IRISH AGRICULTURAL STATISTICS.

New Zealand Tablet, Volume XI, Issue 29, 16 November 1883, Page 23

IRISH AGRICULTURAL STATISTICS.

A diminishing crop acreage in Ireland must as a general rule be expected while the population continues to decrease. Both may be said to proceed paripasm, and the Agricultural Statistics for 1883, which have come to hand, illustrate m how regular a ratio the two gaps in our sccia-l economy distend. Compared with 1882 the extent of land under crops has decreased by no less than 145,922 acres, and of the four provinces Ulster shows the greatest deterioration. There we find that the land under crops has diminished within the year by 58,071 acres ; Leinster follows next with 47,426 acres less than last year ; then. Munster with 34,224 acres ; and Connaught, which has been falling off in this respect so loag and so fast that it can hardly be much worse, has lessened its cropped land by 6,201 acres. Of cereals, vtheat has suffered most, the decrease in acreage being 58,022. Oats, a cereal which is cultivated more ostensibly. than any other in the country, has likewise diminished by 16,436 acres. Green crops, flax, and meadow also record a net decrease. The live stock returns are interesting, as showing a substantial increase in the number of cattle and sheep. Cattle have increased by 108,810, and sheep by 147,343. Horses and pigs, however, are in diminished numbers, the former by 4,511, and the latter by 78,138. These Irish agricultural statistics might be perused with profit by the advocates of emigration . They would find that there are at present many million acres of bog and prairie lands in this country, and then possibly the question might suggest itself, upon what grounds a further depletion of the inhabitants could be justified. — Xhiblin Freeman.