Table 3
The figures which I take for these calculations are given in Agricultural Returns of the Board of Agriculture and Agricultural Statistics for 1911, vol. xlvi., pt. 1. They are as follows for the year 1910:
Acres | |
Total area (Great Britain) | 56,803,000 |
Uncultivable area (23,680,000 in 1895) | 24,657,070 |
Cultivable area | 32,145,930 |
Out of it, under the plough | 14,668,890 |
Out of it, under permanent pasture | 17,477,040 |
(During the last ten years, since the census of 1901, the cultivable area decreased by 323,000 acres, while the urban area increased by 166,710 acres, thus reaching now 4,015,700 acres. Since 1901, 942,000 acres were withdrawn from the plough, 661,000 acres in England, 158,000 in Wales, and 123,000 in Scotland.)
The distribution of the area which is actually under the plough between the various crops varies considerably from year to year. Taking 1910 (an average year) we have the following: —
Acres | |
Corn crops | 7,045,630 |
Clover and mature grasses | 4,157,040 |
Green crops and orchards | 2,994,890 |
Hops | 32,890 |
Small fruit | 84,310 |
Flax | 230 |
Bare fallow, etc. | 354,000 |
Total under culture (including that part of permanent pasture which gives hay) | 14,668,890 |
In 1901 | 15,619,890 |
In 1895 | 16,166,950 |
Out of the 7,045,530 acres given to corn crops, 1,808,850 acres were under wheat (nearly 200,000 acres less than in 1899 and 100,000 acres less than in 1911), 1,728,680 acres under barley (only 1,597,930 in 1911), 3,020,970 acres under oats, about 300,000 under beans, and about 62,000 acres under rye and buckwheat. From 640,000 to 670,000 acres were given to potatoes. The area under clover and sown grasses is steadily declining since 1898, when it was 4,911,000 acres.