24S 



THE FARMER'S MAGAZINE. 



ap-ricultural statistics obtained too under many disad- 

 vantages, but still forming admirable data for com- 

 parison. On many previous occasions we have pointed 

 to the unanswerable fact that what has been well done 

 in Scotland and Ireland could also be advantageously 

 followed out in principle in England and Wales. 



Through the labours of the Board of Trade — 

 which takes cognizance of all imports and exports, 

 the quantity and movements of shipping, railway, and 

 factory statistics— we obtain information of great ad- 

 vantage to those who desire to comprehend the con- 

 dition and prospects of the country; but this knowledge 

 is comparatively of little worth without that which 

 can alone be derived from an accurate census. A 

 knowledge of the commercial and natural wealth of a 

 country is important in connection with an estimate of 

 its inhabitants : and certainly the condition of agricul- 

 ture can never with any projiriety be overlooked, 

 especially when, as in Great Britain, it forms so large a 

 proportion of the wealth and stability of the nation. 



Without overlaying the return by tedious and unne- 

 cessary inquiries — useful, no doubt, but impossible to 

 ascertain generally with any degree of precision — there 

 are several heads of investigation to which attention 

 might be usefully directed, and with better prospect of 

 success. No doubt some of the interrogatories we de- 

 sire to see answered have been adopted by the Census 

 Commissioners. As an instance of the minuteness with 

 which the last American census was attempted to be 

 carried out, wo may state that the interrogatories pre- 

 pared and approved by the Advisary Board of Agricul- 

 ture for the Commissioners of Patents numbered no 

 less than 1,710, to be filled out as far as practicable 

 for each farm, &c. Some of these questions are almost 

 frivolous in their character, and many troublesome and 

 unimportant. We may enumerate, however, the ge- 

 neral heads of inquiry, beyond which our space will 

 not permit us to go. Classification and value of land; 

 leases ; agricultural labours ; improvement of land by 

 drainage, irrigation, fertilizers, and rotation of crops ; 

 bread crops and culinary plants; fruits, nuts, and 

 wine; forage crops; textile and other staple crops; 

 forest culture; animals and their products; agricul- 

 tural implements and machines. These subjects ne- 

 cessarily embrace a wide field of inquiry. Many of 

 them ai"e highly interesting to statists and others en- 

 ga2:ed in the investigation of our progress and future 

 well being. But to attempt to obtain anything like 

 complete returns on all these heads would be utterly 

 impossible with the ai-rangements and machinery to be 

 employed for the forthcoming census. Still we do hope 

 to see a small body of facts collected which shall set at 

 rest many debateable points. It is, for instance, espe- 

 cially desirable to know what is the extent of laud 

 under culture with various crops. With our marine 

 boundaries we know the area cannot change; our 

 geographical information as to the British Isles is accu- 

 rate enough. But we want something more on the 

 present occasion than the mere " nativity, ages, and 

 occupations of the people." We ought to know the 

 number of the live stock, the progress of cultivation, 



and how far towns and building operations have 

 trenched upon the cultivatible land of the country ; 

 what waste-land has been reclaimed ; what are the 

 chief crops in different localities. Who can tell, for 

 instance, how many acres are devoted to potatoes, flax, 

 and chicory, and how much forest or timber there is 

 left in the kingdom ? The question is continually 

 mooted as to what influence railways have had upon 

 the employment of horses ; and what data have we to 

 estimate correctly their number? So with cattle and 

 pigs, how desirable would some statistical details of the 

 quantity owned be. With sheep, again; the most 

 vague estimates are propounded from time to time as 

 to the total number in the kingdom, and it is hence 

 impossible to ascertain what is the yield of British wool. 

 These, and many other points to be ascertained with 

 very little trouble, might with great propriety be pro- 

 secuted with the census enumeration. Even an esti- 

 mate of the number or value of the steam-engines, 

 agricultural implements and carts, employed, would 

 be exceedingly useful. 



We do not advocate the collection of these statistical 

 details for the mere object of ascertaining how much 

 grain, or potatoes, or forage is grown, to guide specu- 

 lators, or influence the markets; but we do think that 

 justice to the agricultural interest demands that the ag- 

 gregate results of their enterprise, outlay, and industry 

 should bo placed in their proper light. Because we 

 have no means of judging of the produce of our culti- 

 vation, and the progress it has made to supply 

 the increasing wants of the people, we are apt to 

 look upon it in a secondary light. The pro- 

 gress of our metallic industries and of our textile 

 manufactures are paraded month by month in diffuse 

 trade circulars, and in the Board of Trade returns 

 we find long rows of figures representing enormous 

 amounts of linens, woollens, calicoes, and iron manu- 

 factures exported, and of the tea, and wine, and cotton, 

 imported; but the public has no means of calcu- 

 lating what our agriculturists produce, and how much 

 they are indebted to them for food and clothing, and 

 many other of the every-day wants of life. 



There are many features of agricultural progress 

 and social benefits resulting therefrom, which statis- 

 tical returns cannot embrace, but that ought not to 

 be lost sight of by tiie community. Among these are 

 the benefits which agricultural science combined with 

 practice has effected in economic zoology, botany, geo- 

 logy, and meteorology — In rural economy, embracing 

 landscape gardening, drainage, enclosures, country 

 residences, and farm buildings. — In mechanical 

 sciences by the more extended adoption of steam 

 power and improved machinery for various purposes, 

 — And, lastly, in political economy, embracing the 

 public encouragement and extension of agriculture, 

 and rural economy, internal improvements, disposal of 

 town refuse or sewage, public hygiene, agricultural 

 education, agricultural societies and clubs, agricultural 

 insurance and mutual protection, employment of agri- 

 cultural capital, support and employment of the poor, 

 and diminution of pauperism. All these, if duly 

 weighed and considered, would place the agricul- 

 tural interest in its due position as regards the in- 

 dustry of this kingdom ; and the value of the land, 

 stock, implements, produce, labour, and capital em- 

 ployed, if aggregately estimated, would take high rank 

 among any of the occupations of the people. 



