AGRICULTURE UNDER FREE TRADE, 1846-96. 31 



1837. 1850. 1886-95. 



Bushels. Busnels. Bushels. 



Wheat . . 21 26£ 29 



Barley 32 38 32 



The increase in the average yield of wheat is no doubt 

 partly the result of the decreased acreage, as the crop is 

 now grown mainly on the soils most suited to it, and in 

 the same way probably the decreased yield of barley since 

 1850 may be partly due to an extension of area involving 

 the growth of the crop on somewhat less suitable land. 



If I were going into statistical details I might show 

 exactly when the maximum area was reached in the case 

 of various crops, and when the decline took place, and I 

 might also show how during the past thirty years the 

 numbers of live-stock — and particularly of sheep — have 

 fluctuated from temporary causes such as outbreaks of 

 disease. The year 1867 has been taken for no other 

 reason except that it is the first for which we have reliable 

 official returns. As a matter of fact, both the breadth 

 of land under wheat and the total arable area were 

 greater in the period 1871-75 than in 1867. A fair index, 

 in a general way, of the agricultural position is to be 

 found in the annual value of lands in the United Kingdom 

 assessed to Schedule A of the income tax. In 1862, the 

 first year for which it can be given, it was £60,300,000, 

 and in the next two years it was slightly less, viz., 

 £60,100,000. From 1864 the amount annually and 

 steadily increased until, in 1880, it reached its maximum, 

 £69,500,000. From that point the value of lands fell 

 year by year until in 1896 it reached £55,000,000. 



It seems difficult from these facts to draw any general 

 conclusion as to the influence of Free Trade on agriculture. 

 It appears that for over a quarter of a century, farming, as 

 shown by all the tests we can apply, was prosperous. The 

 plough was kept going to the same extent as under the 

 Corn Laws, the number of live-stock increased, and the 

 value of agricultural land also increased. These con- 



