ot)
9]
AVERAGE ANNUAL PropucrioN oF CorN CROPS IN ENGLANI
AND Wares IN CERTAIN PERIODS.
(Thousands of tons.)
Lo
Period.
Wheat.
Barley. | Oats.
Mixed
Corn.
Beans. |
Peas.
1886-1890
1891-1960
1901-1910
1911-1920
1921-1925
1925
1,902
1,553
1,429
1,675
1,575
1,360
1,482
1,434
1.244
1088
995
1.010
1,334
1,441
1,552
1,471
1.383
1.379
(a) 251 157
(a) 175 133
(a) 210 119
(a) 199 86
gn 181 68
159 64
(2) Included under wheat, barley and oats.
While the cause of the above changes is to be found chiefly
in the change in the areas under the various crops, the extent of
the changes is affected in some degree by the alterations in average
yield to which attention has already been drawn. For example,
the increase in average yield per acre between 1891-1900 and
1901-10 was not sufficient to prevent a reduction in the total
production of corn, but it restricted the decline in the average
wheat production to 124,000 tons, or about 8 per cent., although
the area declined by 246,000 acres or 13 per cent. The total yield
of oats in the same period showed an increase of 8 per cent.
although the acreage under oats in the country had increased by
only 2 per cent.
The period from 1911 to 1920 is of course exceptional in that
the corn area was increased substantially during the war. But
total yields of corn crops since 1921, averaging in the aggregate
4,290,000 tons per annum (excluding rye), have been nearly
6 per cent. below the average for the 10 years up to 1910 when
the total yield was about 4,550,000 tons, while the average
acreage under these crops has been reduced by less than 3 per
cent. During the past five years, however, there have been
very substantial changes in the acreage under the various crops
and the total corn production in 1925 amounted to only 4,066,000
tons, or about 11 per cent. below the average production of
1901-10,
Wheat. —The extent of wheat growing as compared with that of
other crops on arable land varies very greatly in different parts of
the country. In Map V are shown the proportions of wheat
to total arable area in the different counties in 1925, Huntingdon
and the Isle of Ely, each with over 28 per cent. of their arable
area under wheat, are the counties in which wheat growing is
relatively most extensive and, radiating from this centre, the
proportion of wheat becomes gradually smaller until in the
extreme north-west and south-west the proportion is less than
5 per cent. The proportion of the arable area now occupied by
this erop over the whole of England and Wales is 14 per cent. The