396 On Agricultural Statistics 



ing accurate information in place of conjecture or computations 

 resting on an unsafe basis, directed a series of questions to 

 be prepared, the answers to which would exhibit the leading 

 facts relating to the productive powers of the soil. It was sup- 

 posed that in the absence of any specially qualified and paid 

 agents, the resident clergy might be disposed, as a matter of 

 courtesy, very generally to assist the Government by returning 

 answers to the questions ; but as very considerable labour and 

 expense would be incurred in printing and sending out the forms 

 of inquiry, it was decided to test the probability of success by an 

 experiment on one county alone. Application was therefore 

 made to the clergymen of the 126 parishes of the county of 

 Bedford, but the result was so unsatisfactory — only 27 of the 

 clergy having made the requisite returns — that the attempt was 

 felt to be hopeless, and was therefore abandoned. A reference 

 to the details of the inquiry, which I have given in the appendix 

 to this paper (p. 416), will show that they embraced a complete 

 account of the quantity of land under cultivation, the extent of 

 different crops, the number of each kind of stock, the produce in 

 butter and cheese, and the average value of labour ; and one 

 cannot but regret that so valuable a work was found to be 

 impracticable. 



Isolated endeavours by individuals to ascertain the produce 

 raised in their own districts or counties have at various times 

 been made, but private inquiry, relying as it must do very largely 

 upon estimates and approximations, can never yield results 

 satisfactory for purposes of comparison and deduction. All 

 honour, however, to those who have laboured in so good a cause : 

 their efforts, seemingly insignificant though they may have been, 

 undoubtedly are valuable, inasmuch as they serve to direct 

 attention to the defects which a proper organization would 

 obviate. 



In 1845 an experiment on a small scale was made for obtain- 

 ing returns in a specific locality in each division of the United 

 Kingdom. For England, part of Hampshire was selected as the 

 field of inquiry, through the agency of the Boards of Guardians, 

 but the experiment ended in failure. In Scotland, the parish 

 schoolmasters of the county of Mid-Lothian accomplished a 

 satisfactory result ; as was the case also in Ireland, where private 

 agency, in the Bailieborough Union, was " entirely successful." * 



In 1847 the apprehension of an impending famine led to the 

 adoption of a system of agricultural statistics by the Irish execu- 

 tive, which has been steadily maintained, with increasing success, 

 ever since. The constabulary procure the required information 



* Report of Select Committee on Agricultural Statistics (1855), p. 4. 



