Acreage under Principal Crops and Grass in 1905. 239 
few counties showing trifling increases, but insufficient to counterbalance the 
more important reductions in Aberdeen and Forfar. 
Rye, Beans , and Peas . — Rye shows an increase of 6,483 acres, or 1L6 
per cent., most of it, as might be expected, occurring in England. Nearly 
1,000 acres more than in 1904 were placed under this crop in Hampshire ; but 
Norfolk shows a falling off: of 461 acres, with the result that the rye acreage of 
this county, usually the largest, is almost equalled by Hampshire and Suffolk. 
Of beans there is also an increased acreage, confined to England, both 
Scotland and Wales exhibiting a decline. The changes, as compared with 
1904, are very varied in different counties ; of the five chief bean-growing 
counties (with over 10,000 acres each), Cambridge, Lincoln, and Norfolk have 
decreases of from 1,000 to 2,000 acres, and Suffolk declines by over 400 acres ; 
Essex, on the other hand, shows an increase of over 2,000 acres. The addition 
of 1,000 acres in the East Riding also represents a large increase. Peas, on the 
other hand, record a small decrease in England, and show an infinitesimal 
increase upon the small acreages in Scotland and Wales. As with beans, 
Essex shows the largest increase ; but Lincoln, the chief pea-growing county, 
has a deficiency of over 4,000 acres. 
Potatoes , with 608,473 acres, cover more land by 38,264 acres, or 6‘7 per 
cent., than last year, and for the first time since 1871, when 627,691 acres were 
returned, over 600,000 acres have been planted with this crop in Great Britain. 
The increase over 1904 has been, relatively, somewhat greater in England than 
in Scotland, while in Wales there has been a slight decline. Cornwall and 
Devon also show a slight falling off, all other English counties reporting 
increases, which are most considerable in Lincoln, Lancaster, Chester, the West 
Riding, and Cambridge in England, and in Forfar and Fife in Scotland. The 
extension during late years of potato growing is a feature of English farming 
only, the total in Scotland being only now restored to that which it was before 
1890, while the Welsh area has exhibited an almost continual decline since 
1888. 
Root Crops , fyc . — The chief root crop, turnips and swedes, show a decline of 
nearly 1 per cent., bringing the acreage down to 1,589,000 acres. Before 1887 
the turnip crop of Great Britain stood at over 2,000,000 acres, and the shrinkage 
is most notable in England, where a 25 per cent, fall is recorded from that date 
as compared with one of 5 per cent, in Scotland. In the present year several 
counties record small augmentations, but these were insufficient to counter- 
balance losses of over 2,000 acres in Devon, and of over 1,000 acres in Dorset, 
Salop, and Aberdeen ; while a diminution of nearly that amount was noted in 
Fife and Forfar. Mangels, on the other hand, have slightly improved their 
position, the total area again exceeding 400,000 acres. The increase was entirely 
in England, and was most noticeable in Essex and Norfolk. Cabbage shows a 
material increase, amounting to almost 5 per cent. It is most noticeable in the 
south-west, particularly Devon, and one or two collectors in that quarter 
mention an increasing tendency to substitute cabbage for roots as food for 
stock. The relatively small area under kohl rabi exhibits an even larger 
increase, viz., 127 per cent., nearly a fourth of the whole augmentation 
occurring in Essex, where there are over 3,500 acres under this crop. Rape, 
on the contrary, shows a loss of 3,891 acres, or 4 per cent., the decline being- 
very marked in Lincoln ; while vetches or tares display a considerable 
increase (6‘4 per cent)., more especially in the eastern counties. Lucerne 
shows a further check to the extensions noted some years ago. The decline 
amounts to 4‘2 per cent., and the total this year is a trifle below that 
returned in 1902, Essex, the chief lucerne-growing county showing a decline 
of 1,253 acres. Among other crops there are returned 12,694 acres under 
carrots, 2,838 acres under onions, and 441 acres under flax. The onion acreage, 
it may be noticed, has increased by 513 acres, or 22 per cent., and while this is 
noticeable in most counties, it is most marked in Bedfordshire, where 148 acres 
have been added to the 430 under this crop in 1904. 
[Continued on page 254.] 
