Note 46 — Chapter III · THE POSSIBILITIES OF AGRICULTURE.
Reading edition
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 24,657,070
(23,680,000 in 1895)
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 Since 1901, 942,000 acres were withdrawn from the plough, 661,000 acres in England, 158,000 in Wales, and 123,000 in Scotland.)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 7,045,530
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 15,610,890)
(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 52,000 acres under rye and buckwheat. From 540,000 to 570,000 acres were given to potatoes. The area under clover and sown grasses is steadily declining since 1898, when it was 4,911,000 acres.