Number and distribution of the dairy herd.—As will be seen 
from the preceding table the numbers of the dairy herd (cows 
nd heifers in milk or in calf) in England and Wales have shown a 
Steady increase since the annual numbers were first collected. 
In the 10 years 1867-76, cows and heifers in milk or in calf 
Wumbered 68 for every 1,000 acres of land under cultivation, a 
figure which by the year 1925 increased to 105. At the date of 
the last Census of Production in 1908 the number per 1,000 acres 
Was 85, so that the increase in the last 17 years has been 20 per 
1,000 acres, but during this period the acreage of crops and 
Permanent grass has declined by about 1,600,000 acres. The total 
Mumber of cows and heifers in milk or in calf in England and Wales 
NL 1925 was 2,718,000, whereas 50 years earlier the number was 
10t much above 1,800,000, and in 1908 was 2,332,000. 
The distribution of the dairy herd in 1925 is shown in Map XII 
nd in Table 13. By far the greatest concentration of dairy stock 
S found in Cheshire, where the numbers amount to about 250 per 
1,000 acres of cultivated land. Flint and Lancashire each have 
Over 190, and Derby and Stafford over 180, per 1,000 acres, these 
five counties forming a compact group in which dairying is of 
Much greater intensity than in any other part of the country. 
Indeed, these five counties, with only 9 per cent. of the cultivated 
Area of the country, possess nearly 18 per cent. of the total dairy 
her, The adjacent counties of Westmorland, Yorkshire (West 
Riding), Leicester, Salop, Denbigh and Carnarvon have between 
120 and 150 head of dairy stock per 1,000 acres of cultivated 
land, which is considerably above the average of the country as 
4 whole, but is equalled in some other districts. 
Apart from the north-western group of counties, only Somerset, 
Dorset and the Isle of Wight exceed 160 head per 1,000 acres, but 
Wiltshire with 158 and Cornwall with 143 are not far behind. 
The three counties in south-west Wales have between 120 and 
140, as have also Middlesex and East Sussex. 
The smallest numbers of dairy cattle are found in the eastern 
Part of the country. From Northumberland to Kent, with the 
gle exception of Durham, the counties bordered by the North 
Sea have less than 80 head of dairy stock per 1,000 acres of crops 
and grass, and this belt is at its broadest just south of the Wash, 
here it extends through Northampton into Oxford. It is clear 
that go far as the distribution of dairy stock is concerned the 
Vestern half of the country is much more heavily stocked than 
the eastern portion. 
.. The increase in dairy cattle which has taken place in the last 
0 years had been practically universal, the only county to show a 
"eduction heing Middlesex, where the total number of cows has 
fallen by over 50 per cent. since 1875, a change which is no doubt 
b tly due to the abandonment of town dairying and partly to 
sorption of agricultural land by building.