Statistics affecting British Agricultural Interests. 415 
per acre in England has dropped from 19 '89 tons to 1274 tons. In 
Essex the return appears to have been less than 6 tons to the acre 
— not one-third of an ordinary crop. In Hertfordshire, Berkshire, 
and Middlesex less than 9 tons to the acre were reported, and in 
Buckinghamshire 9 V tons. The county of Dorset, which has the 
highest standard yield, shows less than 10 tons, in place of 26 - 6 tons 
to the acre in the season of 1892. 
The Yield of Hay in Great Britain . — The most serious of the 
several disasters of the past year has lain in the failure, already 
adverted to, of so unusual a proportion of the Hay crop. This has 
affected a very wide and important section of the area of Great 
Britain, and the loss extends to both forms of Hay, whether from 
Permanent or Temporary Grasses. The estimated average production 
of Hay of all kinds in an ordinary season in Great Britain exceeds 
8.600.000 tons, but according to the reports furnished, only 1,918,000 
tons were cut from clover and rotation grasses, while a total of 
2.681.000 tons from permanent meadow was all that had been secured 
last summer. 
Besides the reduced area which the agricultural returns showed 
to have been reserved for Hay in Great Britain under the peculiar 
circumstances of the season, the yield per acre on this diminished 
surface was in the case of Permanent Grasses less than half the 
customary estimate, and the reduction in the yield of the Clover 
and seed Hay exceeded one-tliird. In Hay from Permanent Meadow, 
the deficit per acre, compared with the normal yield, reached 14 cwt. 
in England, nearly 7 cwt. in Wales, while even in Scotland an 
estimated loss of 3 cwt. to the acre is reported. The Clover, 
Sainfoin, and Rotation Grasses cut were likewise about 3 cwt. short 
in Scotland. They were not much under 9 cwt. short in Wales, 
and nearly 13 cwt. deficient in England. In some cases where, 
contrary to the usual practice, second cuttings were obtained after 
rain had come, the estimated yield was only reached by including 
these. More usually it is reported that the urgent need of grass for 
grazing purposes led to there being little attempt to supplement the 
scanty first crop of Hay by a second cutting, while frequent instances 
are reported where no cutting at all took place until the autumn. 
Not a single county in England, and only two in Wales and eight 
in Scotland, returned over average yields per acre, but the different 
extent of the loss in the various counties was as striking as in the 
Grain crops. In Clover Hay the English average — 16-67 cwt. 
per acre in place of 29'39 — included seven counties where less 
than 10 cwt. was obtained. Bedford showed 8'63 cwt. only as 
against a standard crop of 38-02 cwt., Surrey 846 cwt. only 
against one of 26‘64 cwt., while the Berkshire and Buckingham- 
shire totals for the year scarcely rose above 9 cwt. to the acre, and 
Dorset, Gloucester, and Oxford also returned an average of less than 
half a ton, while in 1 1 other English counties less than half a crop 
was secured. 
In ordinary seasons Lancaster returns one of the heaviest Clover 
Hay crops, but even here the yield was reduced to 32'58 cwt. per 
