254 Statistics affecting British Agricultural Interests. 
[Continued from page 239.] 
Hops and Fruit . — Hops show an increase of area — the first for six years — 
but the total advance is only 1,168 acres (2’4 per cent.) on the 1904 figures. 
Small fruit also has slightly increased, and with nearly 79,000 acres against 
less than 37,000 acres when first recorded in 1888, now occupies the largest 
area yet recorded. The past year’s increase is relatively much greater in 
Scotland, particularly Perth and Forfar; while in England a decline of 500 
acres in Kent is set off by an equivalent increase in Cambridge. In this 
connection note may also be taken of an increase in the orchards, although this 
surface is already accounted for in other categories of the Returns, according as 
the land is at the same time utilised for grass or other crops. 
Grass and Clover . — In the acreage returned as under clover and rotation 
grasses, the decrease of nearly 200.000 acres occurs mainly in that portion 
which is described as “ for hay.” But conditions differ in different parts of 
the country ; whereas in all England and Wales only four counties exhibit a 
very slight increase in the area of clover and rotation grasses for mowing, there 
is in Scotland a distinct increase of per cent., mainly in and around 
Aberdeenshire. In England a decline of over 11,000 acres in Essex may be 
noticed, while decreases of 5,000 acres or more are recorded in Cambridge, 
Hants, Lincoln, Norfolk, Suffolk, and Sussex, in all of which counties it may be 
observed the wheat area substantially increased. Of rotation grasses not 
intended for hay, the decrease is less marked, and, moreover, less universal. 
The greatest reductions in area are recorded from beyond the Tweed, from 
5,000 to 10,000 acres less being returned in Aberdeen, Ayr, Dumfries, and 
Kirkcudbright. In England and Wales decreases of from 2,000 to 3,000 acres 
may be noted in Cumberland, Devon, Essex, Carnarvon, and Flint ; and 
increases of like amount in Cambridge, Cornwall, and Stafford. Of the 
permanent pasture the area set apart for mowing also shows a decline of 
1*6 per cent. The reduction is marked chiefly in the West Riding of York, 
Wilts, Sussex, and Kent, while some counties, viz. Northumberland, Devon, 
Norfolk, and Aberdeen, have used over 2,000 acres more for hay this year. The 
permanent grass not intended for hay, however, continues to show a general 
increase, the most noticeable exceptions being Pembroke, Norfolk, Stafford, 
and Inverness. In some cases a decline is attributed by collectors to land, 
formerly returned as grass, being now included in the category of mountain 
and heath land used for grazing. The largest increases are to be found in 
Sussex, Wilts, Kent, Somerset, Gloucester, the West Riding, and Kirkcudbright, 
in the order named. 
Numbers of Live Stock in Great Britain in 1905. 
Horses . — The number of horses included in the Returns again shows a small 
increase over last year’s total, which was then the highest on record. Each of 
the three classes distinguished in the Returns contributes to the increase, 
which is most apparent in unbroken horses of one year and above, as the result 
of the increase in the number under one year returned in 1904. As an indication 
of the progress of horse-breeding the number under one year may perhaps be 
taken as most significant, and although experience seems to have varied in 
different counties — Devon, for example, showing an increase of 455, while 
Lancashire has a falling off of 266 — it is satisfactory that on the whole the 
number of foals dropped in 1905 would seem to have been larger than in the 
previous year. 
Cattle . — The increase in the number of cattle in Great Britain, amounting 
to nearly 2 per cent., is sufficient to place the total at 6,987,000 head, or 42,000 
above the highest hitherto recorded, viz., 6,945,000 in 1892. The improvement 
is more marked in England than in Scotland, there being (south of the Border) 
only one county (Leicestershire) which experienced a material decline. In 
Scotland, however, Aberdeen, Ayr, Banff, Caithness, Elgin, and Inverness all 
show substantial reductions. Increases of over 5,000 head may be noticed in 
the West Riding of York, Wilts, Sussex, Cornwall, and Forfar. The number of 
cows and heifers in-milk or in-calf is again the highest on record in Great 
