Consumption of Corn in Great Britain, Ac. 279 



annum, of £'651,000. ; the average price of wlieat, during that period, was abnut 

 4s. per bushel ; supposing the average value of grain to have been £'. 5 per acre, 

 the average annual export must have been the growth of about 130,000 acres. 



From 1765 to 1769, the average annual export was reduced to 114,531 qri. 

 at 3 qrs. per acre, the produce of 38,177 acres. 



From that time to 1774, it fell to 52,590 </rs. or 17,530 acres. 



Thence to 1779, the balance turned the other way, and the annual average im- 

 port was 34,721 qrs. or, at the above rate, the growth of 11.573 acres. 



The alteration in the corn laws, 13 Geo. III. 1773, seems to have been a very- 

 unfortunate interference of Government ; the trade was then of itself expiring, and 

 its death blow was given, or seems to have been given, by that alteration : the home 

 consumption was become nearly equal to the growth, when, instead of encouraging 

 that growth by extending the means of carrying it to market, a sudden check is 

 given by enacting, that it shall not be carried to a foreign market at ail, till the 

 home consumption is first supplied at a lower price than formerly ( ilthough rents 

 and expenses were then rising), for such is evidently the effect of lowering the 

 bounty on export price of wheat, from 485. to 445. the quarter. 



For 5 years, ending 1784, the annual average import was 86,429 qrs. or, at the 

 above rate, the growth of 28,810 acres. 



The loss of export, and commencement of import, seems to have taken place 

 about the years 1775 or 1776, two or three years after the above alteration in the 

 corn export laws; and may be in part fairly attributed to that alteration, dis- 

 couraging the growth of wheat, in part to the increased demand in consequence of 

 an increasing population, and in part to the encouragement given to grass land, in 

 consequence of an increasing demand for cheese, butter, and butcher's meat, from a 

 more numerous and wealthy population. 



For 20 years, ending 1797, the average annual import has been before estimated 

 at the growth of 1 48,064 acres. 



For the single year 1796, part of the above, the import of grain is estimated at the 

 growth of 573,385 acres. 



For 5 years, ending in 1800, which also includes the above year 1796, the 

 average annual imports are estimated at the growth of 156,666 ac;es. 



For the single year iSoi, was imported the growth of 871,738 acres. 



