28 AGRICULTURAL PRODUCTION 



Either is exceptionally low for the period, 

 when prices were leaping up towards the 

 high- water mark of 119s. 6d. which they 

 reached in 1801. 



Increased Production. 



In spite of high prices and the excessively 

 rapid growth of the population, noted in a 

 previous chapter, at the beginning of the 19th 

 century importation remained very low and 

 practically stationary for many years. That 

 is to say, agricultural production still kept 

 pace with the population, taking one year 

 with another. The average number of 

 quarters imported was: — 1801-10, 600,946; 



1811-20, 458,578 ; 1821-30, 534-992 ; 1831-40. 



907,638. It follows that the home produc- 

 tion must have increased rapidly during this 

 period. Porter calculates that the number of 

 persons fed on home-grown wheat, assuming 

 a yearly consumption of eight bushels a head, 

 rose from 11 millions in 1801-10 to i6| 

 millions in 1831-40. The increased produc- 

 tion implied by the rapid growth of popula- 

 tion with practically stationary imports was 

 only to a limited extent due to the employ- 

 ment of more labour in agriculture, because, 

 as we have seen in a previous chapter, the 

 number of agricultural families fell after 

 182 1. Porter attributes it mainly to im- 

 proved farming. 



