THE GEOSS PRODUCE. 69 



the other side of the Channel ; and when, to escape this 

 difficulty, recourse is had to averages, it is found that the 

 general average of the United Kingdom is not the same 

 as the general average of France. 



Notwithstanding these difficulties, it is not absolutely 

 impossible to form at least an approximate idea of the 

 aggregate values annually accruing from agriculture in 

 the two countries. Deducting what are only means of 

 production, supplying as far as possible the omissions in 

 official statistics, and carrying back prices to the average 

 of years anterior to 1848, we find that the annual value 

 of the produce of French agriculture, before 1848, was 

 about five milliards, divided nearly as follows : 



ANIMAL PRODUCTS. 



Francs. 



Meat (1 milliard of kilog., at 80 c.), . . 800,000,000 



Wool, hides, tallow, offal, . . . 300,000,000 



Milk (1 milliard of litres, at 10 c.), . . 100,000,000 



Poultry and eggs, .... 200,000,000 



400,000 horses, asses, and mules, 3 years old, . 80,000,000 



Silk, honey, wax, and other produce, . . 120,000,000 



Total, 1,600,000,000 



VEGETABLE PRODUCTS. 



Wheat (70,000,000 of hectolitres at 16 fr.), . 1,100,000,000 

 Other cereals (40,000,000 hectolitres at 10 fr.), . 400,000,000 



Potatoes (50,000,000 hectolitres at 2 fr.), . 100,000,000 * 



Wine and brandy, .... 500,000,000 



Beer and cider, ..... 100,000,000 



Hay, straw, and oats, for non-agricultural horses, 300,000,000 

 Flax and hemp, ..... 150,000,000 



Sugar, madder, tobacco, oils, fruit, and vegetables, 500,000,000 

 Wood, ...... 250,000,000 



Total, . ... 3,400,000,000 



Say, on an average, for the fifty millions of hectares 



* The total production is one hundred millions of hectolitres, but I have sup- 

 posed the half consumed by cattle. I have also cut off five millions of hectolitres 

 of inferior cereals, as maize and buckwheat, for the consumption of fowls and 

 other animals ; it ought to amount to considerably more. 



