CONSUMPTION IN CANADA DAVIDSON. 25 



the verge of starvation ; for the consumption varies more than 

 three bushels and a half. The probability is, as the authors 

 suggest, that the crop estimates are by no means accurate. In 

 the following year, in 1892, this estimate is dropped, and a com- 

 parative estimate of the consumption of wheat per head in various 

 countries gives Canada an average consumption of 5.5 bushels per 

 head, which is continued down till 1895, the last year in which 

 this comparative estimate appears. The estimate continues to be 

 put forward as an approximation only ; but no reason is offered 

 for the reduction from 6.75 to 5.5 bushels. 



The consumption of potatoes may be estimated in the same 

 way for the single year 3891, the census year. This gives an 

 average consumption of 10 bushels per head, or about 600 pounds 

 undoubtedly, by comparison with other nations which have a 

 similar or a lower standard of living, an excessive estimate. If 



c5 J 



the estimates framed annually by the Statistical Bureaus of 

 Ontario and Manitoba are scarcely trustworthy, the casual esti- 

 mates of a census enumerator, or of the farmer he questions, are 

 still less likely to be trustworthy ; and all such estimates are 

 liable to err on the side of excess. 



Mr. Mulhall gives the annual consumption of meat in Canada 

 at 90 Ibs. per head, as compared with 109 Ibs. in the United 

 Kingdom, 150 Ibs. in the United States, and 276 Ibs. in Australia ; 

 but imagination fails to suggest the source from which such an 

 estimate can be made for Canada. 



The statistics at our disposal regarding the consumption of 

 certain typical comforts arid luxuries, is as full as occasion 

 requires, and as accurate as returns made at the customs or to the 

 internal revenue officers usually are. The list might be made 

 indefinitely long, but we confine ourselves to such as are typical 

 and in, fairly common use, sugar and tea and coffee, wine and 

 beer, and spirits and tobacco. Dried fruit we shall also include, 

 selecting that rather than green fruit, the extension in the use of 

 which is one of the best si<*ns of a prosperous consumption, 

 because, in the case of green fruits, we have estimates of value 

 only which can be used, while the quantity of dried fruits can 



