appear to be indicated by the survey of the soils. Wood covers almost exactly five per cent. of the county area. Reckoning the area of the county at 632,272 acres we get the following table :

It must be remembered that no exact figures are available, and the above are only estimates which, however, will be found approximately correct.

Agricultural depression reacted on the landowners as well as upon the tenants. It is estimated that during the nineteenth century rents in Dorset declined in value by a half to a third and the fee-simple from forty to sixty per cent. In the light sand districts, where there are no special advantages by way of proximity to a town, it is found that even with careful management, after making necessary repairs to buildings and paying the land tax, there is practically nothing left as a net income for the owner, unless he has been fortunate enough to let his house and shooting at a good rental. In the best parts of the dairy districts the rents do not exceed 40s- per acre, and some land is let at l5s per acre ; the arable districts are let at from 25s. to as little as 10s. per acre, all these rentals being tithe free. We do not wish to burden the reader with figures, but the following comparisons show how the value of rents in Dorset has declined :

These three instances will give a fair idea of the decline in rent values. Yet there are few farms in hand, and the demand for farms up to 80 acres is fairly brisk. For larger farms the demand decreases in proportion to the number of acres. In regard to leases, the majority of farmers showed themselves as reluctant at the end of the nineteenth century to take a long lease as they were at the beginning. In 1800 leases were rarely granted for a longer period than twenty-one years, and even then contained a proviso to the effect that the tenant could yield up possession at four, five, or seven years if he so wished. Yearly tenancy is now the rule rather than the exception, though where a good tenant desires a lease he rarely has any trouble in getting it. There are few restrictions now included in the leases, though it is a commentary on the methods of cropping pursued by the Dorset farmer at the beginning of the nineteenth century when we find in the leases granted at that time restrictions as to sowing two corn crops together and the cultivation of flax and hemp. Also, it was stipulated that if two corn crops were sown together they should not be both of the same kind, and 'some grass was to be sown with the last crop.

The practice as to entry upon the land has not varied much. The incoming tenant enters upon the land at Michaelmas and takes the hay crop, though the late occupier took the after-shear. Formerly an obligation was upon the occupier to sow grass seeds among crops, but this is now generally done by the incoming tenant. This practice was dropped, as it was found that the outgoing tenant sometimes sowed infertile seeds, or baked the seeds before sowing. Repairs are mostly done by the owners.

The size of the holdings has increased. Since 1873, the first year for which accurate returns are available, the average size of the holdings has increased from 86 acres to 95 acres in 1906. Dorset is amongst the first counties in showing a large number of holdings of 1,000 acres and over. There are several farms in the county, held by father and sons and farmed as one holding, of over 2,000 acres, and one even reaches the huge size of 6,000 acres. Farms of 1,000 acres are quite common. As showing the decline in the number of acres farmed by landowners and yeoman farmers it may be mentioned that in 1871 an estimate gave 200,000 acres as farmed by their proprietors, whilst in 1906 the total was only 43,296 acres. In 1873 the Returns gave the acreage of inclosed land at 466,120 acres ; in 1906 the figures stood at 476,140, showing that the enclosure of land was still on the increase. The increase in the size of the holdings is to be accounted for, too, by the fact that the number of men cultivating land has decreased. In 1873 the number of farmers making returns was 5,420 ; in 1906 the number stood at 5,012.

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