72 RURAL ECONOMY OF ENGLAND. 



enormous in comparison, was obtained with a small 

 number of productions : the following shows how they 

 are divided : 



ANIMAL PRODUCE. 



Francs. 



Meat (1,700,000,000 of kilog. at 80 c.), . 1,360,000,000 



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



Milk (two milliards of litres at 10 c.), . . 200,000,000 



300,000 horses above 3 years at 400 fr. each, 120,000,000 



Poultry, ..... 20,000,000 



Total animal produce, ... 2 milliards 



VEGETABLE PRODUCE. 



Wheat (45,000,000 of hectolitres at 16 fr.), . 720,000,000 



Barley (20,000,000 of hectolitres at 8 fr.), . 160,000,000 



Oats (15,000,000 of hectolitres at 6 fr.), . 90,000,000 



Potatoes (200,000,000 of hectolitres at 2 fr.), . 400,000,000 



Hay and oats for non-agricultural horses, . 400,000,000 



Flax, hemp, vegetables, and fruits, . . 170,000,000 



Wood, 60,000,000 



Total vegetable produce, . . 2 milliards 



The above I believe to be as near the truth as can be 

 ascertained by means of observations so general in their 

 character. 



The most striking fact which these figures disclose, 

 besides the disproportion of the results, is the agreement 

 between the vegetable and animal products : whilst in 

 France the vegetable product forms four -sixths of the 

 whole, and the animal two-sixths only, a state of things 

 which at once shows an exhausting system of cultiva- 

 tion, or at least a stationary one, in the British Isles the 

 one is equal to the other, which betokens an improving 



* The total production of barley is probably thirty millions of hectolitres, but 

 two-thirds only enter into human consumption, the other third being consumed 

 by cattle. I have also taken, as for human consumption, only about a sixth of 

 the production of oats, which ought to be not far short of ninety millions of 

 hectolitres, and of potatoes I have estimated one-half. (The consumption of 

 barley by cattle is very much less than the proportion here stated, certainly not 

 above one-tenth the entire produce ; while tha^ of oats by man may be taken at 

 one-fourth at least, instead of one-sixth. J. D.) 



