312 MASSACHUSETTS AGRICULTURE. 



estimation thai should be reliable appropriates to Austria 135,- 

 000,000 of acres, and to France 95,000,000, whilst that of 

 Great Britain is set down at about 47,000,000. And the agri- 

 cultural production of the latter is estimated at 133 per cent, 

 per acre more than that of Austria, and seventy per cent, more 

 than that of France. This astonishing result in favor of 

 English agriculture becomes the more significant when we 

 learn that of the population of England not quite 26 per cent, 

 is engaged in agriculture, whilst the population in France and 

 Austria so employed will exceed 50 per cent. The average 

 yield of wheat per acre in England is estimated at from 27 to 

 32 bushels, and in France at 16 bushels. The agricultural 

 crop of England for 1850 is estimated at £403,187,226, which 

 would be nearly $2,000,000,000, and would give an average 

 product per acre of about forty-two dollars. 



In the United States the amount of improved land, accord- 

 ing to the census of 1850, was about 113,032,614 acres. The 

 estimated produce was $1,326,691,326, being an average yield 

 of $12.62 and a fraction per acre. The average growth of 

 wheat produced was nearly 11 bushels; that of Indian corn 

 exceeded 25 bushels ; that of rye fell below 14 bushels, and of 

 oats about 22 bushels. A comparison of the green crops of the 

 two countries would exhibit in a more favorable light the con- 

 dition of British agriculture. The growth of population in 

 that kingdom treads so closely on the heels of production that 

 an increased effort has been forced upon it, and a slight atten- 

 tion will show how successful has been that effort. At the 

 beginning of the present century the land in cultivation was 

 computed at 42,881,800 acres, and the population at 16,338,- 

 102 ; the proportion of cultivated land was 260 acres for each 

 100 inhabitants. The addition since made to the cultivated 

 land and to the population has been 4,129,777 acres, and 12,- 

 669,107 inhabitants, " so that for every 100 individuals added 

 to the population only 32 acres have been brought into cultiva- 

 tion, being about one rood and a quarter for each person. If 

 the whole breadth of land now in cultivation was divided 

 equally among the population, one acre and two-thirds of an 

 acre would full to the lot of each person. It thus appears that 

 10,000 acres of arable and pasture land, which, as cultivated 

 in 1801, supported 3810 inhabitants, do at the present day sup- 



