§ Mr. T. DAVIESasked the President of the Board of Agriculture if he is now in a position to state the quantity of wheat, barley, and oats grown in the United Kingdom in 1917; and how it compares with the respective crops of 1915?
§ Sir R. WINFREYA preliminary estimate of the produce of wheat, barley, and oats grown in the United Kingdom in 1917 gives the figures as: Wheat, 8,039,149 qrs.; barley, 7,171,594 qrs.; oats, 25,979,149 qrs. The comparative figures for 1915 are 9,239,355 qrs., 5,862,244 qrs., and 22,308,395 qrs. respectively. The estimates for the current year are subject to revision.
§ Mr. DAVIESasked the President of the Board of Agriculture if he can state the acreage of grass land ploughed up this year in Lincolnshire; and whether he will state the number of acres under wheat and barley, respectively, in the years 1915, 1916, and 1917, and the total produce of wheat and barley in each of the three years in the same county?
§ Sir R. WINFREYAs no statistical returns are made for the 1st of January, it is impossible to state how much grass land has been ploughed this year. Between 4th June, 1916, and 4th June, 1917, the permanent grass in Lincolnshire showed a decrease of 3,600 acres and the arable an increase of 778 acres. The board have now asked the war agricultural committees, in a circular letter of the 5th instant, for information as to the area scheduled for plougning, the area promised, and the area of grass land in respect of which notices to plough up have been served. I am circulating a statement of the figures required in the second part of the question. These will be printed in the OFFICIAL REPORT.
The following is the statement above referred to:
1374W
ACREAGE and PRODUCTION Of WHEAT and BARLEY in. Lincolnshire in 1915, 1916 and1917. — 1915. 1916. 1917. Acreage. Production. Acreage. Production. Acreage. Production. Acres. Qrs. Acres. Qrs. Acres. Qrs. Wheat... 219,803 913,683 186.243 651,871 186,008 792 807 Barley 163,341 602,731 176,900 628,114 190,813 715,527