FISIIERIES. The greater pars of the large an nual fish catch of the British Isles is accredited to the English and Welsh coasts, and fish is the only article of food that is yielded in ade quate supply. The total value of the product increased steadily from i3.683.063 in 1887 to fei610:'68 in 1900. Yarmouth. Grimsby and ]lull are the centres of the hut the great, i part of the catch goes to Billingsgate, London. which is the largest fish-market in the world. The most important varieties are cod. haddoek, 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 con sumption.
Aurae ta 1 RE. England differs from other countries outside of the United Kingdom in the remarkable extent to which her lands are con centrated in the hands of a small per cent. of the population, and in the universality of the capi talistic 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 per cent. of the total area under crops and grass. is rented; and, while the average size of the farm holdings is not greatly in excess of that prevailing in the large agricultural States of the rnited 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, esti mated upon an acreage basis. England. more than any other European country, has fol lowed the example of America in the adoption of labor-saving machinery, and this has been partly responsible for the diminution in the number of agricultural laborers. The other factor which tends to lessen the number of agricultural laborers is the recent decrease in the raising of crops. The increasing competition of the I sited States and other foreign lands that are favored with cheap land, cheap transporta t ham, 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, NV11 iCh is grown almost wholly in the drier and lower lands of the east. This eere: I had for a long time been far in the lead among English crops, the average annual acreage for the period 1871-75 having been 3.281.115 acres; but from that period the acreage declined until in 1895 it, reached the of 1,3:39,S06 acres. It has recov ered somewhat since that period, the acreage in Dam being 1.741.556. 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 nine teenth century. The climade conditions do not admit. of the raising of Indian corn in any part. of the country. Beans (2•8,82S :mars) and peas 1151.295 acres) have both decreased materially in :11'1M:1°V SITIN. the early seventies. :reel] crops are eliaraeterized by the groat attention given to turnip.. of -peeid importance in the sheep and rattle orouihg where the animals are fed 141 therm 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 :196,939 and 401,913 acres. Small fruits are extensively grown (66,749 acres in 1900) on the largest scale in the southeast and the Severn Valley; as are also hops r51,308 acres in 1900), the latter prim eipally 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 2,768,038 acres, which was about the average annual acre age for each in the three preceding decades.