less than this number in Wales. In Northumberland, Durham, 
Cumberland, Westmorland and Lancashire, and also in the 
Welsh counties without exception, more sheep are now kept per 
1,000 acres of cultivated land than was the case 50 years ago. 
Everywhere else there has been a substantial reduction, the 
only counties in which the reduction is less than 30 per cent. 
being Yorkshire, Cheshire, Kent, Salop, Hereford and Devon. 
In Bedford, Huntingdon and Cambridge, the numbers per 1,000 
acres in 1925 were less than one third of those recorded 50 years 
earlier. 
These figures emphasise what has already been pointed out, 
that sheep raising has only maintained its position in counties 
M which there are substantial areas of rough grazing land. Wales, 
the four northernmost counties of England and Lancashire, 
Where the flocks have increased during the past 50 years, have 
Nearly 60 per cent. of the rough grazings of the country, and if 
to these are added the counties in which the reduction in sheep is 
less than 30 per cent. the proportion is 80 per cent. of the rough 
grazings. 
The number of lambs born each year ix somewhat greater 
than the number of ewes, the highest proportion being in the 
Midland counties and the smallest in Wales. At the beginning of 
June 1925, lambs averaged 110 to every 100 ewes in England and 
90 in Wales, over 125 lambs per 100 ewes occurring in Yorkshire 
(Fast Riding), Nottingham, Leicester, Northampton and War- 
Wick. In some of the early lambing counties, the number of 
lambs shown in the, returns is small, notably the Isle of Wight 
Where over one half of the year’s lambs appear to have been 
fattened and slaughtered by June. To a smaller extent this is 
also the case in Hampshire and Dorset. 
Sheep over 1 year old, other than rams and ewes, are much 
less numerous than formerly, and form only 17 per cent. of the 
total sheep in the country. Ewes and other sheep of over one 
Year were not separately distinguished until 1893, at which date 
Other sheep above one year old formed 25 per cent. of the total 
flocks. The reduction in the numbers of sheep over one year old, 
Other than ewes, has occurred throughout the country, even in 
those counties in which the total numbers of sheep have increased. 
Barly maturity is quite as potent a force among sheep as among 
“ttle, and home-produced mutton consists much more largely 
of lamb and young mutton, than was the case 50 years ago. 
_ Sheep are similar to cattle in that the distribution in June 
8lves no accurate indication of the relative importance of the 
different counties from the point of view of mutton supply. 
The first lamb sales occur shortly after the collection of the 
Particulars on the 4th June, and the movement from one part 
of the country to another is heavy during August to October. A 
énsus taken in the autumn or winter would show a different