The Question of Calf-rearing. 
165 
sufficient to make up a few sets of columns relating to live stock and 
to the crops on which they feed ; the first and third consisting of 
five-year-interval totals, and preferably covering a period of twenty- 
five years ; and the second consisting of three-year-interval figures, 
relating to cattle under two years of age, and covering a period of 
ten years. Of horses, those used solely in agriculture, mares kept for 
breeding purposes, and unbroken horses, only, are enumerated in 
these returns : — 
Table I. — Number of Cattle, Sheep, and Horses in 
Great Britain. 
Year 
Cattle 
Sheep 
Horses 
18C8 
5,423,981 
30,711,396 
1,461,061 
1872 
5,624,944 
27,921,507 
1,258,020 
1877 
5,697,933 
28,161,164 
1,388,582 
1882 
5,807,491 
24,319,768 
1,413,578 
1887 
6,441,268 
25,958,768 
1,428,383 
1892 
6,944,783 
28,734,704 
1,518,082 
It will be observed in Table I. that a continuous though irregular 
increase has taken place in the number of cattle ; a five-year-interval 
plan does not, however, exhibit the full extent of the fluctuations 
which have occurred in the rearing of calves. To illustrate this 
definite feature a little more clearly, Table II., covering the last ten 
years, may perhaps be deemed sufficient : — 
Table II. — Cattle under Two Years of Age in Great Britain. 
Year 
Number 
Y ear 
Number 
1882 
1885 
1888 
2,143,990 
2,602,262 
2,244,626 
1891 
1892 
2,691,118 
2,627,186 
Here it will be noticed that the fluctuations in calf-rearing in 
the last ten years have been very considerable, and that although 
there is now a marked turn of the tide, in the direction of ebb, in the 
figures of 1892 as compared with those of 1891, we are still above 
the figures of 1885 by some 25,000, and above those of 1882 by no 
less than 483,000, in cattle under two years of age. It may be 
inferred from these data that the total number of cattle in Great 
Britain is greater than it ought to be — greater than the land can 
be expected to maintain. Whether or not such an inference may be 
sustained will best be seen by a study of the acreages recorded in 
Table III., on the next page. 
In this table will be noticed, as between 1892 and 1868, an 
increase of more than 240,000 acres of oats. But in all other corn 
crops, except rye, the official figures show a decreased acreage, that 
in wheat being startling and serious, viz., 1,432,286 acres. Peas and 
beans together exhibit a decrease of 320,000 acres, and barley one 
