REPORT OF THE STATISTICIAN. 165 



has utilized the surplus of the wheat-producing countries by giving it 

 easier access to the wheat-consuming countries. But of late years the 

 reduction of wheat-acreage has rendered necessary an increased import 

 from other continents. An example of this reduction is especially no- 

 ticeable in the United Kingdom, which has been gradually narrowing 

 her wheat-fields to enlarge her permanent pasturage. The demand for 

 a^nimal food is trenching upon cereal production. The acreage of Great 

 Britain in wheat fell li-om 3,571,894 acres in 1871 to 2,994,957 acres in 

 1876, a decline of IG per cent. The gradual progress of this decline 

 shows it is the result of steady and permanent causes. In Irel^d this 

 declining movement is still more marked, the area falling from 240,954 

 acres in 1871 to 119,597 in 1S70, a loss of 52 per cent. The whole United 

 Kingdom, including the Channel Islands, shows a decrease from 4^185,974 

 acres in 1857 to 3,120,555 acres in 1870, or 25 per cent. The rate of 

 yield, with some fluctuations, has gradually fallen from 33J bushels per 

 acre in 1857 to 27 in 1870. Meanwhile, as population and wealth have 

 increased, and as the humbler classes have improved in their circum- 

 stances and aspirations, using better food than formerly, the demand 

 for wheat-bread has increased in the British islands to an extent which, 

 in 1870, required from 90,000,000 to 100,000,000 bushels of foreign graiu 

 to meet it. 



Across the English Channel the same deficiency in production has 

 manifested itself, though to a smaller extent. The Echo Agricole, a lead- 

 ing French agricultural journal, estimates the crop of 1870 in France at 

 256,720,250 bushels, of which but a small surplus will be left after sup- 

 plying the domestic demand. The ofiicial statistics of the government 

 give the aggregate irroduct at 202,454,038 bushels. The statistics of 

 foreign trade, however, show that these estimates are too high, or that 

 home consumption is greater than French statisticians are willing to 

 allow. The excess of imports of wheat over exports averaged 16,671,500 

 bushels during the last six years. The average annual acreage of those 

 six years fell short of the average of the previous ten years 314,334 

 acres, or about 2 per cent. The decline of wheat-production in France, 

 then, if less rapid than in the British islands, is clearly indicated. 



As an example of what *are called the wheat-producing countries of 

 Europe, we notice a rapid decline in the product of the Austro-Hunga- 

 rian Empire. The American consul at Vienna, in his report of Novem- 

 ber 1, 1875, to the State Department, shows that during the ten years 

 closing with 1871 the excess of cereal exports of the empire averaged 

 about $25,000,000 per annum in value. But in 1872 there was a surplus 

 of imports which took out of the country $5,000,000 ; this deficiency 

 increased to $18,000,000 in each of the two following years. The total 

 product of the empire fell from 118,003,880 bushels in 1808 to 99,014,790 

 bushels in 1874; the last-named crop showed a considerable increase 

 over its predecessor. Meanwhile civilization has been advancing in 

 Austro-Hungary; other industries have been flourishing, trade rela- 

 tions have been extended and perfected with surrounding countries; an 

 Increased amount of wheat is taken for home consumption. The result 

 is a deficit in production and an excess of importation over exportation. 

 Whether the shortness of the late crops is a permanent feature in pro- 

 duction is yet to be seen, but even if the former standard of grX)wth 

 be re-established, it is evident that the surplus for export will be con- 

 stantly narrowed by the increasing wants of the population. 



The same causes are at work in other countries of Eastern and South- 

 eastern Europe. The conditions of wheat-production are changing. 

 Agricultural labor becomes scarcer and higher priced as general Indus- 



