Statistics  afecting  British  AgricultuTal  Interests^  o97 
less  by  28,000  acres  than  in  the  previous  year,  and  less  by  a 
quarter  of  a million  acres  than  in  1900.  There  was,  how- 
ever, an  increase  of  108,500  acres  in  corn  crops  since  the 
previous  year. 
Looking  now  to  England  alone,  we  find  that  the  acreage 
under  crops  and  grass  diminished  by  19,400  acres  since  the 
year  before,  but  the  corn  crops  covered  an  area  greater  than 
in  any  year  since  1902,  and  105,600  acres  in  excess  of  the 
area  devoted  to  them  in  1908.  The  great  increase  last  year 
was  in  Wheat,  which  took  up  an  additional  area  of  185,000 
acres,  an  advance  of  nearly  12  per  cent,  on  the  total  area  of 
the  previous  year.  There  were  also  substantial  increases  in 
the  acreage  of  Beans  and  Peas,  while  there  was  a decrease- 
of  115,000  acres,  or  nearly  6 per  cent.,  in  Oats  and  a slight 
falling  off  in  Barley. 
The  Permanent  Grass  increased  in  the  same  season  by 
11.000  acres  in  England.  This  is  less  than  one  thousandth 
of  its  area,  whereas  in  the  previous  year  it  had  increased  by 
93.000  acres,  or  more  than  eight  times  as  much.  There  were 
also  increases  in  Scotland  and  Wales,  making  the  total  in- 
crease in  Great  Britain  up  to  36,500  acres. 
The  acreage  of  Potatoes  increased  last  year  by  14,446  acres, 
or  about  one-half  per  cent.,  in  England,  and  by  13,356  acres, 
or  about  one-third  per  cent.,  in  Great  Britain. 
Turnips  and  Swedes  showed  slight  increases  (about  one- 
half  per  cent.),  both  in  England  and  in  Great  Britain  taken 
as  a whole.  In  Scotland  there  was  a very  slight  decrease. 
The  acreage  of  Mangold,  on  the  other  hand,  showed  a sub- 
stantial increase  of  27,550  acres,  or  6'6  per  cent.,  in  England. 
The  area  given  to  it  in  both  Scotland  and  Wales  is  quite  small. 
To  take  a general  view  of  the  arable  land  as  a whole,  we 
find  that  corn  crops  occupy  over  51  per  cent,  of  the  cultivated 
area  of  England  and  42  per  cent,  of  that  of  the  United 
Kingdom.  The  area  of  arable  land  in  England  is  54  per 
cent,  of  the  total  of  the  United  Kingdom. 
Of  the  area  under  Corn  Crops  in  the  United  Kingdom, 
4,038,400  acres,  or  over  47  per  cent.,  were  under  Oats  which, 
as  stated  above,  decreased  substantially  since  the  previous 
year.  Taking  England  alone,  the  percentage  of  the  corn 
crops  area  under  oats  was  under  thirty-four,  and  the  decrease 
since  the  previous  year  amounted  to  118,900  acres,  or  6 per 
cent,  of  the  area.  Wheat,  which  occupied  just  under  25  per 
cent,  of  the  acreage  under  corn  crops  in  the  United  Kingdom, 
and  over  31  per  cent,  of  that  in  England  showed  an  increase 
of  no  less  than  185,500  acres  in  the  year  in  England,  where 
its  acreage  was  greater  than  it  had  been  since  1900,  when  it 
was  10,000  acres  larger. 
