Farm Prize Competition , 1913. 
297 
there are large advances in the proportion of cabbage grown in 
Gloucester and in Somerset, amounting to 70 per cent, in the 
former and 190 per cent, in the latter. A much larger area 
also of lucerne is now grown, there being an increase of 223 
per cent, in Gloucester, 365 per cent, in Somerset, and 62 per 
cent, in Dorset. Probably the increase in dairying, particularly 
in the direction of milk-production for the town supply, will 
account for the increased area under these crops. Rotation 
grasses have declined 30 per cent. 
Coming to fruit and vegetables, there has been a considerable 
development in orchard fruit, particularly in Gloucester, where 
the increase in the planted area amounts to 54 per cent. The 
increase in small fruit is even more marked. Figures are not 
available for 1878, in fact, they were not collected until ten 
years later, but since the year 1888 the acreage has increased 
by 58 per cent, in Gloucester, 281 per cent, in Somerset, and 
216 per cent, in Dorset. The increase in acreage of both 
orchard and small fruit has been accompanied by a corre- 
sponding improvement in the methods of management, and 
with the increasing demand for high-class English fruit and 
the growing consumption of cider, there is every reason to 
anticipate a further development in this department of 
agriculture. 
The areas under minor crops hardly call for notice, but the 
virtual abandonment of flax-growing in Somerset and Dorset is 
noteworthy in connection with the movement recently set on 
foot by the British Flax and Hemp Growers Society 1 for the 
re-introduction of this crop in various localities. Gloucester 
does not appear to have grown more than two acres of flax in 
any year for some time. 
Teazles are another unimportant but interesting crop still 
cultivated in Somerset, and a description of the methods 
pursued will be found in another part of this volume. 2 
The custom of bare fallowing has declined very considerably 
during the period under review, and whilst the actual pei- 
centages (73 per cent, in Gloucester, 81 per cent, in Somerset, 
and 58 per cent, in Dorset) are no doubt affected to some 
extent by weather conditions in the years 1878 and 1912, they 
suffice to show the tendency to more intensive cultivation. 
Coming to the live stock, it might be expected: that the 
decline in the area under the plough would be accompanied by 
a reduction in the number of agricultural horses, but this is not 
the fact. In Dorset there is no variation, and in Gloucester 
there is a small increase amounting to 4 per cent, whilst in 
Somerset there is an increase of no less than 15 per cent. 
1 See page 127. 
2 iSee page 163. 
