238 Statistics affecting British Agricultural Interests. 
Crops op the United Kingdom. 
Adding to the result of the produce estimates for Great Britain the official 
figures of production for Ireland, the following table shows the quantity of each 
of the principal crops harvested in the last three years in the United Kingdom. 
Estimates for the Isle of Man and the Channel Islands are not furnished. 
Crops 
1902 
1903 
1904 
Qrs. 
Qrs. 
Qrs. 
Wheat ..... 
7,285,000 
6,102,000 
4,740,000 
Barley ..... 
9,305,000 
8,164.000 
7,807,000 
Oats ..... 
23,023,000 
21,618,000 
22,094,000 
Tons 
Tons 
Tons 
Potatoes .... 
5,920,000 
5,277,000 
6,230,000 
Turnips ..... 
29,116,000 
23,523,000 
28,033,000 
Mangel .... 
10,809,000 
8,212,000 
8,813,000 
Hay (all sorts) 
15,246,000 
14,955,000 
14,860,000 
Acreage under Principal Crops and Grass in 1905. 
Wheat . — The area under wheat has increased from 1,375,284 to 1,796,995 
acres, a recovery of 421,711 acres, or 30*7 per cent,., from the figures of 1904. 
This increase is almost universally attributed by the collectors to the favourable 
seeding time during the autumn of 1904. These unusually propitious 
conditions were in marked contrast to the unfavourable weather prevailing 
during the autumn of 1903, which was largely the cause of the reduced area 
under this crop in 1904. As a consequence, the loss of over 200,000 acres then 
noted was not only recovered, but a further 200,000 acres and more were 
added to the total under this cereal, making it the highest of the present 
century. A noticeable point is that (with the exception of Aberdeen, where 
only a few acres are placed annually under this crop) no single county in 
Great Britain reports a decline in the wheat area. Proportionately, the 
increase was slightly greater in England (nearly 31 per cent.) than in 
Scotland (29 per cent.) or in Wales (25 per cent.). Increases of more than 
100 per cent, appear in Chester, Durham, Northumberland, and the North 
Biding of York in England, while the largest acreages added to the 1904 totals 
are, as might be expected, in the corn-growing counties of the east of 
England, viz., Lincoln, 44,081 acres (33 per cent.), Essex, 35,190 (44 per cent.), 
Norfolk, 21,201 (21 per cent.), and Suffolk, 20,363 acres (24 per cent.) 
Barley . — The acreage under barley again shows a decline, and the total 
area, 1,713,664 acres, is the lowest on record, the reduction, as compared with 
1904, being 127,020 acres, or 6-9 per cent. The decline was all in England, 
where it amounted to 8‘6 per cent,, and in Wales 5 2 per cent, ; only one 
English and one Welsh county (Cumberland and Anglesey) showing slight 
increases. The largest decreases are in the eastern counties, particularly 
Lincoln and Essex. In Scotland, on the other hand, there is an increase 
which amounts to 5-7 per cent., and is less noticeable in the principal barley- 
growing counties of Fife and Forfar than in Aberdeen, Banff, and Kincardine. 
Oats . — In oats there has been a decline, common to all three divisions of 
Great Britain, due very largely, as in the case of barley, to the largely 
increased extent of land placed under wheat. It may be noted also that the 
substitution of wheat for barley and oats would account for over three-fourths 
of the increase in the wheat area. For several years past the cultivation of 
oats had been steadily increasing, and the decline of 201,586 acres (or 6'2 
per cent.) now apparent cannot, in face of the larger wheat area, be regarded 
as significant. No English county shows an increased area this year, and 
decreases of over 10,000 acres are reported in Essex, Lincoln, Norfolk, and the 
East Biding of York. In Wales and Scotland results were more variable, a 
