In striking contrast are those counties, mainly arable, where 
sheep were formerly a most important factor in the farming 
system. In the eastern counties the number of sheep fell during 
the period by 1,177,000 or 69 per cent., while the eastern and 
north-eastern counties combined, which in 1871-75 accounted 
for nearly 21 per cent. of the total, in 1921-25 only contained 
12 per cent. 
As compared with immediately before the war the number 
of sheep has declined by rather less than 7 per cent. in the whole 
of England and Wales, but the reductions are very heavy in 
most Eastern and Southern counties. For example, the eastern 
division shows a reduction of 29 per cent. and Lincoln and Norfolk 
have decreases of 28 per cent. Wiltshire and Hampshire show 
declines of 34 and 33 per cent. and Berkshire, Dorset and Sussex 
have 26 to 30 per cent. less sheep than in 1913, 
It is apparent from these figures that the reduction in the 
sheep population has been most drastic in the arable counties and 
that sheep raising has continued to make headway or to hold its 
own in those areas where costs are low owing to the existence of 
extensive rough grazings. In Table 14 is shown the distribution 
of sheep per 1,000 acres of crops and grass in each county in 
1925 and 1908. The number of sheep per 1,000 acres of cultivated 
land in 1925 in the whole of England and Wales was 620 against 
720 in 1908. It is in connection with sheep that the extensive 
area of rough grazing land in the country is of chief importance, 
since most of this land consists of mountain land which is fitted 
for little else but sheep pasturage. Hence the figures, showing 
the distribution of sheep per 1,000 acres of crops and grass, 
excluding rough grazing land, tend to exaggerate the density 
of the sheep population in those counties in which the area of 
rough grazings bears the greatest ratio to that of cultivated land. 
Over the whole country the number of sheep per 1,000 acres, 
including rough grazings, in 1925 was 519 against 620 per 1,000 
acres of crops and permanent grass. In Wales the corresponding 
numbers were 885 and 1,395, and in those northern counties 
where the density of sheep per 1,000 acres of cultivated land 
is very high there are similar wide differences. Northumberland 
had 947, Cumberland 742 and Westmorland 919 per 1,000 acres 
including rough grazings against 1,690, 1,231 and 1.837 respec- 
tively, as shown in Table 14. 
In Map XIII is shown the distribution of sheep per 1,000 
acres of crops and grass (excluding rough grazings) in 1925. 
Northumberland and Westmorland are the only counties in 
England to exceed 1,600 per 1,000 acres, but six counties in 
Wales exceed this figure. Cumberland and Glamorgan come 
next with less than 1,300 each, and Kent and Cardigan are the 
only other counties with over 1,000 sheep per 1,000 acres of 
cultivated land. There are less than 400 per 1,000 acres in 
practically half of the counties in England, but no counties with