V1] 
MINISTRY OF AGRICULTURE AND FISHERIES. 
To THE SECRETARY OF THE MINISTRY OF AGRICULTURE 
AND FISHERIES. 
SIR, 
I HAVE the honour to submit a Report on the Agricultural 
Census of England and Wales, 1925, based partly on the Annual 
Agricultural Statistics, and partly on enquiries specially under- 
taken in connection with the Census of Production. 
It may not be out of place to refer at the outset to the 
discussions in the House of Commons* as to the need for a survey 
of the agricultural conditions and possibilities of the country. 
This Report, while not pretending to provide all the information 
desired, is an attempt to meet that demand on the statistical 
side. The task of compiling statistics that afford guidance as 
to the trend of a complicated and heterogeneous industry such 
as agriculture is, however, a formidable one, and whilst the Report 
provides some material on which a judgment can be based, there 
are necessary limitations to the information which can be supplied 
by agricultural statistics and also to the deductions which can 
safely be drawn from them. 
In the period which has elapsed since 1908—the date of the 
last census—agriculture has passed through an economic dis- 
turbance which, measured by its effect on prices, is without 
parallel in the last 100 years. The present enquiry refers in the 
main to the year 1925, seven years after the end of the war but 
only three years after the sharp fall in prices in 1921-22, and 
sufficient time has not yet elapsed to enable general conclusions 
to be drawn. But the evidence seems to suggest that, though 
appreciable changes have taken place and there have been gains 
and losses in different branches of the industry, agriculture has 
passed through this period without suffering any serious economic 
set-back. 
From the nature of the subject, the Report is necessarily 
somewhat detailed and itmay be useful if I attempt to indicate 
some of the leading figures which it contains. This brief summary 
needs, however, to be read with caution. In the Report an 
endeavour has been made to explain the limitations to which the 
figures are subject, and one particular limitation which needs to 
be borne in mind is that the figures for a single year may not be 
fully representative. For this reason, the Report is not confined 
merely to a comparison of 1925 with 1908, but summarises in 
more or less detail figures both for preceding and intervening 
years. 
* On the 8th April, 1925, 3rd August, 1925, 24th June, 1926 and 
2nd Aucust. 1926.