§ VISCOUNT CHAPLIN rose to ask His Majesty's Government whether the Ministry of Production of Food have been able to arrive at any approximate estimate of the increased production of cereals which may be expected from the coming harvest; of the acreage which has been sown with wheat, barley, and oats respectively; and of the yield per acre of each cereal which they can reasonably anticipate, given a fair average season.
§ The noble Viscount said: My Lords, I have to intrude once more, I am sorry to say, and ask this further Question, and although I am perfectly well aware, as the noble Lord said the other night, with regard to one part of my Question, that the threshing machine, after all, can be the only real arbiter, yet I have put this down on the Paper because, after the announcement which was made in public of the large additional number of acres that have been ploughed up, I am afraid that the exaggerated ideas of what the real increased production of food is to be may possibly be somewhat disappointed, for so many people appear to think that you have only to plough up a large number of acres to ensure a very large increase of food. I ask this Question for that reason. I have seen statements to the effect that the result of this harvest would be to enable us to feed 40,000,000 of our people, and I am very much afraid that when we arrive at the harvest and threshing has taken place there may be some disappointment in the matter. The Board of Agriculture, with its numerous inspectors all over the country, is in possession of the best information as to crops, and if the noble Lord is able to give us the information 777 which the Board of Agriculture possesses as to the prospects, I shall be glad if he will do so.
§ LORD CLINTONMy Lords, if the noble Viscount will allow me, I should like to answer the second and third parts of his Question first, because I have not got the information which will enable me to answer the first part of his Question, but we can make perhaps some estimate. The noble Viscount asks for the acreage which has been sown. Does he mean the increased acreage?
§ VISCOUNT CHAPLINYes.
§ LORD CLINTONThe increased acreage over 1916 of wheat is 752,000 acres.
§ THE DUKE OF MARLBOROUGHIs that for the United Kingdom?
§ LORD CLINTONIt is for England and Wales. Of barley 158,000 acres, and of oats 735,000 acres. The next question is as to the estimated yield per acre of each cereal which we can reasonably anticipate, given a fair average season. The only information which I can supply to the noble Viscount is this, that given a fair average season there is no reason to believe that taking the country as a whole the yield of the cereal crops will be less than the average yield of the country during the last ten years—viz.: wheat, 32 bushels; barley, 33 bushels; and oats, 40 bushels. In view of the recent drought, however, it is possible that the yield in the case of oats and barley may prove to be slightly below the average. That is the only estimate I can give the noble Viscount. I have not got the figures, but, obviously, if it was worth one's while to multiply that yield per acre by the increased acreage, one would arrive at the increased quantity of production.
§ VISCOUNT CHAPLINI am very much obliged to the noble Lord.