordinary  agriculture — the  average  acreage  of  farms  in  different 
Divisions  of  Counties  in  England,  in  each  of  the  three 
countries,  England,  Wales,  and  Scotland,  and  in  the  whole 
of  Great  Britain,  is  as  follows  : — 
Divisions  of  Counties 
1885 
1895 
1903 
Acres 
Acres 
Acres 
I.  Eastern  and  North  Eastern  . 
103 
102 
102 
II.  South  Eastern  and  East  Midland 
98 
95 
94 
III.  West  Midland  and  South  Western 
87 
86 
85 
IV,  Northern  and  North  Western 
64 
65 
66 
England  as  a whole  . 
85 
84 
84 
Wales 
58 
57 
55 
Scotland  
83 
81 
81 
Great  Britain 
81 
80 
80 
Estimated  Yield  of  Crops  ix  Great  Britain,  1903. 
The  following  observations  are  reproiluced  from  the 
Agricultural  Returns  of  1903,  and  the  Acreage  and  Live 
Stock  Returns  of  1904  : — 
Whfat. — The  yield  per  acre  of  wheat  in  Great  Britain  was  estimated  at 
30'13  bushels  per  acre,  or  only  two-fifths  of  a bushel  less  than  the  average 
of  the  preceding  ten  years,  but  this,  in  conjunction  with  the  smaller  area  from 
which  the  crop  was  taken,  reduced  the  total  production  to  a figure  below  that 
of  any  year  since  189.5.  The  decline  in  the  average  yield  was  not  everywhere 
apparent.  In  several  counties  the  decennial  average  appears  to  have  been 
exceeded.  But  while  nearly  a third  of  the  area  under  wheat  in  Great  Britain 
lies  in  the  four  contiguous  counties  of  Essex,  Suffolk,  Norfolk,  and  Lincoln, 
in  only  one  of  these  counties,  Norfolk,  was  the  estimated  yield  of  1903  over  the 
decennial  mean,  and  there  the  wheat  crop  was  reported  to  have  been  on  the 
whole  of  fair  quality  although  generally  harvested  in  bad  condition.  Taking 
the  country  generally  the  effect  upon  the  wheat  crop  of  the  unfavourable 
harvest  weather  was  very  marked.  The  quality  of  the  grain  varied  very 
considerably,  a large  portion  of  it  being  damp  and  quite  unfit  for  market  until 
it  had  been  well  dried  in  stack.  In  Kent,  Surrey,  and  Sussex,  as  well  as  in 
Cornwall,  Devon,  and  Dorset,  the  estimated  yield  wiis  fairly  satisfactory  as 
