X17
The productive side of agriculture is, however, only one
aspect of the problem, and in attempting to review the general
position, account needs to be taken of other factors, such as the
holdings on which the industry is carried on, the number of
persons engaged, the capital employed and the rent paid, and
last but not least the influence of prices and the changes which
have taken place in recent years. An attempt is made to deal
with these subjects in Chapters VII to XI.
As regards the number of holdings (Chapter VII) there is
some difficulty in deciding on the extent of the increase in recent
years in the number of holdings under 20 acres, but in any case,
the bulk of the land is in holdings over that size. Holdings
over 20 acres numbered 220,600 in 1924 and covered 24,372,000
acres or 94 per cent. of the total acreage of crops and grass
(excluding rough grazings). The corresponding number of
holdings in 1913 was 221,250, while in 1895 it was 216,000.
There has been an increase in medium sized holdings at the
expense of holdings at both ends of the scale.
A classification of these holdings has been adopted which
gives some indication of their character and it is interesting
to note that 104,200 or nearly one-half of the above total of
220,600 holdings over 20 acres consist mainly of pasture land,
while nearly 40,000 or about 18 per cent. consist mainly of arable
land. One characteristic is that the smaller holdings, say, from
20 to 100 acres, are generally more heavily stocked in proportion
to their size than the larger holdings.
The question of the number of persons who can properly be
described as engaged or employed in agriculture or horticulture is
one of considerable difficulty, but an attempt has been made in
Chapter VIII to reconcile the apparently conflicting figures
obtained from different sources on this subject. On the whole,
allowing for differences in definition, there is a good deal of evidence
that the number of persons engaged in agriculture or horticulture
at the present time in England and Wales is about 1,100,000, of
whom about 800,000 are employees of various kinds and 300,000
farmers, market gardeners or nurserymen who are either em-
ployers or working on their own account. The number of purely
agricultural workers, excluding gardeners, has no doubt declined
since 1908, though the decrease shown in the Census Returns
between 1901 and 1921 is only about 40,000, and in the same
period there was a corresponding increase in the number of
persons Who described themselves as farmers. That there
should be a decline in the number of purely agricultural workers
seems a natural result of the decrease in arable land and is also
largely accounted for by the rapidly increasing use of mechanical
power in agriculture, a subject which is dealt with in Chapter IX.
The reduction in the supply of agricultural labour appears,
however, to be less than is sometimes supposed, and the evidence
of the last few years suggests that the numbers are nearly
stationary.