Proportion of Foreign to Home Supplv. 5 



tage equal to £^ on an average ox. Of this 

 natural advantage nothing can deprive him ; and 

 with this he may rest content. 



The proportion in which the people of this 

 country are dependent for their principal articles 

 of food on home and foreign supply was the '■ 



subject of an inquiry by me in 1868, in a paper 

 read to the Statistical Society. At that time I Proportion 



of home 



found the foreign supply to be in the proportion and foreign 



supply of 



of one-fifth of the whole. In the ten years since food 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. More than one-fourth of our 

 total consumption of agricultural produce 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 



