444 Allotments and Small Holdings. 
more than two-tliirds of which would only range from 1 to 5 
acres in area. 
It would of course be desirable, were it possible, accurately 
to compare both the number and the area of holdings of various 
sizes at different periods, going back much earlier than the 
dates referred to in the summary given above. In default of 
reliable data of this kind, it will nevertheless be of interest to 
direct attention to the returns for 1885, which are more com- 
plete than those for any other period. Thus, for that year, 
there are given — for England, Wales, Scotland, and Great 
Britain as a whole — the actual number, the proportional number 
per cent., the acreage or aggregate area, and the average si 2 :e 
of holdings, from | to 1 acre, from 1 to 5, from 5 to 20, from 
20 to 50, from 50 to 100, from 100 to 300, from 300 to 500, 
from 500 to 1,000, and from 1,000 acres upwards. There are also 
given, the number and the acreage of the respective holdings, 
which are wholly permanent pasture, wholly arable, and partly 
pasture and partly arable. Of these voluminous records,* Tables 
II, III, and IV, which follow, are summaries ; and they give 
the various particulars for holdings from 1 acre to 50 acres, 
and above 50 acres, respectively. 
It will be observed that holdings from to 1 acre are not 
included in the results given in the Tables, and this should be 
borne in mind in reading the comments thereon. As indicated 
above, it is probable that some of the holdings from to 1 acre 
have also been included in the returns of allotments ; and 
although the number of these smaller holdings is not imma- 
terial, the area is quite insignificant. Thus, in Great Britain 
the number of such holdings is 23,512, corresponding to about 
4^ per cent, of the whole; but their area is only 11,195 acres, 
corresponding to only 0-034 per cent, of the total recorded agri- 
cultural area. It should be further borne in mind, in judging 
of the results, that a considerable number of the record^ hold- 
ings, and especially of the smaller ones, wiU consist of areas 
attached to residences, for ornament or convenience, rather 
than as a means of liveldiood to the holder. Then, again, 
especially in Wales and in Scotland, there is a not inconsider- 
able amount of rough or hill grazing not included in the returns 
of agricultural area. 
The upper division of Table IT shows that in each of the 
three divisions of Great Britain the number of holdings from 
' Eeturns of the number of allotments detached from and attached to 
cottages, and of agricultural holdings in Great Britain, obtained for the Agri- 
cultural Department, Privy Council Office, by the Inland Revenue Department 
(C.— 4848), 1886. 
