Agriculture of the United KINGDOM. | and Number of Live Stock, in Great Britain -The following Return shows the Acreage and Ireland upon 25th of June in 1867, under each Crop, and Fallow, and Grass, 1870, 1873, and 1875:—

LANDOWNERS OF ENGLAND AND WALES. -It appears from the analysis of the Landowners' Return, obtained on the motion of Mr. Bright, that two-thirds of the land of England and Wales are in possession of rather more than 10,000 owners. Taking from the scale below all owners having 500 acres or more, their aggregate number is 10,207, and they together possess 22,013,203 acres, or two-thirds of the 33,013,514 acres of the return, The accumulation in Scotland is still more remarkable. Selecting owners in the same portion of the scale,

we find 2,584 proprietors, holding 18,167,569 out of a total 18,946,694 acres. The territorial aristocracy having this immense domain, the smaller owners, numbering in all 129,547, are left about 780,000 acres between them all. Stating the facts for Great Britain, we have these results:-Of the 1,104,967 owners, large and small, having in all 51,960,208 acres, 12,791 owners of 500 acres and upwards hold 40, 180,000 acres, or four-fifths of the whole very nearly.

The Number and the Extent of the Possessions of the Landowners of Great Britain (including London).

The statistics it may be mentioned are tabulated to scale for every county in the kingdom.

lons, of which 8,683,802 were red, and 8,665,692 white.

WINE. The consumption of wine of all kinds in 1875 remained practically in the same position it occupied in 1874, there being a difference of 65,252 gallons only in WHEAT.-The value of the wheat and favour of the year 1875. Sherry has fallen wheat meal imported into the United off in consumption by 158,269 gallons, repre- Kingdom in 1875 was 32,380, 7261., grown senting a loss in duty of 19,7177., but this was in the kingdom in the same year is estialmost exactly counterbalanced by a cor- mated at 21,823,950l., from which it follows responding increase in the consumption of that the quantity grown at home was much Portuguese wine, which appears to advance less than half of what was required for the steadily amid all the fluctuations to which consumption of the people. The deficiency, the wines of other countries are subject, however, was supplied from abroad with there being an average annual increase of such facility that the price, since the fall about 5 per cent. per annum, and an in- after the harvest of 1874, was not matecrease, taking the two most remote points rially affected or raised by the comparative of comparison, the years 1871 and 1875, of deficiency in 1875. The official average no less than 21 per cent. Red and white price immediately after the harvest of 1874 wines from France showed no noteworthy was 46s. 1d., and after that of 1875 only features of divergence, the quantities, only 46s. At the close of those years it 3,502,516 gallons of red and 1,536,599 gal- was 448. 8d. and 45s. 9d. respectively. lons of white, being practically the same as During the intermediate periods it had those recorded in the year 1874. The total shown little fluctuation, and was at June, quantity of wine of all kinds cleared for 1876, 468. 4d. consumption in 1875 was 17,349,494 gal

TOBACCO.- Tobacco still continues to maintain the first position in our revenue accounts, the receipt for the year on all kinds of this article, manufactured and unmanufactured, having been 7,720,5571., or more than one-third of the total Customs revenue from atl sources. The quantity of unmanufactured tobacco 'cleared for consumption in 1875 was 47,026,902 lbs., an increase of 1,188,913 lbs., or 26 per cent. over the quantity consumed in 1874; and as regards the manufactured tobacco, the increase was 50,756 lbs., or 3'9 per cent., giving in the aggregate an increase of 2-6 per cent. ovor the quantities of all kinds cleared in 1874. Although this is but a small percentage of improvement, it is represented in money, in consequence of the high duty to which the article is subject, by the sum of 198,330l. Of the 47,026.902 lbs. of leaf tobacco entered for consumption, 21, 104,586 lbs. consisted of stemmed or stripped, and 25,922,316 lbs. of unstemmed.

IRISH LANDHOLDERS.-The Agricultural Statistics of Ireland, issued from the General Register Office, show that the number of separate holdings of land in that country in 1875 was 585,483, being 204 less than in the preceding year. The returns show 51,459 holdings not exceeding an acre in extent, an increase of 1,193 over the number in the preceding year. There were 69,098 holdings above one and not exceed ing five acres, a decrease of 927 as compared with 1874, and a decrease of no less than 241,338, or 777 per cent., as compared with the number in 1841. The farms above five and not exceeding fifteen acres were 166,959 in 1875, a number which is less by 491 than in 1874, and is only equal to two-thirds of the number in 1841. On the other hand, to set against these large decreases, the farms above fifteen and not exceeding thirty acres, 137,669 in number in 1875, though they were 287 fewer than in 1874, were more than in 1841 by no less than 73.5 per cent. The farms above thirty acres were 160,298 in 1875, showing an CORN CROPS.-The agricultural returns increase of 309 over 1874, and of 111,673, for Great Britain show that the acreage or 2297 per cent. over 1841. Of these under wheat in 1876 was 2,994,957 acres, larger holdings there were in 1875 as many which is a less quantity than in 1875 by as 73,045 between 30 and 50 acres, 55,618 347,524 acres ; under barley or bere, between 50 and 100, 21,909 between 100 and 2,533,109 acres, an increase of 23,408 acres 200, 8,197 between 200 and 500, and 1,529 over last year; under oats, 2,789,530 acres, above 500 acres. The total number of an increase of 125,521 acres; under rye, holdings in Ireland above one acre were 56,210 acres, an increase of 1,307 acres; 691,202 in 1841, but only 534,024 in 1875- under beans, 517,556 acres, a decrease of a decrease of 22.7 per cent.; and of these 46,625 acres; under peas, 293,407, a dethere were, in 1841, 642,577 not exceeding crease of 22,968 acres. The total area under 30 acres, and only 48,625 over that acreage ; corn crops in Great Britain was, therefore, but, in 1875, there were only 373,726 not 9,184,769 acres, being 266,881 acres less exceeding 30 acres, and 160,298 above 30 than in 1875. The large decrease in the acres. But many landholders occupy more area under wheat more than counterthan one farm, and therefore it is the balances the increase in some other crops. practice to make another return of the The decrease in the acreage under wheat number of "occupiers," and the whole extends to almost every county, the only extent of their holdings, whether lying exception worth mention being Cambridgetogether or in different localities; and in shire, in which the acreage rose to 125,597 this return, which is described as only ap- acres, or 1,839 acres more than in last year. proximate, the 585,483 separate holdings Only six other counties in Great Britain are shown to be in the hands of 533,825 had as many as 100,000 acres under wheat occupiers-a number which is 481 more this year. These were Lincoln, with than in 1874, but 8,013 fewer than in 1872.274,284 acres, being 21,245 acres less than in These 533,825 occupiers comprise 385,728 holdings not more than 30 acres each, and 148,097 holding above 30 acres. Deducting 50,322 occupiers holding not more than one acre, we find 483,503 occupiers holding above an acre of land, of whom 62,104 hold not more than five acres, and 273,302 hold from five to thirty acres, the remaining 148,097 holding more than thirty acres. Of this last number, 65,722 occupiers hold from 30 to 50 acres, 50,569 from 50 to 100, 20,696 from 100 to 200, 8,697 from 200 to 500, and 2,413 hold above 500 acres. The number of improved agricultural machines in Ireland, having for their object the saving of manual labour, increased from 28, ICO in 1865 to 58,881 in 1875. The majority in both years were worked by horse power; but in 1875 the number worked by steam had risen to 566, and 602 were worked by water power.

1875; Norfolk, with 186,526 acres, a decrease of 12, 182 acres; Essex, with 168,653 acres, a decrease of 16,873 acres; Suffolk, with 141,292 acres, a decrease of 5,909 acres; Devon, with 112,652 acres, a decrease of 11,268 acres; and Hampshire, with 104, 707 acres, a decrease of 3,655 acres. Last year Kent and the East Riding of Yorkshire had also above 100,000 acres under wheat. In the present year England had 2,822,342 acres under wheat, a decrease of 306,205 acres; Wales, 94,423 acres, a decrease of 17,374 acres; Scotland, 78, 192 acres, a decrease of 23,945 acres. Adding the 9,788 acres under wheat this year in the Isle of Man and Channel Islands, and 119,597 acres in Ireland (this last number showing a decrease of 39,398 acres), we find that the total acreage under wheat in the United Kingdom in 1876 was 3,124,342 acres, which is less by 387,420 acres than in 1875, a decrease of more than 11 per cent.

4. POPULATION, PUBLIC EMPLOYMENT, AND

VITAL STATISTICS.

The

HEALTH OF LARGE TOWNS IN 1875.-The | years. This proportion of lunatics to popuRegistrar General, in his annual summary of mortality, gives the following facts respecting eighteen great English cities or towns:-Excluding London, the estimated population was 3,236,873. The mortality of some of the cities is decreasing, and among them may be named Liverpool, Manchester, Sheffield, Sunderland, and Newcastle-uponTyne. Bristol, Birmingham, Nottingham, Salford, Oldham, Bradford, and Hull experienced higher rates of mortality in 1874 than in 1871. The salubrity fluctuates from year to year, but in the year 1875 the towns, including London, stood in the following order :-Portsmouth 19'5, Sunderland 224, London 237, Norwich 245, Wolverhampton 24 7, Sheffield 24 8, Newcastle-upon-Tyne 26'1, Leeds 26'4, Birmingham 26 5. Leicester 26'5, Bristol 26 8, Bradford 271, Hull 274, Liverpool 27.5, Nottingham 27.7, Oldham 29.6, Manchester 299, and the borough of Salford 315. Fifty other large town districts, with an estimated population of 2,724,784, offer some interesting facts. In this year the mortality was at the rates below 20 per 1,000 in Dover (164), Chatham, Maidstone, Hastings, Reading (187), Colchester, Devonport (185), and Cheltenham (18.8). The mortality exceeded 26 in Exeter, Stockport (316), Wigan (303), Bolton, Bury, Ashtonunder-Lyne (332), Preston (318), Gateshead, and Carlisle.

lation is the lowest in the county of Renfrew, where, in 1875, the figure was as low as 126 per 100,000; and the highest in Kinross, with 375 lunatics per 100,000 of the population. The total number admitted to asylums during the year 1875 was 2,191, being 490 private and 1,701 paupers. During the same period, 974 were discharged recovered; 397 removed, not recovered; and 561 died, the total number removed being thus 1,932, of whom 461 were private and 1,471 paupers. highest rate of recovery is found in parochial asylums. This, the Commissioners say, is probably explained by the fact that the patients received into these institutions comprise a greater proportion of persons labouring under the ephemeral forms of insanity than those received into public and private asylums. Of the unrecovered patients removed, 21 escaped. The total number of escapes during the year was 257, of whom 161 were brought back within 24 hours, 60 within a week, and 15 after a week. There were six cases of suicide. The total expenditure for pauper lunatics in Scotland was, for the year ending May 14, 1875, 157,806l., being nearly double the amount expended in 1858. The amount paid from Imperial sources towards the support of these lunatics was 59,483l., so that the direct durden on the payers of parochial rates was 98,3281.

LUNACY IN SCOTLAND.-The Eighteenth Annual Report of the Lunacy Commis- BIRTHS, DEATHS, AND MARRIAGES IN sioners for Scotland shows that the total IRELAND.-The Registrar-General for Irenumber of lunatics in Scotland, of whom land has just issued his annual return of the Commissioners had official cognizance, the numbers of births, deaths, and maron January 1st, 1875, was 8,225, of whom riages registered in that part of the kingdom 3,850 were males and 4,375 females. Of for 1875. The word "registered" is italithese, 5,002 were in Royal and district cized by the Registrar, doubtless for the asylums, 226 in private asylums, 1,472 in purpose of directing the reader's notice to private dwellings, and the remainder in the circumstance, which will be exemplified parochial asylums and poorhouses, with presently, that the births, deaths, and marthe exception of 49 in the lunatic depart-riages stated are short of the real numbers. ment of Perth General Prison, and 143 in training schools; 6,700 of them are maintained by parochial rates, 49 by the State, and the remainder from private sources. Of the unreported insane, maintained by their friends in private dwellings, the Commissioners have no certain knowledge. The number of registered lunatics when the Commissioners first entered on their functions, namely, in January, 1858, was 5,823, so that there is shown in the 17 years an increase in lunatics of 2,402; but this increase may in part be due to more lunatics in proportion to the total number having come under official cognizance. In 1858, the number of lunatics per 100,000 of population was 191; in 1875 it was 230, there having been a gradual increase in the proportion during the intervening

The ratios in Ireland persistently fall below the ratios obtained in England and Scotland. The Irish and the English ratios are compared in the three tables below. Ireland during the years under review has had a decreasing population, England an increasing one. During the last ten years the Irish population has decreased about 290,000 souls; the English has inereased about 2,500,000. The estimated population of Ireland in 1875 was 5,310,000; the births numbered 138,382, 71,096 boys and 67,286 girls) or 26.1 per 1,000 of population. The deaths numbered 98,243 (49,068 males and 49, 175 females), or 18.5 per 1,000; and the marriages were 24,259, or 4'57 per 1,000 of estimated population. The Registration Act came into operation in 1845, but was then limited to births and deaths. Twenty

years afterwards Acts for the registration | for Ireland, are taken from the last annual of Roman Catholic and Protestant marriages were passed. Commencing, therefore, with the year 1865, we have, or ought to have, a full record. The figures for England, which are compared with those

Number of Births registered in

report of the Registrar-General for England. The average of estimated population of Ireland in the decade 1865-1874 was 5,436,000. The ratio of births in Ireland and in England is compared in the table:

1866

146,090

8.17

1867

144,388

26.3

1868

1869

145,659

26.7

1870

149,846

1872

149,278

It will be observed that the English ratios | ratios by figures so absolutely large as in of the last table do not exceed the Irish the case of the births and deaths. The