Acreaye  under  Principal  Crops  and  (irass  in  1904.  3()5 
Acreage  under  Principal  Crops  and  Grass  in  IU04. 
Whent. — The  decrease  in  the  wheat  area,  amounting  to  13  per  cent., 
reduces  the  acreage  under  this  cereal  to  1,37.5,284  acres,  which  is  tlie  suialle.-t 
area  ever  recortleil.  The  lowest  point  to  which  the  cultivation  of  wheat  liad 
been  previously  reduced  was  in  1895,  when  1.417,483  acres  were  returned,  but 
a recovery  took  place  in  tlie  thi’ee  succeeding  years  until  in  1898  the  area 
reached  2,102,206  acres.  Since  then,  except  for  a slight  check  in  1902,  the 
wheat  acreage  has  year  by  year  declined,  and  the  tendency  in  that  direction 
was  accelerated  in  1904,  as  in  1903,  by  the  unfavourable  conditions  prevalent 
in  the  preceding  autumn  for  preparing  the  land  and  planting  the  crop. 
Whatever  the  causes,  it  must  be  considered  noteworthy  that  onc-third  of  the 
acreage  returned  as  under  wheat  so  recently  as  in  1898  is  now  rlevotcd  to 
other  crops.  The  largest  lo.sses  in  the  present  year,  numerically,  occur  in 
Lincoln  and  in  Essex,  where  25,985  and  21,015  acres  less  are  returned,  or 
16'4  and  20'9  per  cent,  of  the  respective  wheat  areas  of  these  counties.  Only 
two  counties  in  England,  viz.,  Dorset  and  Plants,  and  oidy  Midlothian  of  the 
regular  wheat-growing  counties  in  Scotland,  show  anj’  increase  in  the  wheat 
area. 
Burley  shows  a decrease  of  17,800  acres,  making  the  area  under  this  crop 
also  the  smallest  on  record.  The  decline  occurs  mostly  in  Scotland,  and  it 
is  aPso  heavier  in  Wales  than  in  England,  where  it  amounted  to  only  1,775 
acres  or  O'l  per  cent.  In  some  counties  the  decline  in  barley  is  attributeil 
to  an  unfavourable  seeding  time,  while  in  others  this  cereal  largely  took  the 
place  of  wheat.  In  Lincoln  there  is  an  increase  of  14,289  acres,  and  con- 
siderably larger  areas  were  also  placed  under  this  crop  in  Yorkshire.  On  the 
other  hand  the  largest  decrease,  7,467  acres,  occurred  in  Norfolk.  No  Welsh 
and  very  few  Scotch  counties  show  an  increase. 
Oats,  on  the  other  hand,  exhibit  an  increase  of  112,720  acres,  or  3 6 per 
cent.,  thus  raising  the  figures  for  this  crop  higher  than  in  any  previous  year 
with  the  exceptions  of  1894  and  1895.  It  may  be  noticed  that  this,  wliich 
has  long  been  the  most  widely  cultivated  cereal  crop  in  this  country,  now 
occupies  for  the  first  time  in  Great  Britain  an  area  larger  than  that  under 
wheat  and  barley  combined.  Oats  this  year  have  to  a considerable  extent 
taken  the  place  of  wheat.  In  Scotland  the  increase  is  relatively  slight, 
nearly  half  of  it  occurring  in  Aberdeenshire,  while  in  Wales  there  is  an 
actual  decline.  In  England,  Cornwall,  Stafford,  and  Hants  show  decreases, 
but  in  every  other  county  there  are  increases,  the  largest  being  in  Essex  and 
Norfolk,  with,  in  each  instapee,  some  10,000  acres  more  than  in  1903. 
Bye,  Beans,  and  Peas. — A fall  of  3,350  acres  brings  the  total  area  under 
rye  down  to  55,714  acres.  The  area  in  any  county  being  small  (Norfolk, 
Suffolk,  and  Hants  being  the  only  counties  with  over  4,000  acres),  the  changes 
are  not  regularly  distributed,  many  counties,  of  which  Norfolk  is  the  chief, 
recording  an  increase.  Beans  are  most  largely  grown  in  the  eastern  counties 
of  England;  and  the  more  important  of  these  (Suffolk,  Lincoln,  Essex, 
Cambridge,  and  Norfolk)  together  show  a gain  of  14,454  acres.  In  the 
remaining  counties  the  decreases  are  not  quite  balanced  by  the  gains,  so  that 
the  net  result  for  Great  Britain  is  a rise  of  13,127  acres  onljq  or  5'5  per  cent. 
Peas,  on  an  area  rather  less  than  three-fourths  that  of  beans,  show  a decrease 
generally,  amounting  to  5,903  acres,  or  3‘3  per  cent. 
Potatoes  occupy  an  area  of  570,209  acres,  or  5,923  more  than  in  1903.  This 
increase  has  taken  place  almost  entirely  in  Scotland,  where  there  are  6,371 
acres  (of  which  1,089  are  in  Perth)  more  than  last  year,  while  in  Wales  there 
is  a decline  of  483  acres.  The  majority  of  English  counties  show  a decline  in 
area  (amounting  to  as  much  as  1,488  acres  in  Cambridgeshire)  balanced  by 
gains  of  4,674  acres  in  Lincoln,  the  most  considerable  potato  growing  county, 
1,122  acres  in  Stafford.  867  acres  in  Lancaster,  and  smaller  increases  in  a few 
other  counties.  The  substantial  increase  in  Lincolnshire  is  partly  attributed 
by  the  collectors  to  the  encouragement  afforded  by  the  success  of  certain  new 
varieties. 
[Contimieil  on  page  StK).] 
