AGRICULTURE In the returns of the Board of Trade for 1867 the total area of Rutland is returned at 95,805 acres, of which 78,750 were under cultivation, and of this quantity 42,643 acres were arable and 36,107 pasture. Cattle numbered 12,917, sheep 109,726, pigs 5,918. In 1878, when the depression in agriculture which has lasted until to-day was beginning to be felt, the acreage under cultivation had grown to 86,i6o acres, divided as under : — Acres Corn Crops Wheat Barley Oats Rye 10,172 11,162 3,211 24 a total of 26,518 acres. Beans 1,176 Peas 773 Green Crops Acres Potatoes IS4 Turnips and Swedes Mangolds Carrots 6,179 480 s a total of 7,479 acres. Cabbage, Kohl-rabi and Rape 103 Vetches and other green crops 558 Under clover, sainfoin and grasses under rotation there were 7,042 acres, and 2,656 acres were fallow or uncropped arable, the grand total of the arable amounting to 43,695 acres, while 42,465 ■were permanent pasture, a considerable increase since 1867. The live-stock consisted of Horses 3,170 Cattle 16,41s Sheep 99,812 Pigs 3,983 Of the cattle 3,205 were cows and heifers in milk or in calf. The decrease in the number of sheep was largely attributed to the favourable season which had enabled farmers to get them ready for market earlier in the year than usual, so that many had been sold before the live-stock census on 4 June, and the decrease in pigs was said to be partly due to the increase of American competition in bacon. Only 60 acres were in orchards, 23 used as market gardens, and 7 as nursery grounds ; while 3,094 acres were in woods, coppices, and plantations. The years 1879 and 1880 will long be remembered in the midland, western, and southern counties for their disastrous rainfall and the consequent liver-rot among the sheep ; in the western part of Rutland on the flooded pastures it was fatally prevalent, and in many parishes scarcely a sheep was left.^^ The cattle too were infected and a considerable number died. Prices now fell steadily and agriculture entered on one of the worst periods it has ever known, yet in 1896, when the commissioners visited the county, they were astonished at the excellent farming. In 1905 the acreage under cultivation was 87,397, a slight increase since 1878, and the following were the crops : — Acres Corn Crops Wheat Barley Oats 5,305 8,89s 3,9+1 Rye 51 Beans 688 Peas 640 a total of 19,520 acres. The diminution in the quantity of land under wheat owing to foreign competition is as marked as in most counties in the kingdom. Potatoes Acres Green Crops ^"s3er' Mangolds Cabbage, Kohl-rabi and Rape 5,060 766 341 Vetches and Tares 278 Other Crops 95 a total of 6,732 acres. Clover, sainfoin, and grass under rotation accounted for 6,022 acres, small fruit for 45, and bare fallow for 1,219. Altogether 33,538 acres were in tillage and 53,859 in permanent pasture. Thus since 1878 the arable land had decreased 10,157 acres, and the permanent pasture in- creased 11,394 acres, a change characteristic of England as a whole. Orchards now occupied '^ Report on liver-rot, Roy. Agrlc. Soc. Engl. 'J own. (Ser. 2), xvii, 1 74. Yet according to the Board of Agriculture Returns there was only a decrease of 4, 132 sheep between 1878 and 1880. 247
