Page:Encyclopædia Britannica, Ninth Edition, v. 13.djvu/238

 222 IRELAND [AGRICULTURE. The number of holdings of less than one acre is not given iu the census returns of 1841, but the number of persons occupying the holdings is given in Kennedy s Digest of the Evidence of the Devon Commission. Beckon ing that no one possessed more than one holding, the total diminution in the number of holdings between 1841 and 1850 would thus be 252,294, or, not including holdings under 1 acre, 167,593. The number of occupiers in 1880. was 527,444, or 46,778 fewer than the number of holdings. The diminution in holdings took place chiefly between 1841 and 1851, that is, practically between 1846 and 1851, this decline being 218,450. It was confined to farms not ex ceeding 15 acres in extent, which between these years de clined as much as 380,884, and between 1851 and 1880 have declined by only 41,425. Those not exceeding 1 acre, prin cipally the potato gardens of the cottiers, between 1841 and 1851 declined by 97, 586, or nearly three-fourths; since 1851 they have increased by more than one-fourth, Farms above 1 and not exceeding 5 acres declined between 1841 and 1851 by 222,353, or nearly three-fourths; and those above 5 and not exceeding 15 acres by 60,945, or nearly one-fourth. Between 1851 and 1880 the decline in farms of the former class has been 23,791 and of the latter class 30,519, there having been a slight increase in this class in the province of Connaught. The largest increase in the number of holdings took place in those exceeding 30 acres, the additions be tween 1841 and 1851 being 100,465, and between 1851 and 18SO only amounting to 12,374, the greatest proportional increase between 1841 and 1880 being in the provinces of Connaught and Ulster. The increase between 1841 and 1851 in farms above 15 and not exceeding 30 acres was 61,969, and between 1851 and 1880 there has been a decrease of 4793, there having been a slight increase in Connaught. In farms above 30 acres in extent, the increase between 1851 and 1880 has been greatest, both in numbers and in pro portion, in those above 50 and not exceeding 100 acres. Since 1861 the decrease in the total number of holdings has been gradual but continuous ; and the slight increase between 1851 and 1861 is more than accounted for by an increase in the gardens of the cottiers. The largest pro portional decrease in the number of holdings, 8 per cent, above that for Ireland, has been in Minister, where, as will be seen from subsequent statistics, the increase of the acreage under pasture has also been greatest. The relation which the decrease in the number of holdings has had to the decrease in tillage may be to some extent understood from Table VIII. , which gives the percentages of acreage in the various classes of holdings for 1854, 1861, and 1871, with the percentage of land in each class under crops, grass, fallow, woods, and bog or waste respectively. The registrar-general s returns do not supply materials for such a table for 1851. It will be seen that there is an uninterrupted decline in the proportion of land under crops according to the increase in the size of the holdings, it being over 80 per cent, in those less than 1 acre, over 60 per cent, in those above 1 and not exceeding 5 acres, and only a little over 3 per cent, in those above 500 acres. On the other hand, the acreage under grass is in farms between 1 and 5 acres only about 28 per cent., and reaches its maximum, nearly 60 per cent., in farms above 200 and under 500 acres; and, while the extent of bog and waste is scarcely 8 per cent, in farms between 1 and 5 acres, it gradually increases with the increase iu the size of the farm until it is over 60 per cent, in those above 500 acres. The acreage under crops remained nearly stationary between 1854 and 1871 in all the classes of farms, but the acreage under grass increased 2 5 per cent., the increase being wholly in farms of above 30 acres, vdiile there was a decrease of about 1 per cent, in the case of all classes of farms below 15 acres in extent. The increase may almost be accounted for by reclamations, the decline in the acreage under bog and waste being between the same periods about 2 - 4 per cent., which occurs principally in farms above 50 acres in extent, there being a consider able increase in the case of some of the other classes of farms. The nature of the change in regard to cropping and tillage which has taken place since 1847 is shown more distinctly in Table IX., which gives the acreage under the different kinds of crop in 1847, 1851,1861, 1871, 1879, and 1880. Table X. gives the acreage under crops, grass, fallow, woods, and waste for 1851 and 1880, and Table XI. shows in detail the proportions per cent. The general result of Table IX. is to show a total decline between 1847 and 1880 in the area under crops amounting to 157,351 acres, the decrease having taken place after 1861, up to which year there was from 1847 an increase of 651,961, the decline between 1861 and 1880 being 809,312, or more than one-seventh. The stated area under crop in 1847 conveys, however, a misleading impression, as the area under potatoes was only 284,116 acres, whereas in 1846 it was estimated at 1,237,441, the difference being undoubtedly due to the fact that in 1847 a great portion of this area was left out of cultivation. Thus, if 1846 had been substituted for 1847 it would have been found that in the area under crops there was a decrease between 1846 and 1851 probably as great as that which occurred between 1851 and 1880. This latter decrease amounted to 777,727 acres or 3 &quot;8 per cent, of the area of the country, the decrease in Leinster being 383,143 or 7 6 per cent., in Munsfcer 268,351 or 4 5 per cent,, in Ulster 107,750 or 2 per cent., and in Connaught 18,623 or 4 per cent. Unfortunately the TABLE X. Areas (in Acres) under Crops, &c., in 1851 and 1880. Crops. Grass. Fallow. Woods. Waste. Total. Tplnt-i&amp;gt;r (1851 1,786,413 2,177,441 73,863 101,776 698,212 4,837,705 u ^1880 1,403,270 2,648,283 5,560 105,555 675,593 4,838,261 Munster flf&quot; 1,508,339 1,239,988 2,749,660 3,322,406 52,453 2,442 103,665 116,395 1,520,671 1,253,453 5,934,788 5,934,684 Ulster -I 1851 1,851,995 2,111,736 30,528 58,611 1,258,422 5,311,292 Ulster 1l880 1,744,245 2.210,158 4,977 64,904 1,297,296 5,321,580 Connaught,.-^ 712,204 693,581 1.709,740 2,078,261 38,209 2,427 40.854 53,004 1,732,187 1,405,966 4,233,194 4,233,2;i9 Trnland -P 851 5,858,951 8,748,577 195,053 304,906 5,209,492 20.316.979 2 Ilcland ISSO 5,081,224 10,259,108 15,406 339,858 4,632,308i20,327,764 2 1 Including more than 130.000 acris under water. 2 Exclusive of nearly 500,000 acres under the larger rivers, lakes, and tideways. TABLE XI. Percentage of Area under the principal Crops, and under Grass, Fallow, Woods, and Waste, in 1851 and 1880. Wheat. Oats. Barley. Total Cereals. Potatoes. Turnips. Total Green Crop. Meadow. Total under Crop. Grass. Fallow. Woods. Waste. Leinster 1851 4-2 127 2-0 19-8 3-9 2-2 7-0 9 9 36-9 45-0 1-5 2-1 14-5 Munster,. . 1880 1851 0-9 3-0 6 3 67 3-2 2-2 10-6 12-3 21 4-1 21 2-1 6-0 6-6 12-3 6 3 29 3 25-4 547 46-4 o-o 0-9 2 1 1-7 13 9 25-6 Ulster 1880 1851 9 17 4-2 167 0-8 0-5 6-1 197 3-4 5-3 1-3 2-0 5 4 7-9 9 6 4-9 20-9 34-8 56-0 39-8 o-o 0-6 2-0 1-1 21 1 237 Connauglit 1880 1851 07 07 12-0 6-8 0-1 0-6 13-0 8-5 5 7 3-6 17 1-8 8-9 4-9 8 9 31 32-8 16-8 41-5 40-3 o-i 0-9 1-2 1-0 24-4 41-0 Total, Ireland 1880 1851 o-i 2-4 4-3 107 0-2 1-4 4-8 15-2 41 4-2 0-5 1-8 5-2 67 5-1 61 16-4 28-8 491 43-0 o-i 1-0 1-2 1-5 33 2 257 1880 07 6-3 1-2 8-1 4-0 1-5 5-5 8-1 25-0 50 5 o-o 17 22 8