The agricultural statistics for Lincolnshire in 1913 show that there were in Lindsey about 860,000, in Kesteven 419,560, and in Holland 243,200 acres under cultivation. The various crops in each were in thousands of acres as follows:—
| Wheat. | Oats. | Barley. | Beans and Peas. | “Roots.” | Potatoes. | Clover, Vetches &c. | Other crops. | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| In Lindsey | 79 | 69½ | 125½ | 24 | 83¼ | 27 | 109 | 7 |
| ” Kesteven | 44½ | 24 | 67½ | 17½ | 34½ | 8½ | 46¼ | 3¾ |
| ” Holland | 35 | 23 | 18 | 17¼ | 7 | 40⅓ | 15 | 12¾ |
The table shows that Holland grows a good deal of wheat and oats, but not much barley compared with the two other divisions, and very few “roots.” But in 1913 it grew 40,370 acres of potatoes, which is 5,000 acres more than all the rest of the county; and this was a decrease on the previous year’s crop of 2,479 acres. Then the big item in Holland under “other crops” shows the mustard, while 2,500 acres in that column for Lindsey are taken up with “rape.” The amount of bare fallow last year was, in Lindsey, 22,940 acres; in Kesteven, 15,385; and in Holland, 5,311. This, and the number of horses employed on the land—Lindsey, 26,930; Kesteven, 12,412; Holland, 10,892—when it is remembered that the acreage of the three divisions is in the proportion of 4, 2, and 1, shows how highly cultivated the Lincolnshire fen-land in Holland is. The arable land in that division is more than two-thirds of the whole acreage.
Another thing this report brings out is the marked decrease in 1913 in the number of cattle, sheep and pigs, and especially of sheep in every part of the county. This decrease was—
| Cattle. | Sheep. | Pigs. | |
|---|---|---|---|
| In Lindsey | 8,672 | 35,516 | 1,002 |
| ” Kesteven | 5,675 | 10,462 | 2,801 |
| ” Holland | 3,664 | 9,587 | 4,638 |
| Total | 18,011 | 55,565 | 8,441 |
This shows that Holland suffered more decrease in proportion than the other two divisions in all respects, and especially in the number of pigs. Of course the season must always be answerable for a good deal, and the numbers may all go up this year. But the enormous drop in the number of cattle and sheep, telling a tale of the absence of “roots” and “feed,” will hardly be made good in one year.
THE REVELLERS
“A LEGEND OF HOLBECH”
“A LEGEND OF HOLBECH”