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its area mown for hay, is an outstanding exception. Nottingham and Lincoln (Kesteven and Lindsey) are also exceptional with about 55 to 65 per cent. mown. The west midland division averages 75 per cent. with little variation among the counties in the division. The proportion is lower in the south-west, declining to about a third in Cornwall. There are great variations in the north; Lancashire and Durham mow from 80 to 90 per cent., whilst Cumberland and Westmorland mow only about 50 per cent. In Wales a hay crop is taken from rather over 60 per cent. of the clover and rotation grasses.

The highest yields per acre of seeds hay are obtained in the northern and north-western divisions, which have yields averaging about 32 to 34 cwt. respectively (during the 10 years 1915 to 1924), the average for the whole country being about 281 cwt. per acre. The eastern and south-eastern divisions, which have the lowest yields in England, average between 26 and 27 cwt. per acre, and Wales about 24 cwt. The northern and northwestern divisions, with about 21 per cent. of the mown acreage of rotation grasses in 1925, yielded 612,000 tons or 24 per cent. of the total yield of 2,562,000 tons of seeds hay.

Meadow Hay.-It is only natural that the arable counties of the eastern and north-eastern divisions should have the smallest areas of meadow land used for hay in proportion to the cultivated area, the former having 10 per cent. and the latter 5. For the other divisions the proportion varies between 17 and 22 per cent. In relation to the total area of permanent grass most divisions use about 30 per cent. for the production of hay, the north-eastern division exceptionally using rather less than 20 per cent.

The north-western division has by far the highest yield, averaging over 25 cwt. per acre of meadow hay, and the eastern and southeastern divisions the lowest yields with 18 cwt. per acre. Of the total acreage of permanent grass from which hay was taken in 1925 (4,312,000 acres), the north-western division furnished less than 15 per cent., but yielded 750,000 tons of hay or nearly 17 per cent. of the total production of 4,538,000 tons.

(e) Other Crops mainly used for Fodder.*

The area and production in 1925 of the less important farm crops are given in Table 6 in the Appendix. The output of these crops is not as a rule estimated annually.

Straw.-Estimates of the total production of straw have been made each year since 1906. The acreage of straw is, of course, the same as that of corn, but the yield per acre fluctuates differently from the yield of the cereals themselves. The estimated

* Estimates of the yield per acre of the crops dealt with in this section were obtained from the Crop Reporters for their respective districts. The acreage is returned by the occupier on the Agricultural Schedule.

annual production of straw in 5-year periods is shown below together with the production in 1925.

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The average annual production of straw of all kinds has decreased by no less than 23 per cent. over the period covered by this table, the decrease being due almost wholly to lighter yields per acre as the acreage under the three cereals taken together has declined by less than 3 per cent.

Vetches or Tares.-The total area under this crop in 1925 was 88,498 acres, distributed throughout the country with fair regularity except in the north-western division and in Wales, where the area is negligible. Hampshire and Wiltshire are the counties with the largest acreage, each with about 8,000 acres, but several counties in the eastern half of the country are little less important.

From estimates made by the Crop Reporters it appears that about 26 per cent. of the area of vetches in 1925 was harvested ripe, about 14 per cent. cut for hay, and the remaining 60 per cent. cut for green fodder or silage. There are appreciable differences between the different divisions in this respect, however, as will be seen from the table on page 29.

It is clearly in the arable counties that the crop is to a large extent harvested ripe, whereas in the pastoral counties the great bulk of the crop is fed green to cattle. The yield of vetches harvested ripe in 1925 was estimated at 12 cwt. of grain per acre, the north-eastern, south-eastern and east midland divisions averaging between 13 and 14 cwt., but the eastern division harvested less than 11 cwt. The average yield of vetches hay was about 29 cwt. per acre, yields being fairly uniform in the different divisions but heaviest in the north. The area reported as harvested ripe was 23,000 acres with a production of 14,500 tons of grain, while 12,000 acres were cut for hay, giving a yield of 17,700 tons. In addition, over 53,000 acres were cut for green fodder or silage.

ESTIMATED PROPORTION OF VETCHES, HARVESTED RIPE, CUT FOR HAY AND CUT FOR GREEN FODDER OR SILAGE IN 1925.

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Lucerne. Of the total area of 54,020 acres under lucerne in 1925 Essex alone had over 25 per cent., Kent 17 per cent., and Norfolk and Suffolk 10 and 13 per cent. respectively. Thus only 35 per cent. of the acreage lay outside these four counties. Estimates made by Crop Reporters indicate that about 31,500 acres were cut for hay, and of this area 55 per cent. was in Kent and Essex. Moreover, the average yield is high in Essex, averaging some 54 cwt. per acre as compared with the average of 42 cwt. for the country as a whole; so that in 1925 Essex supplied no less than 43 per cent. of the total production of 67,000 tons. The area cut for green fodder or silage was about 22,500 acres.

Flax.-Linseed was grown on only 3,695 acres in 1925, and 2,169 acres, or nearly 60 per cent. of this was in the eastern division. Outside the eastern division the only counties with more than 40 acres of linseed were Norfolk with 404 acres, Sussex with 351 acres, Kent with 173 acres and Northampton with 179 acres. Yields per acre are on the whole very uniform among the principal producing counties, the eastern division averaging 9cwt. per acre and the other counties slightly below this figure. The average over the whole country was 83 cwt. per acre, giving a total production of 32,300 cwt. of seed.

The area of flax grown for fibre is small, though at one time flax-growing promised to be of importance. Thus in 1918 and 1919 there were 11,000 acres under flax grown for fibre in England and Wales, the chief areas being in Somerset, Dorset, Yorkshire, Suffolk, Essex and Lincoln. In 1925, the area had shrunk to 695 acres of which 602 acres or 87 per cent. were in Somerset and Yorkshire (East Riding).

Kohl Rabi.-Only 10,734 acres of kohl rabi were grown in England and Wales in 1925, and of this area Essex provided 2,973 acres or nearly 30 per cent., while the eastern division

as a whole had 53 per cent. Outside the eastern division the largest areas were in Kent with 940 acres, Norfolk with 508 acres, Northampton with 285 acres, and Devon and Cornwall with 358 and 283 acres respectively. No other county had as much as 250 acres under this crop. The yield per acre was about 13 tons in 1925 with a total production of 140,000 tons. The best results were obtained in the south-eastern division, where yields were estimated to average over 15 tons per acre.

Cabbage for fodder.*-The area of cabbage, savoys and kale grown for fodder amounted in 1925 to 50,825 acres, the largest acreage being found in the coastal counties extending from Norfolk to Hampshire, together with Wiltshire, Devon and Derby. Each of these counties had an area of over 2,000 acres of fodder cabbage.

Rape.-Rape is one of the few fodder crops which is not much grown in the eastern counties. Of the 66,081 acres grown in 1925 the largest area was in Devon and Cornwall, which together provided 24 per cent. of the total acreage, while the four counties Sussex, Hampshire, Wiltshire and Pembroke together had about the same area.

Mustard for fodder.-The area of fodder mustard in 1925 was 15,741 acres. The largest area was in Norfolk with over 2,000 acres, and Hampshire and Dorset came second and third with 1,700 and 1,200 acres respectively. Most of the counties in the eastern half of the country have appreciable areas of mustard for fodder.

Mustard for seed.-Estimates of the production of mustard seed for the commercial manufacture of mustard or for sowing have been made annually since 1922, while the acreage under this crop has been published in the Ministry's annual statistics each year since 1914. In that year the area in England and Wales was 18,731 acres; in 1924 it was 36,181 acres but in 1925 it was reduced to 22,844 acres. The estimated production of the crop was 7,800 tons in 1922, 12,750 tons in 1923, 16,000 tons in 1924 and 10,000 tons in 1925, the yield per acre in these years being 8 cwt., 81 cwt., 83 cwt., and 9 cwt. respectively.

The growing of mustard for seed is practically confined to the eastern counties, the eastern and north-eastern divisions together with Northampton and the Soke of Peterborough, having no less than 95 per cent. of the total area of 22,844 acres under mustard grown for seed in the country in 1925.

Other farm crops.-There are also a number of crops which are grown on too small a scale to be separately specified on the Agricultural Schedule, but in the aggregate the total area devoted to unspecified farm crops probably does not exceed about 20,000 This area includes a proportion of the crops grown for

acres.

* Cabbage for human consumption is dealt with in the next section.

seed, which are dealt with in section (k) of this chapter. Some estimates were obtained from the Crop Reporters which may be mentioned as a matter of interest, though with small crops of this character they are not likely to be complete, especially as details of the individual crops were not obtained for all districts. Buckwheat was reported as grown on about 1,750 acres and maize on rather over 1,000 acres, while crops such as lupins and mustard for ploughing in and mixed silage crops accounted for some 800 acres. Teazles were reported on 150 acres and tobacco on 20 acres.

(f) Other Vegetable crops grown mainly for human consumption.

Extent of information obtained. There is a multiplicity of crops of varying degrees of importance included under the heading of crops grown mainly or entirely for use as vegetables for human consumption. The Ministry already obtains each year particulars of the acreage of the more important of these, viz., peas and beans for picking green, cabbage, brussels sprouts, cauliflower and broccoli, carrots, onions, celery and rhubarb. The Crop Reporters made estimates of the average yield per acre of each of these crops for the whole of their districts in 1925. The separate areas or the production of the remaining vegetable crops are not easy to ascertain with any degree of accuracy, as in many cases more than one crop is taken in the course of the year from the same piece of ground, while in addition such crops are sold by the bundle, bunch, crate, &c. and hardly admit of being reduced to any standard unit. It is recognised therefore that such information* as was obtained in regard to these minor vegetable crops is subject to a wide margin of error. Particulars as to the individual crops are not given, only the total value being estimated.

As regards comparison with 1908 the information in regard to some of these minor crops which was obtained in connection with the previous census was more scanty than that obtained in 1925, and it is possible that the figures of the earlier year may have been under-estimated. On the other hand, the cultivation of vegetables has certainly increased and this industry, owing to its size and nature, lends itself easily to extension on a relatively greater scale than that of other crops.

The estimated acreage and production of vegetable crops in 1924-25 is shown in Table 7 in the Appendix. The acreage shown is that from which it is estimated that crops were taken in the year, and differs somewhat from the figures published in

* A special form was sent to all occupiers of holdings who appeared to be growing vegetables on their holdings asking for the acreage of each vegetable crop grown in the twelve months ending September 1925. On the basis of the returns obtained the area of each of the vegetable crops not shown separately in the return was estimated. The average yield per acre of these vegetable crops was estimated by the Ministry's Horticultural Division.

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