Page:The New International Encyclopædia 1st ed. v. 07.djvu/104

ENGLAND. to the English and Welsh coasts, and fish is the only article of food that is yielded in adequate supply. The total value of the productincreased steadily from £3,683,063 in 1887 to £6,610,268 in 1900. Yarmouth, Grimsby and Hull are the centres of the industry: but the greater part of the catch goes to Billingsgate, London, which is the largest fish-market in the world. The most important varieties are cod, haddock, herring, mackerel, and pilchard. A great many fish are brought alive in tanks on the fishing vessels to the ports, whence they are sent on fast trains to the great centres of consumption.

England differs from other countries outside of the United Kingdom in the remarkable extent to which her lands are concentrated in the hands of a small per cent, of the population, and in the universality of the capitalistic system of tenure. It is estimated that all estates exceeding 125 acres in area and amounting to four-fifths of the total cultivated area is held by 38,000 landlords. By far the greater part of the land, amounting in 1895 to 85.1% of the total area under crops and grass, is rented; and, while the average size of holdings is not greatly in excess of that prevailing in the large agricultural States of the United States, yet the more intensive system of cultivation requires a much greater outlay of capital, and hence the method is known as 'the capitalistic system.' More is expended upon each of the items rent, labor, fertilizers, and machinery than in the United States, estimated upon an acreage basis. England, more than any other European country, has followed the example of America in the adoption of labor-saving machinery, and this has been responsible for the diminution in the number of agricultural laborers. The other factor which lends to lessen the number of agricultural laborers is the recent decrease in the raising of crops. The increasing competition of the United States and other foreign lands that are favored with cheap land, cheap transportation, and do not yet find it necessary to buy so large an amount of expensive fertilizers, has been disastrous to the interests of the English farmer. This influence is seen most clearly in the matter of the production of wheat, which is almost wholly in the drier and lower lands of the east. This cereal had for a long time been far in the lead among English crops, the average annual acreage for the period 1871-75 having been 3,284,445 acres; but from hat period the acreage declined until in 1895 it reached  the minimum of 1,339,806 acres. It has recovered somewhat, since that period, the acreage in 1900 being 1,744,556. This was a little more than the acreage for barley, most of which is raised in the wheat-growing area, and a little less than that for oats in the same year, the latter crop being the only cereal which made significant gains in the last quarter of the nineteenth century. The climatic condition do not admit of the raising of Indian corn in any part of the country. Beans (248,828 acres) and peas (154,295 acres) have both decreased materially in acreage since the early seventies. Green crops are characterized by the greatest attention given to turnips, of special importance in the sheep and cattle-growing districts, where the animals are fed on them in winter; though the acreage of these (1,160,391 in 1900) has shown an annual decrease since 1893, when it was 1,424,093 acres Potatoes and mangolds are also important crops, their acreage in 1900 being respectively 396,939 and 401,913 acres. Small fruits are extensively grown (06,749 acres in 1900) on the largest scale in the southeast and the Severn Valley; as are also hops (51,308 acres in 1900), the latter principally in Kent and Sussex. The numerous large towns afford a market for a large gardening industry. The area of clover, sainfoin, and grasses under rotation in 1900 was 2.708,038 acres, which was about the average annual acreage for each in the three preceding decades.

The decrease in wheat-raising has tended to increase the area of permanent pasture land, which amounted in 1900 to 13,391,877 acres, or over 3,000,000 acres in excess of the acreage in the early seventies, and over 2,000,000 in excess of the arable land in 1900. Corresponding to this has been the growth of the stock-raising industry, particularly of cattle. These numbered, in 1900, 4,848,638 head, or somewhat in excess of the average for the decade ending with that year, and over 800,000 in excess of the average for the decade 1871-80. The towns are so numerous that milk is the chief dairy product, no other country depending so largely upon imports of butter. In the decade 1891-1900 the farm horses averaged about 1,175,000 head, as against an average of a little over 1,000,000 for the decade 1871-80. The number of sheep, however, has decreased from an average of 18,717,511 for the period 1871-75, to the minimum of 15,509,995 in 1894, the number in subsequent years having remained somewhat above this figure. The north and west, or the elevated and more humid portions of England, are largely given over to grazing, while in the eastern portion the growing of cereals and other crops is more common, though stock-raising is also prominent throughout this region. The three coast counties, Lincolnshire, Yorkshire, and Essex, lead in the production of wheat, the average yield in these counties sometimes approaching the remarkable figure of 40 bushels per acre. No country surpasses England in the superior quality of her domestic animals, and no other has contributed so many varieties of the standard breeds. The name of the county or region in which the breed originated is generally used to designate them, Mich as the Devonshire, Lancashire, or Durham cattle, Southdown sheep, and Berkshire hogs. There are ten or twelve native breeds of cattle, the most important being the Shorthorn, which, originating in the Tees district of Durham over a century ago, has spread all over the country and is which distributed abroad. Hereford and Sussex cattle arc famous for beef, and Shorthorn and Devon both for beef and milk.

. The persons engaged in manufacturing industries are five times as numerous as the farmers; the number per cent, thus employed is larger than in any other country. The extensive resources of coal and iron have been the most prominent of the numerous influences which have fostered the development of manufacturing. The textile industry leads in importance, there in 1898, 823,963 individuals employed in the textile factories of England (including Wales), of whom 199,937 were females. The proximity of coal-fields, commercial advantages, and an atmosphere laden with an unusual amount of