731 



ENGLAND. 



cultivatcil 



Their appli- 



suppose*, that of oak there may be five trees in every 

 20 acres ; but this is evidently a random conjecture. 

 An attempt was made some years ago, to have a sur- 

 vey taken of all the timber growing on private estates 

 in England ; but the surveyors were interrupted by the 

 proprietors before they got through the second county. 



SICT. VII. Statistical Branch of the Agriculture of 

 EngknttL 



WE now come to the statistical branch of our present 

 subject, which includes many curious, important, and 

 highly interesting particulars; but, like all statistical 

 enquiries, our investigations on this subject cannot be 

 expected to proceed on data absolutely certain, or to 

 give results quite conformable to the truth. The prin- 

 cipal points to be ascertained, are the number of culti- 

 vated acres in England and Wales ; the distribution 

 and application of these acres ; the value of their seve- 

 ral kinds of produce ; the rental of the land ; the capi- 

 tal employed in agriculture ; the profits arising from 

 his labours and capital to the farmer; the number of 

 people employed in agricultural pursuits, &c. 



1 . We have already endeavoured to show that the quan- 

 tity of land in England and Wales is about 38,500,000 

 acres; it may be proper, however, to add, that by the 

 accounts depended on by Mr Rose, the total acres are 

 37,334,400; and by the reports returned to the Board 

 of Agriculture, the amount is 37,909,455, exclusive of 

 Wales, which contains about 5,000,000 acres. The 

 first point to be ascertained, whichever of these num- 

 bers we take, (and considering the impossibility of ob- 

 taining accuracy on tlu's subject, as well as the total 

 amount, the difference in these statements is not very 

 considerable or important,) respects the quantity of 

 waste land. In 1795, the Board of Agriculture refer, 

 red the subject of the wasU lands in the kingdom to a 

 committee, who seem to have taken considerable pains 

 in making enquiries and gaining information ; from 

 their report it appears, that at that time the number of 

 acres of waste land in England was 6,259,470, and in 

 Wales 1,629,307, making a total of 7,888,777. Dr 

 Becke, who reckons the total number of acres to be less 

 than the statements of the Board of Agriculture, or 

 Mr Rose makes them, considers the number of acres of 

 waste land to be also fewer ; not estimating them 

 liigher than 6,477,000 ; to these, however, he adds, 

 1,310,000 for roads, water, &c. In consequence of the 

 inclosure bills that have passed since the Report of the 

 Board of Agriculture in 1795, the number of acres of 

 waste land must be somewhat decreased : probably if 

 from 38,500,000 acres, the total in England and Wales, 

 7,500,000 acres for waste land, roads, water, &c. are 

 taken, we shall leave nearly the -amount of the number 

 of acres, either cultivated, or covered with useful tim- 

 ber, that is, 31,000,000 of acre*. 



2. The next point relates to the distribution and 

 application of this quantity of land. There can be 

 no dubt, both from particular enquiries in the agri- 

 culture of the several counties, and from the general 

 and acknowledged fact of the great consumption of 

 animal food in this kingdom, combined with another 

 fact, as indisputed, that land under grass will not sup- 

 port nearly so many inhabitants as under the plough ; 

 that the proportion of pasture land is much greater than 



that of Arable land. Dr Beckc, in his pamphlet on the 

 Income Tax, supposes that there are 17.4S 1,000 acres in 

 pasture, meadows, &e. while there are only 11,491,000 

 that are arable ; according to other statements, the 

 quantity of pasture ground is 1 7,^79,000 acres. The 

 Board of Agriculture calculates that there are 12,000,000 

 acres set apart as grass land for meat, and 4,000,000 

 acres for the dairy. The groand employed in the cul- 

 ture of hops, or for nurseries, is supposed rather to ex- 

 ceed 40,000 acres. The pleasure grounds, and fruit 

 and kitchen gardens, may amount to 60,OOO acres. 



Taking the arable land at 1 1 ,500,000 acres, our next 

 enquiry respects the distribution and application of it 

 It ia probable, that, notwithstanding the improvements 

 in husbandry by the abolition of fallow on light soils, the 

 old system of wheat, spring corn, or beans and fallow, is 

 still followed on nearly six-tenths of the arable land of 

 England and Wales, including the common field lands : 

 three-tenths are probably under a rotation .similar to 

 that pursued in the county of Norfolk, of wheat, tur- 

 nips, barley or oats, and clover; ami the remaining 

 tenth is under various rotations. According to this state, 

 inent, 10,000,000 acres of arable land would be cropped 

 in the following proportions : Wheat, 2,750,000 acres ; 

 oats and beans, 2,500,000 ; barley and rye, 750,000 ; 

 roots, that is turnips, cabbages, &c. 1,000,000 ; clover, 

 1,000,000 ; and fallow, 2,000,000. If this statement, 

 and the ratio on which it is founded, be correct, thi: 

 number of acres under wheat may be estimated at 

 about 3,200,000 acres ; the oats and beans at about 

 2,800,000 acres ; the barley and rye, at about 830,000 

 acres; the roots, at about 1,100,000 acres; the clover 

 the same; and the acres of fallow at rather more than 

 2,200,000 acres. We must confess, however, not only 

 that this estimate, like all estimates on this subject, is 

 founded on insufficient data, but also that with respect 

 to the number of acres, which it assigns to barley and 

 oats, it falls much below the estimate of Mr Arthur 

 Young. According to him, there are 3,399,326 acres 

 employed in the cultivation of wheat, and barley and 

 oats occupy half as much land again as wheat, conse- 

 quently the number of acres under these species of 

 grain amount to 5,098,686. 



3. The value of the produce of the cultivated land in 

 England, it is evident, must vary very much, not only 

 according to the different degrees of productiveness in 

 various years, but also according to the price of corn, 

 &c. On this subject, also, there are various conjectures 

 and estimates. Before we proceed, it will be proper to 

 endeavour to form some idea of the average quantity of 

 the different kinds of grain, &c. raised on an acre of 

 land, throughout the different counties of England and 

 Wales. In this we shall be much assisted by the result 

 of the enquiries of a committee of the House of Lords, 

 on the scarcity in 1800. By their directions, the Board 

 of Agriculture investigated the subject with consider- 

 able attention and minuteness; and in the Appendix to 

 the Report, Tables were drawn up, from the answers 

 sent to the Board, of the average produce of wheat, 

 barley, &c. in nearly all the counties of Britain. These 

 tables we have compared with the various agricultural 

 reports published by the Board ; and having supplied 

 the deficiencies, and corrected them where they ap- 

 peared to be erroneous, we shall lay, in one Table, the 

 general results before our readers. 



Statistics. 



Distribute* 

 of arable 

 Ian*. 



Acres K' 

 wheat, & - 



Value of 

 the produce 

 of the land. 



