1875.] 



341 



[Delmar. 



U. S. Com. Rel, for 1873. For account of power-looms, see Br. Con. 

 Rep., 1867-8, 550 ; of fisheries, U. S. M. S., Mar., 1870 ; of manufactories 

 in Catalonia, U. S. Com. Rel., 1862, 208 ; and 1864, 262. 



Product of Breadstcffs. 



The accounts of this product which have appeared from time to time 

 vary so considerably, both as to total amounts and details that it is very 

 difficult to reconcile them. 



The earliest account relates to the last half of the seventeenth century 

 and is, I believe, from Mi^fuel Ozorio y Redin. It states the total product 

 of grain to be 120 million bushels, two-thirds wheat and rye, and one- 

 third barley and oats. The population is believed to have been at that 

 time about seven and a-half millions. The product adduced would there- 

 fore equal 16 bushels per capita per annum, which seems excessive. The 

 account is, however, not to be rejected as valueless. The numbers of 

 the population supposed to have existed at that time are by no means 

 certain ; the consumption of gi'ain was probably greater, and of meat, 

 less than at more recent periods. The account may not relate to an 

 average year, but an exceptionally good one; finally, it is to be presumed 

 that, though not specified, the product of chestnuts, dry legumes and 

 other substitutes for grain, is intended to be included in the principal 

 articles mentioned. 



The next account, quoted by Macgregor from the "Census and Re- 

 turns" of 1803, is as follows : 



Breadst'ufs — Product of Spain, in 1803. 



Wheat 



Barley 



Rye 



Oats, maize, rice, etc 



Hectolitres. 



17,060,000 

 8,321,000 

 5,626,000 

 3,619,000 



34,626,000 



Bushels. 



47,768,000 

 23,298,800 

 15,752,800 

 10,183,200 



96,952.890 



"We have here, a total product of some 97 million bushels of grain for a 

 population of some 10,400,000 souls, an average of about nine and a-half 

 bushels per capita. Bearing in mind that potatoes, chestnuts and 

 legumes are omitted, I am inclined, for various reasons, to regard this es- 

 timate as substantially correct. 



Mr. L. S. Sackville West, H. B., M. Secretary of Legation at 

 Madrid, in repoi'ting to his Government, under date of July 1, 1865 (Rep. 

 Sec. Leg., 1866, 179), states that "fifty years ago, Spain, say with a popu- 

 lation of 10,000,000, produced 38 million hectolitres (106^ million bushels) 

 of grain." This statement corroborates the census and returns of 1803. 



An estimate for the year 1849 appears in Mr. Joseph Fisher's work on 

 Food Supplies (London, 1866), and gives the total product of cereals (omit- 



A. P. S. — VOL. XIV. 3r 



