ENGLISH AGRICULTURE

Shannon News, 18 October 1927, Page 2

ENGLISH AGRICULTURE

One of the features of th e returns of livestock and crops just Issued by ! the Ministry of Agriculture is the great increase in the number of cat--1 tl e in England and Wales. For the fifth year in succession the number of cattle shows an increase; the total this year, 6,252,400- is the largest ever recorded. Sinc e 1921 the herds of the country have been increased by 736,000, the addition during the past year 'boing- 800,000. Another point is that there are to-day 884,000 more sheep than in 1925, the total number being 16,859,000. Breeding ewes have increased by 355,000 and lambs by 497,000. Ther e ar e 80;000 acres less under crops and permanent grass this year (the total is 25,650,000 acres), but, although this area of arable land (10,548,000 acres) shows a reduction, the decrease is much less than in either of the two previous years. Fo r the first time since 3 921, the acreage of wheat shows an increase, the total of 1,592,000 acres being 92,000 acres larger than in 1925. There is comparatively little change in the area of oats, the total of 1,861,000 acres comparing with 1,868,000 acres last year.