10 



The Question of Breadstuff's. 



Vol. XII. 



be well to inquire what will be the probable 

 effects of a failure of the potatoe crop in 

 Great Britain this year, and whether the 

 demand for breadstuffs which has existed for 

 some time past will be likely to continue. 

 In the first place it is an admitted fact that 

 much less land is under culture of potatoes 

 this year than previous ones. This informa- 

 tion has been gathered from undoubted 

 sources. Throughout the north of Ireland, 

 the quantity of potatoes planted in the pre- 

 sent year is rather less than one-fourth; in 

 some parts of the south and east, in answer 

 to inquiries addressed to gentlemen cogni- 

 zant of the facts, I learn that "one-fortieth," 

 •' one-seventieth," " one-half," and " one- 

 fourth" has been planted— in the west the 

 proportion will barely reach one-fourth of 

 the usual quantity; and to put down the 

 whole of Ireland as one-fourth, is a full esti- 

 mate. In Scotland the cultivation of the 

 potatoe has been almost wholly abandoned, 

 except in the immediate neighbourhood of 

 the largo towns and cities, so that I think 

 not more than one-fifth is planted in pota- 

 toes. In England the proportions are as va- 

 rious as in Ireland. In some sections the 

 land in potatoes equals one-half the usual 

 quantity; in others one-fourth, or one-sixth, 

 so that if I assume one-fourth as the average, 

 I do not think I wander far from the truth. 

 Mr. McCulloch, in his admirable work, 

 "Statistical Account of the British Empire," 

 estimates the cultivation of " potatoes, tur- 

 nips, and rape," to extend over 2,000,000 

 acres in England, of which 1,200,000 at 

 least are usually planted with potatoes. The 

 same work estimates this plant to occupy 

 2,000,000 acres in Ireland and 200,000 in 

 Scotland. From which estimates I make 

 the following table: 



Land usually Cultivated Uncultivated 



cultivated with this year, or otherwise 



potatoes. appropriated. 



Jicres. Jlcres. ^crca. 



England 1,200.000 300,000 900,000 



Ireland 2,000,000 500,000 1,500,000 



Scotland 200,000 40,000 100,000 



3,400,000 



840,000 2,500,000 



F(pm this, which is, I believe the most 

 correct estimate that can be made, it will be 

 seen that 2,560,000 acres usually devoted to 

 the cultivation of the potatoe, are, this year, 

 devoted to other purposes or remain unculti- 

 vated. 



One of the most important questions con- 

 nected with the annual failure of the pota- 

 toe, is the comparative number of persons 

 that can be supported upon a given surface 

 planted with potatoes and any grain that 

 may be substituted. From several interest- 

 ing works relating to this subject that have 



come under my notice, I learn that the aver- 

 age yield of an acre of potatoes in Ireland 

 is 400 bushels of 60 lbs., whilst the same 

 land under wheat would produce 2S bushels 

 of 60 lbs., or of oats 64 bushels of 40 pounds. 

 Thus: 



1 acre of potatoes produces 

 1 " wheat 

 1 " oata 



24,000 lbs. 

 ],6fc0 " 

 2,560 " 



The Commissioner of Patents in his Re- 

 port to the Congress of the United States 

 establishes the fact that one pound of wheat 

 will furnish as much nourishment as four 

 pounds of potatoes; therefore as one acre of 

 potatoes produces equal to 6,000 lbs. of 

 wheat, it follows that this quantity of land 

 will support as many persons as three and a 

 half acres of wheat. This calculation of 

 the relative amount of nutritious matter in 

 wheat and potatoes, is an extreme one, as 

 many intelligent writers on the subject 

 make the proportion as one to three, instead 

 of one to four, as I have asserted. I am not 

 able to give the same exact data for calcu- 

 lating the relative nourishment which oata 

 bear to potatoes, but will take as a starting 

 point the generally received opinion in Ire- 

 land, that one pound of oat meal is equal to 

 three pounds of potatoes. The loss of oats 

 in grinding is about five-fourteenths — hence 

 I draw the following conclusion, that the 

 yield of an acre of oats ground will be 

 equal to 1646 lbs. meal, — then one pound of 

 oat meal being equivalent, in nutriment, to 

 three times that weight of potatoes, it fol- 

 lows that one acre of the latter will furnish 

 as much food as four and eight-tenths acres 

 of oats. These calculations, if based upon 

 proper data, establish the fact that, in order 

 to support a population whose principal food 

 has been the potatoe, on grain, the quantity 

 of land must be increased in the proportion 

 of at least three and a half acres of wheat 

 or four and eight-tenths acres of oats. The 

 immense increase in the cultivation of the 

 potatoe during the last quarter of a century, 

 from being a garden vegetable, has enabled 

 Great Britain to support a rapidly increasing 

 population, at even less prices that when this 

 plant was almost wholly unknown. This 

 increased population still remains, but how 

 are they to be fed? The potatoe has been 

 failing for three years past, and now is too 

 uncertain to be depended upon as an article 

 of food. Hence we see that it occupies less 

 land than formerly, that many have wholly 

 cast it aside as producing a profitless crop. 

 This sudden abandonment of the potatoe is 

 virtually an abandonment of three and eight- 

 tenths or two and a half acres in every four 

 and eight-tenths or three and a half acres, 



