PROPORTION OF FOREIGN TO HOME SUPPLY. 5 



competitor an advantage equal to 4 on an 

 average ox. Of this natural advantage nothing 

 can deprive him. 



The proportion in which the people of this 

 country are dependent for their principal articles 

 of food and clothing on home and foreign supply 

 was the subject of an inquiry by me in 1868, in a 



Proportion 



paper read to the Statistical Society. At that time O f home 



and foreign 



I found the foreign supply to be in the proportion supply of 



food and 



of one-fourth of the whole. In the ten years since clothing in 



the United 



that time the importation of meat has more than Kingdom, 

 doubled, butter and cheese have risen nearly 

 one-third, wheat more than a third, and other 

 grain has doubled. Inclusive of wool, nearly one- 

 half of our total consumption of agricultural pro- 

 duce is now obtained from other countries. 



But it is a question of interest, both to the 

 home and foreign producer, to ascertain more 

 closely the proportion of the two chief articles, 

 bread and meat. In the past ten years there 

 has been a gradual reduction of the acreage and 

 produce of wheat in this country, and a more 

 than corresponding increase in the foreign sup- 

 ply ; the result of which is that we now receive 



