This represents about 84 per cent. of the land area of the country. In addition, it is estimated by the Forestry Commission that nearly 1,900,000 acres are under woods, forests or plantations.

2. The area not used for agriculture. The balance, consisting of about four million acres, covers the area occupied by towns, villages, houses, and buildings of all kinds, roads, railways, etc., together with public parks, open spaces and pleasure gardens not used for agricultural purposes.

It has, however, frequently been suggested that there are substantial areas of land in the country which are not used for any agricultural or productive purpose, but which might be so used. It is true that there are certain areas, particularly the areas returned as rough grazings, which are not and, in many cases, cannot be very productive, but they are used for agricultural purposes, that is to say they are grazed at some time during the year by cattle or sheep. They are thus brought within the agricultural returns, and there is little room outside the area covered by the returns for purely unproductive land.

With a view to testing the question as far as possible the Crop Reporters were asked in 1925 to report any land not already included in the Agricultural Returns which could be regarded as having some potential agricultural value. It was not possible, without considerable expense, to undertake an exhaustive investigation in regard to this matter, but it was thought that the Crop Reporters from their own knowledge and a moderate amount of local enquiry would be able to give an approximate indication of land not included in the returns which might be regarded as available for agricultural purposes. Enquiry was not made as regards land in urban districts.

The areas returned were as follows:

Acres.

Swamp or scrub land

94,000

Waste or derelict land, including land formerly
used for agriculture but more or less perma-
nently abandoned -

37,000

Park land not used for grazing

10,000

Common, heath, moor and rough land not used.
for grazing

230,000

Prospective building land not actually in course

of development (excluding land in urban
districts)

13,000

Recreation grounds, playing fields and golf links
not used for grazing

23,000

Other land.

13,000

420,000

Of this area, it will be seen that swamp and scrub land, and common, heath and moor land not used for grazing account

for over 300,000 acres, and this was usually stated to be useless for agricultural purposes. The recreation grounds, &c., must also be excluded, so that only about 75,000 acres were returned as having some possible agricultural value.

The extent to which any of the land included in the returns is insufficiently cultivated or only used to a limited extent for agriculture is an entirely separate question. Whether land is insufficiently cultivated or "underfarmed " is a matter in regard to which the statistics can hardly be expected to afford any guidance.

Enquiries have, however, been made from the Crop Reporters in regard to certain points which may throw some light on the question. These are (1) the area of land suffering from lack of drainage; (2) the area of land included in the returns other than ordinary farms and holdings, and (3) the increase in the area of rough grazings. These are dealt with in the next three sections.

3. Agricultural land suffering from lack of drainage.-The Crop Reporters were asked to give some indication of the approximate area of agricultural land which in their opinion could be said to be suffering badly from lack of drainage, excluding land where pipe, tile or mole drainage alone was required, or extensive areas which could only be dealt with by large drainage schemes. The types of land coming within this category are land which is liable to flooding or land which is more or less permanently waterlogged, and which might be improved by a small drainage scheme designed to secure the effective flow of water by the clearance of main ditches and other watercourses.

This enquiry showed 650,000 acres of agricultural land of this character distributed as shown below. It may be noted that the large area in the northern counties is accounted for in the main by rough grazings where open "sheep drains" are required or old drains of this type require cleaning out.

These figures are substantially confirmed by information obtained by the Ministry from county councils and other sources.

But, as stated above, they do not include extensive areas which can only be dealt with by large drainage schemes, and the aggregate of such areas is very considerable. Altogether, it is estimated that over a million acres of agricultural land in England and Wales are urgently in need of drainage and another half-million acres are capable of improvement by drainage, and these estimates are exclusive of land where field drainage alone is required.

The Land Drainage Act, 1926, which came into operation on the 1st October, 1926, gives to county councils of boroughs and counties considerable powers for the carrying out of small drainage schemes and taking other measures which would permit of much being done towards improving the drainage of the land dealt with by the Crop Reporters' returns. As regards the areas where large drainage schemes are essential, the Ministry is now enabled to give substantial financial assistance towards comprehensive schemes promoted by Statutory Drainage Authorities.

4. Agricultural land on holdings not being ordinary farms or small holdings.-Agricultural land is defined by the Agricultural Returns Act as including "land used as grazing, meadow or pasture land." The returns are consequently not confined to ordinary farm holdings, but include also grazing land of all kinds as well as land used for any agricultural purpose. Many returns, therefore, relate to accommodation fields and grazings let for the summer or longer, others to land attached to residential properties, while others again may refer to parks and even open spaces or recreation grounds which are grazed. With the object of obtaining an indication of the extent of land of this type, the Crop Reporters in 1925 were asked to distinguish such returns as far as they were able to do so from their own knowledge. There are many border-line cases, and the distinction is not of a very precise character. Many of the fields, particularly summer grazings, may be let to farmers and although they are separately returned they may in effect be part of an agricultural holding for that year. The instructions on the schedule contemplate that land taken for summer grazings should be returned with the farm, but this is not done in all cases. * On the other hand, many fields are let to butchers or others for temporary grazing.

The result of this enquiry showed some 50,000 separate returns covering about 517,000 acres which are classed as not being farms, small holdings, or nurseries. About 23,000 returns, covering 244,000 acres, appeared to relate to detached fields, while about 27,000 returns covering 272,000 acres, came into the miscellaneous category of land attached to residential holdings, parks, open spaces used for grazing, &c.

* These fields, which are very numerous in some counties, constitute one of the perennial difficulties of the returns, owing to their changing hands every year, with the consequent risk that they may be omitted from the returns or, conversely, that they may be returned not only by their temporary occupant but also by the person by whom they are let.