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23 per cent. In 1871 permanent pasture represented 40.3 per cent. of the cultivated area; in 1923 it is 52.7 per cent. and the tendency to lay land down or let it go down to permanent pasture continues. Meanwhile the area under corn crops, green crops, and fallow, which in 1871 represented 45.3 per cent. of the cultivated area, has fallen to little over 34 per cent., temporary and permanent grasses occupying nearly two-thirds of the total available agricultural area even when rough grazings are excluded. We have drawn attention to these notable changes in the cultivated area because comparison on like matters with other countries provides certain striking constrasts.

47. Before proceeding to consider whether the shrinkage in area has been accompanied by a considerable increase in the average yields, it will be interesting to compare the position of the arable area in other countries. Between 1878 and 1913, years within which statistics of area and production can be best compared, Germany maintained its total arable area, excluding temporary grass, with comparatively small fluctuation. In 1878 this area amounted to 58,329,000 acres, and in 1913 to 57,808,000 acres, but though the total figures remained almost unchanged, the area of particular crops showed important developments. Thus corn crops, which at the beginning of this period amounted to more than 63 per cent. of this area, increased by over 2,000,000 acres, rising from 36,909,210 acres to 39,122,770 acres. Even more remarkable, however, was the increase in the area of potatoes and roots, which together increased by nearly 3,900,000 acres. The area of potatoes increased by considerably over a million and a half acres between 1878 and 1913, while the area of sugar beet more than trebled, rising from 435,000 acres to 1,450,000 acres; and the area of other roots, chiefly mangels and swedes, more than doubled during the same period. On the other hand, the area under fallow and fallow catch crops fell by 6,000,000 acres. From these figures alone, quite apart from the question of yield, it is evident how remarkable has been the intensification of production on the arable area of Germany.

48. The area under clover and other rotation grasses shows an increase, in the period, of about half a million acres, but it is significant that in 1913 the total area under rotation grasses in Germany was little more than half of the total area under potatoes, roots and cabbage, a striking contrast with the position respectively of rotation grasses and roots in Great Britain. The significance of the foregoing figures will appeal at once to the agriculturist, when it is recalled that the labour employed on roots is more than double, and on potatoes four times, that required on an acre of corn. The production, moreover, of food-energy from roots and potatoes is much greater than that from cereals. The statistics of area thus reveal a great increase in this period in the productivity of German agriculture, while, as will be seen later, with this increase both in the acreage of corn crops and of roots

and potatoes, there has gone a very marked advance in the yield per acre.

49. In France, between 1873-1913, corn crops fell from 36,640,000 acres to 33,497,000 acres, a decline of 3,267,000 acres, or nearly 9 per cent. The area of potatoes, on the other hand, increased from 2,906,000 acres to 3,824,000 acres an increase of 918,000 acres. The area of sugar beet shows no marked increase of a permanent character; but within the more limited period, since 1881, in which a record of these crops is available, the area of fodder roots, chiefly mangels, swedes, turnips and cabbage, increased by approximately 1,500,000 acres. During the same period there has been a substantial increase also in the acreage of clover, lucerne, sainfoin, and other green crops, but a decline in temporary pastures. On the other hand, there was an increase in the enumerated area of permanent pasture. It is, however, clear from the more comparable figures of corn crops, potatoes and roots, that, as in Germany, the intensive cultivation of the arable area has been progressing, and that the shrinkage in the area of cereals is offset by the increase in the area of potatoes and roots. There has not, however, been the degree of intensification in agricultural output which was so marked in Germany. Similarly, the yields of crops in France, while they have improved, do not show any increase as remarkable as that of the other North-Western European States.

50. In Belgium alone has there been a shrinkage of the agricultural area, namely from 4,899,413 acres in 1880 to 4,472,382 acres in 1912, a loss of 8.7 per cent. This reduction of the total area available for agriculture must be remembered in considering the changes in the area of particular crops. Between 1880 and 1912 the area of corn crops declined in Belgium from 2,390,357 acres to 1,874,659, a decline of 21 per cent. in the area of corn crops, but this area in 1912 still represented 41.9 per cent. of the total agricultural area, as against 48.7 in 1880. The proportion therefore of corn crops to the total available agricultural area has not fallen to the extent which the first reading of the figures might suggest. Similarly, the area under potatoes has declined from 492,412 acres in 1880, or 9 per cent. of the total area, to 387,009 acres in 1912, or 8.7 per cent. of the cultivated area in that year. On the other hand, there has been a remarkable increase in the area both of sugar beet and of roots for fodder. The area of sugar beet has risen from 8,059 acres in 1880 to 152,851 acres in 1912, and the area of fodder roots from 64,684 acres in 1880 to 137,912 acres in 1912. There has, however, been an increase in the area of permanent grass for hay and pasture; but inasmuch as, even in 1912, 73 per cent. of the enumerated agricultural land of Belgium was still under the plough, or in orchards or market gardens, it is apparent how large a proportion is under intensive cultivation. Bare fallow, which in 1880 was returned as 103,745 acres, has disappeared, while the expansion of the area of roots and fodder crops is

itself an evidence of the intensification of arable cultivation, and, as will be seen, this is even more strikingly evident in the remarkable increase of the average yield of crops.

51. Holland presents in more ways than one a striking contrast with Belgium. The total area under crops and grass has increased substantially, from 4,992,648 acres in 1873 to 5,489,098 acres in 1921, a result which reflects the large scale of reclamation of land. With this increase in the area of agricultural land has gone a more than proportionate increase in the arable area, but it should be remembered that Holland has had and still has a high percentage of its land in grass. In 1873 the area of permanent grass represented 56.4 per cent., and in 1922 it was 53.5 per cent. of the total agricultural area. Rotation grasses and lucerne have remained comparatively stationary, showing if anything a tendency to fall. The area of corn crops also shows a shrinkage from 1,378,000 acres in 1873, representing 27.6 per cent. of the total area under crops, to 1,225,000 acres in 1921, representing 22.3 per cent. in 1921. But despite this, the total area of arable land has increased, and this is due to the marked extension in the area of potatoes from 324,000 acres in 1873 to 441,000 acres in 1921, and of sugar beet from 36,000 acres in 1873 to 182,000 acres in 1922. The area under other roots has declined; but the increase in potatoes, sugar beet and vegetables mark the progress of more intensive cultivation of the arable area during this period.

52. Finally, Denmark gives the most striking example of the progress in the cultivation of the arable area. In Denmark also, there has been an increase in the total area under crops and grass, to which land reclamation has contributed. The area under crops and grass has risen from 6,624,000 acres in 1876 to 6,862,000 acres in 1919. The total area under corn crops has been well maintained-being 2,687,000 acres in 1871, 2,867,000 acres in 1901 and approximately 2,747,000 acres in 1921. The area under potatoes has greatly increased, being 106,000 acres in 1871 and 184,000 in 1921. But by far the most important development has been the extension of the area under roots, this having risen from 13,876 acres in 1871 to 835,000 acres in 1921. There is, on the other hand, a marked decline, in more recent years, of temporary grasses and also of bare fallow. It is clear from this evidence as regards the corn crops, potatoes, and roots, that the area annually under the plough in Denmark has been increasing, and that the output per acre represented by the large extension of the root and potato area has been very marked.

53. In comparing, therefore, the position of the arable area in Great Britain with the comparable area in these European countries, certain features stand out: first, that fifty years ago the arable area in Great Britain represented a much smaller proportion of the total agricultural area than in any of these countries, with the exception of Holland: second, that, during

that period, in none of the other countries has there been a decline in the arable area comparable with that which has been seen in this country, that in some of these countries the arable area has increased; and that in all the intensification in cultivation has been marked: third, that it is notable that, in Great Britain, the area of roots and green crops, as well as of corn crops, has been heavily reduced, whereas without exception in these other countries there has been a marked increase in the area of root crops, a category of crops which is recognised as the basis of sound arable cultivation and also of the maintenance and increase of the stock-bearing capacity of a country.

54. There is, in our opinion, no more significant contrast between the most progressive agriculture of Europe, particularly that of Denmark and Germany, and that of this country, than the extension of the area of roots in these countries and the heavy contraction of the root area in Great Britain. Nor can it be urged that the root area in this country has been replaced by green forage crops used for silage, for, until quite recently, there has been a decline in silage methods in this country during the period. It is itself significant that at an earlier date it was thought of sufficient importance to include a return of silos in the British agricultural statistics. History is now repeating itself, and a practice is being recovered (with, no doubt, improved methods), which formerly was much more extended in this country, and which has been so remarkably developed in the United States and in parts of the British Dominions. The bearing of this on our position as a stock-farming country is important. Stock farming is the basis of crop farming, both of corn and of roots, and there is an essential connection in turn between roots and corn crops, not simply in respect of the rotation of crops and of the cleaning and tilth of the land, which the root crop above all secures, but also because where there are roots and straw for feeding stock in the yards, there is provided the manure for maintaining the rotation of arable crops in accordance with sound husbandry. Not only in protected Germany, but in Free Trade Denmark, the corn area, despite the fall in prices, has been, on the whole, maintained, because a large breadth both of cereals and of roots is of cardinal importance in maintaining a large head of stock. Winter keep and the important factor of bedding cannot be provided unless there are both roots and corn crops. The significance of the changes in the arable area will be more fully seen later when an examination has been made of the changes in the stock-carrying capacity of the several countries.

55. Yield. The second point of comparison is in respect of the yield of crops. It is necessary to recognise at the outset that, whereas in 1870 the arable area in Great Britain was a much smaller proportion of the total agricultural area than in any of these European countries except Holland, the average standard of yield of crops was considerably higher. The history of the past fifty years in respect of yields of crops shows the progress which

other countries have made towards reaching the level already attained by English agriculture, and in some cases of surpassing it. In the following table a comparative summary is set out of the yields of the main crops in two available periods, for the purpose of indicating the progress which has been made in respect of average yield. It is, however, necessary to bear in mind that estimated yields of crops are statistically a less reliable class of evidence than are the statistics of acreage. In the first place, statistics of the yield of crops are much less complete and the variation between countries and in particular the contrasts between yields in France and in other countries, are so marked as to suggest that the different methods used in the several countries have not yet provided as reliable data as is required for the purpose of a thorough comparison. Nevertheless, the figures, as they stand, undoubtedly indicate the great progress which has been made in some of the Continental countries and point to the fact that no longer can the yields of our crops be quoted as surpassing those of all other countries.

Average Yield of Crops per Acre in the following Periods..

France. Germany. Belgium. Holland. Denmark.

Great Britain.

1878-1911-1879-1911-1875-1911-1871-
81. 13. 82. 13. 78. 13. 74.

1919.

1875-
78.

1919.

1886-191989. 22.

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cwts. cwts. cwts. cwts. cwts. cwts. cwts. cwts. cwts. cwts. cwts. cwts.
8.3 10.5 10.1 17.7 12.0 20.7 13.4 20-716.0 23.8 15.7 17.2
8.5 11.2 10.4 17.0 14.9 22.0 18.1 21.0 12.0 18.4 14.3 14.6
9.0 10.6 9.2 15.7 13.3 18.4 15.1 15.0 10.1 13.9 13.0 13.0
7.7 8.5 7.3 14.4 12.1 17.6 10.1 15.0 13.1 10.9
Tons. Tons. Tons. Tons. Tons. Tons. Tons. Tons. Tons. Tons. Tons. Tons.
2.6 3.5 3.0 5.5 6.4 7.8 3.8 6.4 6.0 6.0 5.9 6.2

56. In considering the figures in the table it should be remembered that (1) the statistics of yield in this country are only available from 1885 onwards and (2) that in the case of Belgium, France and Germany, the average yields for the period preceding the war have been taken, as in these countries the figures, both of acreage and of yield, have been profoundly affected by the war and its after effects.

57. A study of this table, and reference to the statistical records which have been published since 1886, indicate that in the cereal crops the average yield in Great Britain has increased much less than the heavy contraction in the area might have led one to expect. In the second place, it is also evident that yields in Denmark, Holland, and, before the war, in Germany and Belgium, were equal to, or exceeded, the average yield of the cereal crops in this country, despite the fact that a very much larger proportionate area of land was under cereal cultivation.

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