130 ANNUAL REGISTER, 1800. 



The report of the committee of 

 the house of commons, referred to 

 them by this house, and the various 

 papers and documents which have 

 been laid before them, contained 

 much important information on this 

 part of the subject ; but the lords' 

 committees were farther desirous of 

 ascertaining still moi-e particularly 

 the correctness of those statements. 



They have, therefore, endea- 

 voured to procure, from respectable 

 and well-informed persons in dif- 

 ferent counties of this kingdom, 

 (where it was possible for them, 

 within a reasonable time to attend 

 the committee) the most exact re- 

 ports upon the subjects above al- 

 luded to ; and where it has been 

 impossible to obtain this informa- 

 tion by personal attendance (par- 

 ticularly ill the case of some parts 

 both of Scotland and Wales, and 

 the more remote districts of Eng- 

 land), tliey have received from 

 those best capable of affording it, 

 the most detailed and precise com- 

 munications in writing ; which de- 

 viation from the usual practice of 

 this house and its committees, they 

 trust your lordships (under the par- 

 ticular circumstances of the case) 

 will not disapprove. 



The lords' committees endea- 

 voured, first, to inform themselves 

 of the amount of an average crop 

 in ordinary years, throughout the 

 kingdom, in the different sorts of 

 grain ; they then proceeded to in- 

 quire respecting the actual crop of 

 the last harvest, as compared with 

 an average crop, and also respect- 

 ing the stock of old corn in hand at 

 the beginning of harvest, as com- 

 pared with the usual stock ; and 

 likewise as to the result of such ex- 

 periments as ha^e been m.ade with 

 respect to the yield of flour from 



grain, and of grain from straw, since 

 the last harvest. The result for 

 each county of the actual informa- 

 tion so received has been, under 

 their direction, reduced into tables, 

 and is subjoined to this report in the 

 appendix thereto. It may be mate- 

 rial to observe, that the variations, 

 which will frequently be found in 

 the accounts from the same county, 

 are to be explained by the follow- 

 ing circumstance : that the persons 

 ft'om whom the information is de- 

 rived often speak of different districts 

 of the same county, which differ 

 much from each other, both in soil 

 and produce. 



The reports which have been laid 

 before ji^our committee from the re- 

 ceivers-general of the land-tax, 

 from officers employed under the 

 boards of taxes, stamps, and excise, 

 together with the returns which 

 have been received in consequence 

 of the circular letters of the bisliops 

 of the different dioceses to their 

 clergy, appear fully to justify the 

 conclusions stated in the report of 

 the committee of the house of com- 

 mons, that the crop of wheat of the 

 last year was deficient by one- 

 fourth of the average produce. 



It is difficult to state with pre- 

 cision any average deficiency for the 

 whole kingdom, as collected from 

 those local informations, as to par- 

 ticular districts, which havebeen fur- { 

 nishedby thepersons who havebeen i 

 summoned to attend. Your lord- , 

 ships' com mittees, on the fullest con- j 

 sideration of the subject, are conff- i 

 dent that the deficiency of the wheat I- 

 of the last harvest amounted to at 

 least one-fourth: and the committee i 

 are inclined to believe, that it may 

 have been greater, as it has been ' 

 almost universally stated to them, 

 that although. the yieldof the flour 



