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AGRICULTURAL REPORT. 



I AM of opinion that nothing can be more remote from the truth, nothing more 

 ridiculous, than to talk of the Commercial Prosperity of the country at a moment 

 when the Agricultural Interest labours under unparalleled depression j the latter 

 may be regarded as the basis of the former; and therefore, when the one is very 

 sickly, the other cannot enjoy genuine health. It is true, much bustle may be ob- 

 served in the commercial world, and much business may be transacted also ; but, 

 since the circulating medium of the country was not merely crippled, but reduced 

 to comparative nothingness, by Peel's Bill, the profits arising from commercial trans- 

 actions have become reduced far below the fair renumerating average. The 

 same cause has operated in the same way in the manufacturing districts; where 

 we perceive the smaller manufacturers swept away, the business thrown into the 

 hands of the greater capitalists, and the wages of the workman reduced to so scanty 

 a pittance as scarcely to afford him the means of a miserable existence. 



The enormous demands made upon the resources of the country by the late 

 war, produced a factitious state of things: the necessaries of life rose in price 

 beyond all precedent, beyond the utmost stretch of all anticipation : the land- 

 holders, therefore, raised their rents, and the cultivators of the soil cheerfully sub* 

 milted to the increased demand, conscious of their capacity to discharge the obliga- 

 tion. While the progress of the late war raised the price of the productions of the 

 ground beyond all calculation, commerce was monopolized, to a very great extent, 

 by this country, and, on the whole, a degree of seeming prosperity pervaded 

 every ramification of trade and commerce, which has since been followed by the 

 most disastrous consequences. Peace and Prosperity ought to go hand in hand ; 

 but, no sooner was the sword returned to its scabbard, than the industry of this 

 country was energetically met by foreigners, and our commercial monopoly, 

 which had been cemented with rivers of blood, crumbled to pieces. A decline in 

 businesss became perceptible immediately ; yet, things might have been let down 

 to their natural level without incurring that terrific havoc which has marked the 

 retrocession caused by the ruinous monetary measure above mentioned. Exten- 

 sive circulating medium, and extensive credit, the one the natural consequence of 

 the other, were indispensable in order to support the declining business of the 

 country, which the violent outrage committed by Peel on the currency contracted 

 most ruinously. 



From this period, the agricultural interest, which had been on the wane ever 

 since the conclusion of the war, declined with fearful rapidity ; and from that 

 factitious state of things, which raised the price of the bushel of wheat to thirty 

 shillings, we have arrived at a period when the average price of this indispensable 

 article of human existence scarcely reaches five shillings, or one sixth of the 

 maximum just mentioned ! Of what avail, therefore, is it to the agriculturist to talk 

 of the promising appearance of his crops, since no crop which it is possible for 

 the ground to produce, can afford him a subsisting remuneration. 



While such is the state of things in this country, we find that the late harvest 

 proved abundant all over Europe : the price of corn, therefore, is lower in the 

 markets of our continental neighbours even than that which rules in this country. 

 However, as regards the prospect of the newly-sown wheat, generally speaking, 

 the weather has been propitious; and though some raw harsh frosty winds occurred 

 towards the middle of last month, the young wheats were not in a state to sustain 

 injury from their chilling influence or operation. Corn was brought to the sickle 

 at an earlier period than usual ; and therefore the seed was got into the ground 

 accordingly, and had time to take a firm hold on those friable lands found 

 in some parts of Oxfordshire and other places, before the commencement of the 



