ENGLAND. 



735 



Statistics. 



TABLE I. 



Were the counties of England and Wales all of the 

 .line size, and did the proportions of wheat, barley, 

 Sec. cultivated in each county nearly correspond, we 

 should be at little loss from this Table, to ascertain the 

 average produce of the whole kingdom in wheat, bar- 

 ley, &c. Even as it is, we may from it infer, with to- 

 lerable accuracy, that the average produce of wheat 

 cannot be rated higher than two quarters and a half 

 per acre ; of barley, four quarters ; of oats, four quar- 

 ters and a half; of rye, three quarters; of pease, two 

 quarters and a half; of beans, three quarters and a half; 

 and of potatoes 250 bushels. We shall not go into 

 the details of all the calculations which may be formed 

 from these average produces; but confine ourselves to 



the most important. The number of acres in wheat Statistics. 

 we estimated at 3,200,000, which at 2| quarters per V *^ - Y"~ / 

 acre, will give 8,000,000 quarters as the total produce 

 of England and Wales. That this is nearly the truth, 

 will appear from this consideration : the quantity of 

 wheat used annually by each individual may be esti- 

 mated at six bushels; taking the population at the gross 

 number of 10,500,000, this will give 63,000,000 bushels, 

 or nearly 8,000,000 quarters. It may perhaps be ob- 

 jected, that the population of England and Wales is 

 fed partly by imported wheat ; but in answer to this 

 we observe, that in estimating the produce we have 

 not taken credit for seed-wheat, which, at one-ninth of 

 the produce, is much more than we have* imported on 

 the average of some years. The value of this produce 

 it is not so easy to ascertain, the price of wheat having 

 varied so much of late years; but if we take it at L.4< 

 the quarter, the total value of the wheat crop, will be 

 L.32,000,000. Of the remaining 5,830,000 acres, (ex- 

 clusive of fallow,) we may suppose that the average pro- 

 duce is about half the value per acre of the average 

 produce of wheat, that is L.5 per acre, which will give 

 L.29, 1 50,000. The produce of the pasture land is pro- 

 bably worth L.4 an acre on an average, which will 

 give L.69,.9l6,000. The produce, therefore, of wheat, 

 barley, oats, &c. and of pasture ground, will stand i 

 thus-: 



Wheat L.32,000>000 



Barley, &C. .... 29,150,000 

 Pasture 69,916,000 



L. 131,066,000 



Exclusive of the value of the produce of hops, nursery, 

 garden grounds, orchards, &c. Mr Arthur Young, in 

 his Agricultural Report of Essex, estimates the rental 

 of England at L.30,000,000, and the value of the pro- 

 duce, (taking all kinds of- it into the account,) at 

 L. 145,800,000. Mr Middleton, in his Survey of Mid- 

 dlesex, enters into-very minute ami- laborious calcula- 

 tions on this important and difficult subject ; and the 

 result of his enquiries is, that the whole agricultural . 

 produce of the agricultural capital of England and , 



Wales is L.126,690,000 ; and this result he comes to, 

 notwithstanding he rates the total number of acres in 

 the kingdom much higher than w do, by estimating 

 the average crop of all kinds of produce of arable land ; 

 at only L.5 per acre, which- certainly at present is much 

 below the truth. 



4. On this subject, however, we shall probably be Rental, 

 enabled to come nearer the truth, if we can determine 

 the rental of the lands in England and Wales; since it 

 is well known, that the produce bears a certain pro- 

 portion to the rental. Formerly, land-surveyors in va- 

 luing land, or giving their opinion respecting the rent 

 which it ought to afford, considered that the average 

 produce should be equal to three- rents ; but at present, 

 in the opinion and practice -of the most intelligent and 

 experienced, it is calculated that the rent ought to be 

 only one-fifth of the produce. The- actual rent of Eng- 

 land and Wales it is impossible to ascertain exactly ; 

 but the rack-rent, or the rent at which the lands 'are 

 valued in the opinion of judicious and experienced men, 

 was returned to the House of Commons in the year 

 1810, by the commissioners of taxes: This return we 

 lay before our readers in the following Table. 



