270 Foreign J\^otices. 



vinced him that the circumstance was caused by a harrcl of fish oil, 

 which had been placed there, he tried the experiment of placing some 

 of the oil round the jdants in the sjarden, when he found it produced 

 the eifect of driving the ants from the place in a few hours. (French 

 Newspaper.) 



Art. II. Foreign Notices. 

 ENGLAND. 



British Agriculture. — It is the opinion of competent judges, that the 

 advances made in the agriculture of Great Britain, during the last sev- 

 enty or eighty years, are scarcely exceeded by the improvement and 

 extension of its manufactures, within the same period; and that to these 

 advances no other old settled country furnishes any parallel. That they 

 have been very rapid, indeed, the following figures and comparisons 

 abundantly show. In 1760, the total growdi of all kinds of grain in 

 England and Wales was about 120,000,000 of bushels. To this should 

 be added, perhaps, 30,000,000 for Scotland — making a grand total of 

 150,000,000. In 1835, the quantity in both kingdoms could not have 

 been less than 340,000,000 of bushels. In 1755, the population of the 

 whole island did not much, if anj^, exceed 7,500,000. In 1831, it had 

 risen to 16,525,180, being an increase of 9,000,000, or 120 per cent! 

 Now the improvements in agriculture have more than kept pace with 

 this prodigious increase of demand for its various productions; for it is 

 agreed, on all hands, that the 16,500,000, or rather the 17,500,000, (for 

 more than a million have been added since 1831,) are much fuller fed, 

 and on provisions of a far better quality, than the 7,500,000 were in 

 1755. Nor is Great Britain indebted at all, at present, to foreign mar- 

 kets for her supplies. Since 1832, she has imported no grain worth 

 mentioning, and till within the last six months prices have been so ex- 

 ceedingly depressed, as to call forth loud complaints from the whole 

 agricultural interest of the country. England is at this moment so far 

 from wanting any of our bread-stuffs, if we had them to export, that 

 she has been supplying us all winter liberally from her own granaries, 

 and, according to the latest advices, she has still bread enough and to 

 spare. Again, it is estimated by British writers of high authority, that 

 the subsistence of 9,000,000 of people costs, in raw produce, not less 

 than £72,000,000, or £8 for each individual per annum. According to 

 this estimate, the annual product of this great branch of national indus- 

 try is $350,000,000 more, at present, than it was in 1755; which is more 

 than twice the value of the whole cotton manufacture of the country in 

 1831. Now if it costs #'350,000,000 to feed the increased po])ulation of 

 9,000,000, then to feed the present population of 17,500,000 must cost 

 near $700,000,000! "What an amazing agricultural product for so 

 small a territory ! And yet it is the opinion of practical men of the 

 highest respectability in England, that the raw produce of the island 

 might be well nigh doubled, without any greater proportional expenses 

 being incurred in its production. That is to say, 35,000,000 of ])eople 

 might draw their subsistence from that one little sj)eck in the ocean ! 

 Now we have a territory more than fifteen times as large as the island 

 of Great Britain; and what should hinder it, when it comes to be brought 



