amounting to 150,000 acres. Most counties show relatively little change, small increases being sufficient to meet the growing demands of the local population. But the expansion of the urban districts has brought about a notable extension in the areas where potatoes are grown for sale to other districts and this is accentuated by the reduction in the potato acreage in some counties, a reduction which is particularly heavy in Cumberland, Devon, Gloucester, Somerset and Wales. In the western potato district the increase is small, amounting to about 8,350 acres in Lancashire and 1,350 acres in Cheshire. But in the eastern counties, Lincoln has increased its potato area from 35,500 to 104,000 acres and Cambridge (with the Isle of Ely) from 7,500 to 37,500 acres, the group of counties comprising Lincoln, Cambridge, Huntingdon, Bedford and Norfolk now having a total area of 182,000 acres under potatoes as compared with 55,000 acres in 1878. Of potatoes The highest yield per acre of potatoes is secured in Lancashire, where during the past 10 years the yield has averaged 7 tons to the acre. In Norfolk, Lincoln, the Isle of Ely and Stafford yields are between 6 and 7 tons and in Yorkshire (East Riding), Kent, Middlesex, Salop, Worcester, Northumberland and Cheshire, from 6 to 6 tons. The remaining counties have average yields of less than 6 tons to the acre. more perhaps than of any other crop (except hops) can it be said that high yields are secured in the areas where the acreage is greatest, and low yields where it is least. The commercial production of potatoes has become centralised in those districts where conditions are especially favourable to high yields and it is probable that were it not for the comparatively heavy transport charges in relation to the value of the crop, the area of potatoes, outside the two districts already indicated, would be even further reduced. Of the total area of 493,000 acres of potatoes in 1925, some 63 per cent. lay within the three divisions comprising the eastern, north-eastern and north-western counties, while of the total production of 3,214,000 tons in that year these divisions provided 2,128,000 tons or over 66 per cent. Although this is the total estimated production on land coming within the agricultural returns, there is of course a large production on allotments and in private gardens. No estimate can be made of the latter, but the output of allotments in 1925 was put at 550,000 tons on the assumption that about one-half the area of allotments is devoted to this crop and that the average yield is about the same as on agricultural holdings. In the above estimates, the production both of early and main crop potatoes are included. With regard to early potatoes, the chief producing areas are Cornwall, Bedford, Kent, Cheshire, Lancashire and Lincoln (Holland). In 1925, it was estimated that there were 55,000 acres of first early potatoes on holdings in England and Wales with a total production of 233,000 tons. (c) Root Crops. Turnips and Swedes.-The area under turnips and swedes has declined from 1,538,000 to 806,000 acres since 1880, and whereas in that year this crop occupied 11 per cent. of the arable area, the proportion in 1925 was only 7 per cent., and that upon a greatly reduced arable area. The reduction has been most marked in the eastern counties, while in the northern, northwestern and Welsh divisions the proportion to arable area has been practically maintained. But even in these counties there has in fact been an appreciable reduction in actual acreage. By far the heaviest yields of turnips and swedes are obtained in the northern and north-western counties. The average yield per acre for the country during the past 10 years has been about 12 tons, and apart from Yorkshire (West Riding), where the average is only 12 tons and Durham with 13 tons, the counties in these two divisions average from 14 to 17 tons per acre, the latter figure being recorded in Cheshire. Many of the Welsh counties also exceed 14 tons to the acre, but otherwise the only yields of these dimensions are secured in Lincoln (Holland), Isle of Ely, Salop and Cornwall. The decline in the growing of turnips and swedes is mainly due to the high labour cost involved in proportion to the feeding value of the crop. The reduction in the acreage of turnips and swedes in the arable counties is reflected in the reduced sheep population in these districts. In spite of the substantial reduction in the acreage of turnips in some districts, this crop is still among the most widely diffused through the country. The two divisions with the largest acreage (the northern and north-eastern) together furnished 45 per cent. of the total acreage in 1925 but only 42 per cent. of the total production, which was 9,198,000 tons. The north-western counties, with 8 per cent. of the total acreage, produced over 10 per cent. of the country's yield. A small proportion of the turnips are used for human consumption, and these are dealt with in section (f). Mangolds.-Mangolds are grown most extensively in the eastern half of the country, but there is a general dispersion of the crop throughout the country. In most counties the actual acreage of mangolds has changed but little since 1880, although fairly substantial increases are recorded in the midland divisions and decreases in the eastern divisions. In relation to the arable acreage there is a fairly general increase except in the eastern division. Apart from Lincoln (Holland), the Isle of Ely and the Soke of Peterborough, where the average yields are from 24 to 27 tons per acre, the highest yields of mangolds are secured in the western divisions of England with averages of 21 to 21 tons per acre. In the eastern and north-eastern divisions the average yields are about 18 and 18 tons respectively or less than the average for the whole country, viz., 19 tons per acre. Of the total acreage of mangolds in 1925, 359,000 acres, the eastern and north-eastern divisions had over 41 per cent., while the north-western, south-western and west midland divisions together had less than 30 per cent. Of the total production of 7,130,000 tons the two former divisions produced 2,890,000 tons, or 41 per cent., and the latter three divisions 2,265,000 tons or 32 per cent. Sugar Beet.*-The growing of sugar beet is of very recent development in this country, but the area has extended rapidly, rising from negligible dimensions in 1920 to 22,440 acres in 1924 and 54,750 acres in 1925. The yield per acre was 8.2 tons in 1924 and 7-8 tons in 1925, and the total production was 184,000 tons in the former year and 428,000 tons in 1925. (d) Clover and Rotation Grasses and Hay Crops. Clover and Rotation Grasses.-The geographical distribution of clover and rotation grasses in relation to the total arable area is shown in Map X. Northumberland, Cumberland and Westmorland in the north, Cornwall in the south-west, and all counties in Wales, except Cardigan, Monmouth and Carmarthen, return 40 per cent. or more of their arable area under rotation grasses, while the eastern counties south of Yorkshire (North Riding) show a proportion of less than 20 per cent. The proportion of rotation grasses affords an indication of the extent of the practice of leaving such land unploughed for two or more years. For example, the proportion of 53 per cent. of the arable area which is under rotation grasses in Cornwall suggests that the average length of time during which land sown to grass is left unploughed in that county is at least three to four years. The proportion of rotation grasses to total arable area in England and Wales has increased from 21 per cent. in 1880 to 24 per cent. at the present time. The increase is fairly general throughout the country and only in a few of the counties on the eastern side of the country (Huntingdon, Norfolk, Yorkshire (West Riding) and Kent) are there appreciable reductions. Actually the area of rotation grasses has declined in nearly every county and it is only the reduction in the arable area which causes the increase in the proportion of temporary grass land. But this increase in the proportion probably indicates a general tendency to increase the length of time during which rotation grasses are left unploughed. Seeds Hay. The area of clover and rotation grasses is 2,574,000 acres and about two-thirds of this area is cut for hay. The proportion so cut lies between 80 and 90 per cent. in the great bulk of the counties in the eastern half of the country, but Yorkshire (East Riding), with only about 30 per cent. of * More detailed information as to the acreage and production of sugar beet in 1925 is given in the Agricultural Statistics for that year, Parts I and II. |