178 



FARMERS' REGISTER 



[No. 



ft is unnecessary for our purpose to enter into 

 any statements Avith respect to the causes of tlie 

 hiirh prices that prevailod during the greater part 

 oi' the late war; and, particularly, during the half 

 dozen years ending with 1814. They no doubt 

 g:\ve a povvertui stimulus to agriculture; its pre- 

 vious progress being not merely maintained, but 

 eonsiderably accelerated. 



The heavy i'aU of prices that took place conse- 

 quently to the opening of a renewed intercourse 

 with tiie continent in the autumn of 1814, was as 

 Budden and severe as it was unlooked lor by most 

 persons. In the first, instance, it was productive of 

 much distress, of the ruin of many landlords in 

 embarrassed circumstances, and of multitudes 

 of tenants paying money rents, calculated oti the 

 footing that the prices, that had been realized 

 during the proceding SIX years would be perma- 

 nent. This, however, was not the situation of 

 the great body of the agricuhurists, by whom the 

 fall was comparatively liUle (elt. It was, indeed, 

 supposed by many, that agriculture would cer- 

 tainly retrograde; that a great deal of inferior 

 land would be thrown aul oi' cultivation; and that, 

 unless prices rose again to something like the war 

 level, we should be dependent on the Continent 

 and America lor a large portion of our supplies. 

 We question whether any individual had sagacity 

 at the outset to foresee what has actually taken 

 place. There is an elasticity about the industry 

 of a great nation that enables it to recover from 

 the rudest shocks. No inconsiderable portion — we 

 believe we may safely say the greater part — 

 of the wonderful progress made in manufactures 

 and commerce since 1814. is clearly ascribable to 

 the subsequent iail in the price of corn and other 

 articles of Ibod. Bnt it is quite impossible that 

 agriculture can be long depressed, where manu- 

 factures and commerce are flourishing; and, in no 

 very lengthened period, it began to revive. The 

 property-lax, which pressed heavily on the land, 

 was struck oil; rents were reduced; and the farm- 

 ers exerted themselves to meet the new order of 

 thmgs by fresh efforts of skill and industry, and by 

 proscribing useless expense. We do not pretend 

 to say tliat this has been the case in all districts; 

 but there is incontestible evidence to prove, 

 that, taking Great Britain generally, agriculture 

 has been astonishingly improved since 1814. How 

 else could the extraordinary increase of population 

 that has taken place in the interval be provided 

 for? We showed, in an article on the 'Report of 

 the Agricultural Committee of 1833' (No. 118, 

 Art. 1,) that there was either no increase, or none 

 worth mentioning, in the quantity of foreign corn 

 retained for home consumption during the ten 

 years ending with 1839, as compared with the 

 previous ten years; and yet the population in 

 creased during that interval from 14,391,000 to 

 16,539,000. Now, it is impossible that a result o( 

 this sort could have taken place without either a 

 very great increase of agricultural produce, or a 

 8trii<in<r and almost unprecedented falling off in 

 the demand for corn. But the latter suppositiorr 

 is out ol question. Instead of there being any de- 

 cline in the consumption, the statements previous- 

 ly made show, that the fact is comjiletely the re- 

 verse; and that the consumption of wheat and 

 butcher's meat is decidedly greater at this moment 

 than at any Ibrmer period; a result inexplicable 

 ©n any other hypothesis, save that of a vast im- 



provement having taken place between 1820 and 

 1830. 



Still, however, the Agricultural Committee of 

 1833, and by lar the greater number of witnesses 

 exannned belbre it, labored hard to prove that ag- 

 riculture was in a depressed and declining state; 

 that the capital applied to the soil was rapidly di- 

 minishing; and tliat a great diminution of supply 

 might be confidently expected. We endeavored 

 to show, in the article referred to, that the com- 

 plaints in question were ceiiainly very much ex- 

 aggerated, if not altogether unfounded. The ex- 

 perience of the two additional years that have 

 since elapsed has more than verified our state- 

 ments. The increase of population in Great Bri- 

 tain (iom 1800 down to 1830, has been at the rate 

 of about 15 per cent each ten years; or of 1 1-2 

 per cent per annum, A rate of this sort is not ea- 

 sily changed, and there is no reason to think that 

 it has been sensibly alTected since 1830. Now, 

 1 1-2 per cent on the population of 16,539,000 

 (population of Great Britain at last census,) gives 

 an annual increase of no less than 248,000 indi- 

 viduals; so that it may be concluded, that there 

 are at pre.=*ent (JanuaVy, 1836) about 1,200,000 

 persons in Great Britain more than were in it 

 when the late census was taken; and about 

 500,000 niore than when the Committee of 1835 

 Iramed tlieir Report. And yet veiy little foreign 

 com WHS imported in 1832, whilst in 1833, 1834, 

 and 1835, the ports were all but hermetically seal- 

 ed to the foreigner. It is ol importance, too, to 

 observe, that, notwithstanding the sini-ster augu- 

 ries of the Committee, and notwithstanding the 

 greatly increased demand lor corn, evinced by the 

 rapid increase of population, the sup|)ly has been 

 increased in a still greater ratio. This is evident 

 from the decline of prices, which have sunk from 

 58s. 8d. in 1832, to less than 383. at present I 



This wonderiid result, so different from was ex- 

 pected, is partially, no doubt, a consequence of 

 the unusually productive harvests of the last two 

 years; but it is ascribable, in a Uir greater degree, 

 to the influence of improvements. With the ex- 

 ception of some counties in the south and west of 

 England, which continue in a comparative!}' sta- 

 tionary state, improvements have been every 

 Avhere carried on with extraordinary spirit. Among 

 the principal of these may be specified improved 

 drainage, a better rotation of crops, the general 

 use of bone manure, and the opening of new 

 channels of communication by steam-boats and 

 otiierwise. Drainage lies at the bottom of almost 

 every amelioration; and it is prosecuted to an ex- 

 traordinary extent, with surprising success. The 

 practice of lurrow draining is now widely diffused 

 over the north and cast of England; and it has 

 been introduced, within the last half dozen years, 

 into this part of the country, and is carried on 

 upon a scale that will hardly be believed by those 

 not acquainted with the liicts. Landlords and 

 tenants are every where availing themselves of 

 this new discovery. Perhaps, however, Ayrshire, 

 is at present, in this respect at the head of every 

 county in the empire. It has a great deal of wet, 

 clayey soil, suitable for this employment; and so 

 well is its value understood, that many millions of 

 drain tiles are now annually manuliictured in the 

 neighborhood ol Kilmarnock and other parts of 

 the count}-, though this supply be still unequal to 

 the demand. The Duke of Portland and some 



