398 Agricultu7-al Jottings from the General Report of the 



transference of labour has lessened our agricultural products, has 

 injured the farmer, or has been hurtful to the labourer himself. 



I think we shall find that there is no diminution but an 

 increase in production. 



The Census returns gave in England and Wales in 1851 : — 



Acres of 

 Territory. 



I80I 

 1871 



37,324,915 

 37,324,883 



Cultivated. 



24,905,758 

 26,322,477 



Uncultivated 



or 



Unaccounted for. 



12,419,157 

 11,002,406 



The last line is taken from the volume of agricultural statistics 

 for 1871, and indicates an increase of 1,416,719 of cultivated 

 acres in the 20 years, in addition to what has been subtracted 

 during that time for towns, railways, canals, and roads. The 

 increase of acreage in towns alone has been 489,015, so that we 

 may fairly conclude that in the 20 years about 2,000,000 acres 

 have been taken from the waste and brought into cultivation, 

 or used for purpose of habitation or industry. Nor have we 

 any reason to suppose that the produce per acre of the culti- 

 vated land of England has in any way decreased The investi- 

 gations of Mr. Lawes, and the accounts of practical farmers, 

 lead us to believe that on farms which for some years have 

 been cultivated as highly as possible, the average production 

 remains tolerably constant, although affected considerably by 

 the circumstances of each season. On such farms, if there is no 

 increase, at all events, there is no decrease of production ; but on 

 the other hand, I think all observers will admit that there is a 

 considerable approach to the higher standard of cultivation 

 amongst farmers who have hitherto not arrived at it. It is not 

 an easy matter to arrive at the quantities of corn grown in the 

 United Kingdom. Between the first collection of agricultural 

 statistics in 1868 and those of 1873 there has been a small 

 diminution of the acreage devoted to wheat, and this has been 

 almost exactly compensated by the increased growth of barley, — 

 a result probably arising as much from the wet autumn of 1872, 

 which prevented wheat soAving, as from any other cause. With 

 respect to cattle and sheep, Ave do know that there had been, 

 from the causes before alluded to, a considerable diminution 

 between the years 1868 and 1871 ; sheep having decreased 

 from 23,599,284 to 20,236,822, and cattle from 4,373,064 

 to 4,267,652, a diminution of the wealth of the farmer of 

 not less than 5,000,000/., valuing the sheep at 40.?. and rattle 

 at 10/. each. This may be traced to two causes, — first to the 



