Statistics affecting British Agricultural Interests. 365 
Live Stock Returns. 
Considering now the portion of the returns devoted to 
Live Stock, the numbers given for June, 1908, show an increase 
of 924,275 sheep, or 3'5 per cent., which is accompanied by an 
increase of 186,716 pigs, or 7T per cent. Unfortunately 
against these must be put decreases of 10,698, or 0-7 per cent, 
of horses, and 6,933, or 0 - l per cent, of cattle. 
The return of Horses shows a falling off on the total of only 
0 - 7 per cent., and it is noticeable that this is confined to the 
case of unbroken horses of one year and over, of which there 
is a decrease of 14,143, there being an increase of 3,397 in 
those used for agricultural purposes. It is unfortunate that 
this diminution of unbroken horses should continue, as it seems 
to show that it no longer pays to breed them. 
The number of Cattle recorded last year in Great Britain 
(6,905,134) showed a decrease of 6,933, whereas in the whole 
United Kingdom there was an increase of 109,680. The 
increases and decreases were spread over different parts of the 
country, contiguous counties often showing one a decrease and 
the other an increase. Thus Kent shows a decrease of 3-8 per 
cent., while Surrey gives an increase of nearly 3*9 per cent. 
The number of Sheep in Great Britain, on the other hand, 
showed an increase of 1,004,275, bringing the total up to 
27,119,750, and this increase occurred in spite of an importation 
of about 1,600,000Z. worth of foreign sheep over and above the 
figure for the previous year. The increases were in “ Ewes 
kept for breeding,” 291,949 ; in “ Other Sheep,” 439,170 ; and 
in lambs, 273,156. As in the case of the cattle, it seems 
difficult to apply any general remarks to the locality of the 
increase of sheep, but on the whole they seem to have increased 
most in the neighbourhood of the great centres of population, 
especially in the north midlands. In Kent, Suffolk, and 
Norfolk there were considerable increases, and also in some of 
the counties on the south coast. On the whole, however, the 
increase was in patches, and not general. 
The number of Pigs in 1908 was 2,823,482, an increase of 
186,716 over the previous year, but it is unfortunate that in the 
case of “ Sows kept for breeding ” there was a decrease of 
10,791, or 2'8 per cent., thus reversing the experience of the 
previous year. 
Produce Returns. 
The preliminary returns issued by the Board of Agriculture 
and Fisheries have in this, as in previous years, been utilised to 
complete Tables II. and III. in this volume, and from them the 
following conclusions may be drawn : — 
The Wheat crop of the year for Great Britain was 6,565,370 
quarters, a decrease of 335,400 quarters since the previous year, 
[Continued on page 381.] 
