As a result of intensive farming propaganda, the acreage of cereals and potatoes in England and Wales in 1917 was 8,302,000, an increase of 2,042,000 over 1916. It is estimated that the tillage in 1917 in Scotland increased 300,000 acres over 1916, and in Ireland the figures showed an increase of 1,500,000 acres, making a total of about 4,000,000 acres increase in the United Kingdom in the year. This was accomplished in the face of the fact that in England and Wales alone there were 200,000 fewer male laborers on the land in 1917 than before the war. It is estimated that the United Kingdom in 1918-19 will produce 80 per cent. of the total breadstuff requirements for the year, whereas in 1916-17 the production was but 20 per cent. of the needs. * * * * * The volunteers furnished by Ireland, divided between Ulster and the rest of the country, were as follows: Rest of Year. Ulster. Ireland. Total. 1914 26,283 17,851 44,134 1915 19,020 27,351 46,371 1916 7,305 11,752 19,057 1917 5,830 8,193 14,023 ------ ------ ------- 58,438 65,147 123,585 * * * * * The Parliamentary Under Secretary to the British War Office, Mr. Macpherson, in a statement in Parliament, May 3, 1918, gave the following figures of Chaplains in the war, killed, died of wounds, or died of disease while on service in the war. The figures do not include colonial Chaplains or the Chaplains of the Indian Ecclesiastical Establishment: Church of England 57 Roman Catholic 19 Presbyterian 4 Methodist 3 United Board 3 -- Total 86 * * * * * The Government of Costa Rica declared war on Germany May 23, 1918, bringing the number of nations aligned against the Central Powers to a total of twenty-one. Of the other Central American States Panama, Nicaragua, and Guatemala had issued declarations of war. Honduras severed diplomatic relations, and San Salvador proclaimed neutrality, but explained that it was friendly to the United States. The Government of Peru seized 50,000 tons of interned German ships, and the Government of Chile is negotiating with the United States for the seizure, by appropriation or sale to this country, of 200,000 tons interned in its ports. * * * * *