Information as to the production of the different crops is 
given in Chapter IIL of the Report, but this is difficult to 
summarise as it is not possible to express the aggregate production 
of the arable area in any simple manner. Differences in produc- 
tion as between one year and another are dependent on the 
area sown or planted and on the average yield, which in turn is 
dependent on weather conditions. Of these differences the area 
is the most distinctive and an idea of changes in production can 
perhaps be obtained by mentioning briefly the area devoted to a 
few of the different crops. The total area under corn crops in 
1925 was 5,182,000 acres as compared with an average of 5,786,000 
acres in 1906-10. There was thus a loss of just over 600,000 
acres which was spread nearly equally over the three main cereals. 
Turnips, swedes and mangolds declined in the same period by 
400,000 acres, the only important crop which showed an increase 
being potatoes, the acreage of which rose from an average of 
418,000 acres in 1906-10 to 506,000 acres in 1921-25. It is 
evident, therefore, that apart from the differences in the average 
yield per acre in the two years 1908 and 1925, there was a material 
decline in the potential output of the principal farm crops. There 
is no means of ascertaining or expressing the production of grass- 
land, the output of hay only representing in most cases part of 
the production even of the land from which itis taken. As regards 
the other crops, including vegetables and also glasshouse produce, 
information has been obtained as to production in 1925, but the 
details available for 1908 are insufficient to enable a comparison 
to be made, though it is believed that the area now devoted to 
these crops is much greater than it formerly was. As regards 
fruit, the area under orchards and small fruit was rather less in 
1925 than in 1908, but in the interval there had been much new 
planting and the productive capacity of the area under fruit is 
now much higher than formerly. 
Against the decrease in the principal farm crops may be 
placed the increase in dairy farming, the stock of cows in 1925 
numbering 2,713,000 as compared with an average of 2,330,000 
in 1906-10, an increase from about 85 to 105 per 1,000 acres of 
crops and grass. The increase in dairy cattle has been con- 
tinuous for the last 50 years and is a definite and marked 
characteristic of farming in almost all parts of the country. As a 
result, milk production is estimated on the results obtained in 
1925 to have risen since 1908 by about 150 million gallons from 
approximately 975 million gallons to 1,120 million gallons, an 
increase of about 15 per cent., while the amount of milk sold as 
liquid milk has risen in the same period by about 20 per cent. 
The number of cattle other than dairy cattle shows little 
change if the figures for 1925 are compared with those for 
1906-10, but there was an increase during the war which has since 
been lost. Sheep, on the other hand, have shown a very marked 
reduction, the numbers falling with fluctuations from the high 
figure of 20,290,000 in 1909 to 13,438,000 in 1922. Since that