The distinction between ordinary holdings and those devoted to poultry, fruit or vegetable produce is not very definite. The importance of poultry or vegetables in relation to other kinds of produce of the holding shows infinite variety, and there must inevitably be a large number of borderline cases which a slightly different standard of judgment would transfer from one category to the other. Hence the classification which has been made is somewhat arbitrary, but it has served to remove from the other groups of holdings those upon which poultry keeping or the growing of fruit and vegetables are quite clearly the main concern. The bulk of these fruit, vegetable and poultry farms would, so

far as area alone is concerned, fall into the small holdings group of 20 acres and under.

It will be seen that the farms and holdings of 20 acres and over, excluding any fruit, vegetable or poultry holdings of this size, cover over 93 per cent. of the total area returned to the Ministry. They thus account for the bulk of the agricultural area. The small holdings, fields and parcels of land under 20 acres are very numerous, but owing to their mixed character they do not easily lend themselves to classification under any particular type. In fact, in this group we have, as already explained, not only the small holding proper, that is to say the agricultural holding which is carried on for business and is only differentiated from other agricultural holdings by its smaller size, but also a large number of separate fields, paddocks, &c., used for agricultural purposes but not in any proper sense a holding," and also a number of semi-residential and other properties which are cultivated and come within the scope of the returns and yet are not altogether comparable with the agricultural holding farmed for business.

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Leaving these small holdings out of account, there are 216,700 holdings exceeding 20 acres in extent and covering a total area (excluding rough grazings) of over 24,000,000 acres. Of this group, 104,000, or nearly one-half, consist of holdings which are mainly pasture land. These cover over 9,000,000 acres out of the 24,000,000 acres. They thus have an average area of about 90 acres each. The importance of this group both in point of number and of total area bears witness to the extent to which pasture prevails in the farming of the country.

The converse to this group is found in the holdings which are mainly arable, and these number 39,600, or only 18 per cent. of the holdings over 20 acres, and account for about 5,500,000 acres of land, with an average area of about 140 acres each.

Between these two groups naturally come the mixed farms which have less than 70 per cent. of their area either in arable or in pasture, that is to say, farms where the area under arable and the area under permanent pasture are more nearly equal. These number nearly 73,000, or about 34 per cent. of the total, and cover an area of 9,500,000 acres or much the same as the mainly pasture farms. They have an average area of 130 acres.

The difference between some of the farms in this group and some of the farms in the other two groups is, of course, slight. Some of the "mixed farms" have nearly 70 per cent. arable or 70 per cent. pasture, and thus nearly fall into one of these groups, but on the whole it is thought that the divisions give a broad indication of the prevalence of arable farming on the one hand and of pasture on the other.

The proportion of arable and permanent pasture in the three groups for each sized holding is shown in the following table :

ACREAGE OF ARABLE LAND AND PERMANENT GRASS ON HOLDINGS OF DIFFERENT TYPES AND SIZES PER 100 ACRES.

Arable. manent Arable. manent Arable. manent Arable. manent

In each size group the area of permanent grass on mainly arable holdings is somewhat greater than the area of arable on mainly pasture holdings, and over the whole country arable holdings have 17 per cent. of their area under permanent grass, while pasture holdings have no more than 12 per cent. under the plough. In mixed holdings permanent grass predominates very slightly except in the holdings of over 300 acres, but on the whole the land on mixed holdings is fairly equally divided between pasture and arable.

These three types of farm naturally have a very different character as regards crops grown and the number of live stock carried on the holdings. Their distribution over the country is also very different. The three succeeding sections of this chapter attempt an analysis of the three groups which affords some approximate indication of the character of the farming of the country, of the relative importance of the different types and their geographical distribution.

4. Farms exceeding 20 acres in extent, mainly arable land.— The farms in this group have on the average 83 per cent. of their area in arable, and in the smaller sizes the proportion is even higher. Generally, although there are variations, it will be seen from the following table that with the exception of potatoes there is a certain similarity in the type of farming practised on these various sized holdings though there are striking differences in the number of stock per 100 acres, cattle, pigs and poultry decreasing and the sheep increasing as the farms become larger.

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DISTRIBUTION OF CROPS AND LIVESTOCK ON HOLDINGS OVER 20 ACRES IN EXTENT CONSISTING MAINLY OF ARABLE LAND.

(Per 100 Acres of Crops and Grass.)

It will be seen that 44 per cent. of the area of these farms is under corn crops, 19 per cent. under rotation grasses and 17 per cent. under permanent pasture. While corn is an important item, they all carry a substantial head of stock.

Out of the 39,600 farms in this group 12,000 are between 20 and 50 acres, and 10,000 from 50 to 100 acres. Of the remainder, the size-group from 150 to 300 acres has the largest number and the largest acreage of any.

NUMBER AND ACREAGE OF HOLDINGS ABOVE 20 ACRES
CONSISTING MAINLY OF ARABLE LAND.

In the aggregate the proportion of the total cultivated area of crops and grass (excluding holdings under 20 acres) which is occupied by farms of this type is about 20 per cent., but the proportion varies very greatly in different parts of the country.