decline is seen in Table II., wherein are given the annual
average prices from 1875 to 1905, calculated upon returns from
the 190 statutory markets of England and Wales (Corn Returns Act
1882). These prices are per imperial quarter,---that is, 480
lb. of wheat, 400 lb. of barley and 312 lb. of oats, representing
60 lb, 50 lb. and 39 lb. per bushel respectively. After 1883
the annual average price of English wheat was never so high as
40s. per quarter, and only twice after 1892 did it exceed 30s.
In one of these exceptional years, 1898, the average rose to
34s., but this was due entirely to a couple of months of inflated
prices in the early half of the year, when the outbreak of
war between Spain and the United States of America coincided
with a huge speculative deal in the latter country. The
TABLE II.--Gazette Annual Average Prices per Imperial Quarter
of British Cereals in England and Wales, 1875-1905.
Year. Wheat. Barley. Oats.
s. d. s. d. s. d.
1875 45 2 38 5 28 8
1876 46 2 35 2 26 3
1877 56 9 39 8 25 []
1878 46 5 40 2 24 4
1879 43 10 34 0 21 9
1880 44 4 33 1 23 1
1881 45 4 31 11 21 9
1882 45 1 31 2 21 10
1883 41 7 31 10 21 5
1884 35 8 30 8 20 3
1885 32 10 30 1 20 7
1886 31 0 26 7 19 0
1887 32 6 25 4 16 3
1888 31 10 27 10 16 9
1889 29 9 25 10 17 9
1890 31 11 28 8 18 7
1891 37 0 28 2 20 0
1892 30 3 26 2 19 10
1893 26 4 25 7 18 9
1894 22 10 24 6 17 1
1895 23 1 21 11 14 6
1896 26 2 22 11 14 9
1897 30 2 23 6 16 11
1898 34 0 27 2 18 5
1899 25 8 25 7 17 0
1900 26 11 24 11 17 7
1901 26 9 25 2 18 5
1902 28 1 25 8 20 2
1903 26 9 22 8 17 2
1904 28 4 22 4 16 4
1905 29 8 24 4 17 4
weekly average prices of English wheat in 1898 fluctuated
between 48s. 1d. and 25s. 5d. per quarter, the former being
the highest weekly average since 1882. The minimum annual
average was 22s. 10d. in 1894, in the autumn of which year
the weekly average sank to 17s. 6d. per quarter, the lowest on
record. Wheat was so great a glut in the market that various
methods were devised for feeding it to stock, a purpose
for which it is not specially suited; in thus utilizing the
grain, however, a smaller loss was often incurred than in
sending it to market. In 1894 the monthly average price for
October, the chief month for wheat-sowing in England, was
only 17s. 8d. per quarter, and farmers naturally shrank from
seeding the land freely with a crop which could not be grown
except at a heavy loss. The result was that in the following
year the wheat crop of the United Kingdom was harvested
upon the smallest area on record--less than 1 1/2 million
acres. In only one year, 1878, did the annual average price
of English barley touch 40s. per quarter; it never reached
30s. after 1885, whilst in 1895 it fell to so low a level
as 21s. 11d. The same story of declining prices applies to
oats. An average of 20s. per quarter was touched in 1891 and
1902, but with those exceptions this useful feeding grain
did not reach that figure after 1885. In 1895 the average
price of 480 lb. of wheat, at 23s. 1d., was identical with that
of 312 lb. of oats in 1880, and it was less in the preceding
year. The declining prices that have operated against the
growers of wheat should be studied in conjunction with Table
III., which shows, at intervals of five years, the imports of
TABLE III.--Imports into the United Kingdom of Wheat Grain,
and of Wheat Meal and Flour--Cwt.
Year. Wheat Grain. Meal and Flour. Total.
1875 51,876,517 6,136,083 58,012,600
1880 55,261,924 10,558,312 65,820,236
1885 61,498,864 15,832,843 77,331,707
1890 60,474,180 15,773,336 76,247,516
1895 81,749,955 18,368,410 100,118,365
1900 68,669,490 21,548,131 90,217,621
1905 97,622,752 11,954,763 109,577,515
wheat grain and of wheat meal and flour into the United
Kingdom. The import of the manufactured product from 1875 to
1900 increased at a much greater ratio than that of the raw
grain, for whilst in 1875 the former represented less than
one-ninth of the total, by 1900 the proportion had risen to
nearly one-fourth. The offal, which is quite as valuable as
the flour itself, was thus retained abroad instead of being
utilized for stock-feeding purposes in the United Kingdom.
In the five subsequent years the proportion was fundamentally
altered, so that with a greatly increased importation of
grain, that of meal and flour was in the proportion of about
one-ninth. The highest and lowest areas of wheat, barley and
oats in the United Kingdom during the period 1875-1905 were the
Wheat . 3,514,088 acres in 1875; 1,407,618 acres in 1904.
Barley . 2,931,809 acres in 1879; 1,872,305 acres in 1905.
Oats . 4,527,899 acres in 1895; 3,998,200 acres in 1879.
These show differences amounting to 2,106,470 acres for
wheat, 1,059,504 acres for barley, and 529,699 acres for
oats. The acreage of wheat, therefore, fluctuated the
most, and that of oats the least. Going back to 1869,
it is found that the extent of wheat in that year was
3,981,989 acres or very little short of four million acres.
The acreage of rye grown in the United Kingdom as a grain crop is
small, the respective maximum and minimum areas during the period
1875-1905 having been 102,676 acres in 1894 and 47,937 acres in
1880. Rye is perhaps more largely grown as a green crop to be
fed off by sheep, or cut green for soiling, in the spring months.
Of corn crops other than cereals, beans and peas are both
less cultivated than formerly. In the period 1875-1905
the area of beans in the United Kingdom fluctuated between
574,414 acres in 1875 and 230,429 acres in 1897, and that
of peas between 318,410 acres in 1875 and 155,668 acres in
1901. The area of peas (175,624 acres in 1905) shrank
by nearly one-half, and that of beans (256,583 acres in
1905) by more than one-half. Taking cereals and pulse
corn together, the aggregate areas of wheat, barley, oats,
rye, beans and peas in the United Kingdom varied as follows
over the six quinquennial intervals embraced in the period
Year. Acres. | Year. Acres.
1875 . . 11,399,030 | 1890 . . 9,574,249
1880 . . 10,672,086 | 1895 . . 8,865,338
1885 . . 10,014,625 | 1900 . . 8,707,602
| 1905 . . 8,333,770
Disregarding minor fluctuations, there was thus a loss of
corn land over the 30 years of 3,065,260 acres, or 27%.
The area withdrawn from corn-growing is not to be found under the
head of what are termed ``green crops.'' In 1905 the total area
of these crops in the United Kingdom was 4,144,374 acres, made up
Crop. Acres.
Potatoes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1,236,768
Turnips and swedes . . . . . . . . . 1,879,384
Mangel . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 477,540
Cabbage, kohl-rabi and rape . . . . 225,315
Vetches or tares . . . . . . . . . . 139,285
Other green crops . . . . . . . . . 186,082
The extreme aggregate areas of these crops during the
thirty years were 5,057,029 acres in 1875 and 4,109,394
acres in 1904. At five-year intervals the areas
Year. Acres. | Year. Acres.
1875 . . 5,057,029 | 1890 . . 4,534,145
1880 . . 4,746,293 | 1895 . . 4,399,949
1885 . . 4,765,195 | 1900 . . 4,301,774
| 1905 . . 4,144,374
These crops, therefore, which, except potatoes, are
used mainly for stock-feeding, have like the corn
crops been grown on gradually diminishing areas.
The land that has been lost to the plough is found to be
still further augmented when an inquiry is instituted into
the area devoted to clover, sainfoin and grasses under
rotation. The areas of five-year intervals are given in
Table IV. Under the old Norfolk or four-course rotation
(roots, barley, clover, wheat) land thus seeded with clover
or grass seeds was intended to be ploughed up at the end of a
year. Labour difficulties, low prices of produce, bad seasons
and similar causes provided inducements for leaving the land
in grass for two years, or over three years or more, before
breaking it up for wheat. In many cases it would be decided
to let such land remain under grass indefinitely, and thus
it would no longer be enumerated in the Agricultural Returns
as temporary grass land, but would pass into the category of
permanent grass land, or what is often spoken of as ``permanent
pasture.'' Whilst much grass land has been laid down with
the intention from the outset that it should be permanent,
at the same time some considerable areas have through stress
of circumstances been allowed to drift from the temporary
or rotation grass area to the permanent list, and have thus
still further diminished the area formerly under the dominion
of the plough. The column relating to permanent grass in
Table IV. shows clearly enough how the British Isles became
TABLE IV.--Areas of Grass Land (excluding Heath and Mountain
Land) in the United Kingdom--Acres.
Permanent
Year. Temporary (i.e. (i.e. not broken up Total.
under rotation). in rotation).
1875 6,337,953 23,772,602 30,110,555
1880 6,389,232 24,717,092 31,106,324
1885 6,738,206 25,616,071 32,354,277
1890 6,097,210 27,115,425 33,212,635
1895 6,061,139 27,831,117 33,892,256
1900 6,025,025 28,266,712 34,291,737
1905 5,779,323 28,865,373 34,644,696
more pastoral, while the figures already given demonstrate
the extent to which they became less arable. In the
period 1875-1905 the extreme areas returned as ``permanent
pasture''--a term which, it should be clearly understood,
does not include heath or mountain land, of which there
are in Great Britain alone about 13 million acres used for
grazing---were 23,772,602 acres in 1875, and 28,865,373 acres in
1905. Comparing 1905 with 1875 the increase in permanent
grass land amounted to over five million acres, or about 21%.
On account of the greater humidity and mildness of its climate,
Ireland is more essentially a pastoral country than Great Britain.
The distribution between the two islands of such important crops
of arable land as cereals and potatoes is indicated in Table V.
The figures are those for 1905, but, though the absolute acreages
TABLE V.--Areas of Cereal and Potato Crops in Great Britain
and Ireland in 1905.
Wheat. Barley.
Acres. Acres.
Great Britain . 1,796,993 1,713,664
Ireland . . . . 37,860 154,645
Total . . . . . 1,834,853 1,868,309
Oats. Potatoes.
Great Britain . 3,051,376 608,473
Ireland . . . . 1,066,806 616,755
Total . . . . . 4,118,182 1,225,228
vary somewhat from year to year, there is not much variation
in the proportions. The comparative insignificance of Ireland
in the case of the wheat and barley crops, represented by 2
and 8% respectively, receives some compensation when oats and
