Nov. 10, 1S55.1 



THE AGRICULTURAL GAZETTE. 



719 



newspaper in England, but emanating from the great 

 source of power in that country must be regarded as a 

 declaration of what was likely to occur, so far as human 

 calculations could go — and from that statement, issued 

 the authority of the French Goverraen^ it appeared 

 that there would this year be a deficiency in their pro- 

 duction amounting to at least one-tenth of the warns of 



and the question arose how was that 

 deficiency to be supplied ? This was a subject which 

 created great anxiety in France ; and they said, " We 

 must stop all exports, and do our best to promote im- 

 norts from every quarter." That was the state of things 

 now in France — in a country from which we were a 



forthcoming; and he would fix a price accordingly. J "Contemporary with this, the statistics of a Oivision of 



little 



The population of the country being determined, its 

 wants are easily determined. Only let us know the com- 

 parative quantity of grain sown ; its probable yield in 

 comparison with the previous year ; and we should 

 soon — with the information we * possess, and allowance 

 being made for the supply from abroad, and the increase 

 of demand at home— fix what should be the year 

 price of corn. And if we have confidence in our know- 

 ledge, we shall expect what to a certainty will happen, 

 to realise our price. The true facts of the market may 

 not, at first, be understood by all. Hence, the year's 

 price will not always be attained immediately. But a 

 time ago drawing a large portion of our supply, few years will make the whole population, when they 



this county — the one in which we are residing — have 

 been published. Thus we learn that we have in this 

 division of the West Riding G 15,000 acres, which is in 

 crop as follows : 



the population 



Wheat 

 Barley 



Oats 



Rye 



• • • 



• ■ . 



• * • 



» - . 



• • ■ 



*•• 



« • • 



3,549 

 45,650 



396 



1.489155,00 



Beans and Peas 12.996 



He was only too glad that, under the pressure of that 

 news from France, the English markets had not risen 

 so much as might reasonably have been expected. In 

 savin** that, it was not that he did not wish the agri- 

 culturists might not continue to receive full prices for 

 their corn, but he was sure that they would all be ready 

 and willing to acknowledge that there might be prices 

 of corn which were too high. He said, then, that there 

 was a great obligation resting on the British farmer. 

 No man twitted them by saying that they could do with- 

 out them, but they patted him on the back, and called 

 him a downright good fellow. The farmer had gone 

 through a time of trial— he had shown that he was 

 not to be beaten — and that with an increase of diffi- 

 culties his energies had been called forth ; and lie (Mr. 

 Clutterbuck) believed there never was a time in which 

 the British agriculturist stood higher than he did at the 

 present moment. 



ftcirieiug 



Agricultural Statistics: A Lecture delivered at Thorner. 

 By John Hannam, Secretary to the Yorkshire Agri- 

 cultural Society. Longman. 



see the return*, able to predict the range of prices. 

 Happy certainty ! How different now ! From want of 

 real data, the grower is made a specu ator ; and, without 

 information, he gambles in the dark ; while his best cus- 

 tomers, — the capitalist, the miller, and the corn-dealer, 

 — are prevented from trading, further than from hand 

 to mouth, for immediate demand*" 



Mr. Hannam relates his own experience on this 

 point : 



" As a case in point, I 'may mention, that during the 

 harvest of 1846 I bought by auction a stack-yard for 

 upwards of 6001. ; and, in order to realise a small profit 

 by eating the straw with cattle, I commenced thrashing 

 immediately and regularly during the winter. My first 

 sale was White Wheat, at 16s. 6d. per three bushels, or 

 44s. per quarter. My last sale was the tail Wheat, at 

 32s. per load, or 85s. per quarter. Having no statistics 

 to appeal to, I could form no reason for imagining short 



supplies ; and thus, by realising 607. for eatage, I lost 



6001. in the price of the grain." 



Independently of the national and commercial value 

 of statistical information on our agricultural products 

 there are the advantages to the agriculturist himself 

 derivable from a knowledge of the farm practice of the 



Vetches... 



Turnips 



Mangold 

 Carrots 



Cabbage 



H onset, 

 fences 



Waste 

 Wood 



Commons 



road- - 



• . . 



> 



-14 



• a ■ 



• • • 



• ■ • 



• • • 



• * • 



14,611 

 96.6 



• • i 



2494 15; 



iw 



»• • 





. . . 



40,492 

 528 



127 



2«,<J 



40,471 

 Farms less than | K1;IA 



2 acres { 5 ' 140 



Not accounted for 30,633 131,81* 



II onset 

 <>lts 

 43,889 MilWcows... 



• • • 



«•• 



• * • 



Calves 



Hare Fallow 24,041 24,041 (attle 



'laps 



. . . 



Clover, &c. 



• • i 



"►46 48,04G 



Permnt. Pas. 1 JS,655 

 Meadow ... 



Sheep walks... 



. <)00 

 7.156 181,811 



Kwea 



J.nnibS 



Sheep 

 Swine 



• - . 



• - • 



- 



■ 



• * • 





■ . . 



■ . 





t •* 



• *• 



■ • - 



21.2* 



3o,386 

 17 



i 



100,1 

 66,481 



As the subject on which Mr. Hannam here writes has 

 within the lust few days reoccupied further attention, 

 we may refr r to this pamphlet as a successful discussion 

 of the grounds on which statistical inquiries into the 

 food supply of a country may be defended — if defence 

 be necessary. 



■ The people of this great country," says Mr. Han- 

 nam, * (and lamentable hath been the result in the 

 sister country,) have been taught to shut their eyes, and 

 open their mouths, and see what Providence would 

 send them ; while the farmer has visited the markets, 

 with no more idea of the supply he must compete with, 

 or the price that his commodity was really worth, than 

 if he were vending his produce in the planet Jupiter. 



" No one ventures to deny the important uses which 

 information of this sort would serve. The politician 

 laments his ignorance of the real extent of the resources 

 of agriculture ; the laud owner is similarly in the dark 

 as to the true position of the interest in which he has so 

 large a stake ; the minister admits the value of 

 the information which such facts convey. Yet, still, 

 we have them not. Legislation, however, has gone on. 

 The man profoundly ignorant of the annual wealth pro- 

 duced by agriculture, speaks with the greatest confidence 

 of its high importance, or its absolute insignificance, to 

 the general welfare of the country, as the case may be, 

 and without the slightest misgiving as to the truth of 

 his opinion, declares that England is not an agricultural 

 country, and ought never to grow a blade of corn ; or 

 that its agriculture is at once its pride and its profit — 

 alike the producer of the materials of art, and the 

 source of the physical power which manipulates those 

 materials. In fact, ask in St. Stephen's, What is our 

 growth of food 1 and mark the answer. Let Mr. 

 Hoskyns reply. ■ You can be told,' says he, « every 

 bale of calico that leaves the country ; every box of 

 gloves or yard of lace that enters it ; you can hear how 

 much tea, coffee, sugar, and tobacco is consumed in the 

 United Kingdom ; but what is the growth and what is 

 the consumption of corn ? The nearest weathercock 

 might be appealed to with about as much expectation 

 of a steady answer as the sources which exist, and are 

 usually taken as the data for calculation. Guess what 

 you please, between 12 and 25 millions of quarters per 

 annum, and you will have some statistician or other on 

 your side. ■ Nihil sic impair sibi,' might be taken as the 

 motto of all.' " 

 Again : — 



*' It is, however, principally from its influence upon 

 *e price of agricultural produce, that the system recom- 

 mends itself to the farmer and the public. To both, the 

 sudden fluctuations in price are injurious ; they benefit 

 few, and injure the many. The farmer who sells regu- 

 larly seldom obtains the maximum price ; while the 

 speculator waits for it A variation in prices is in 

 accordance with the nature of things. Crops are affected 

 D y many things beyond the farmers' control. The 

 v icissitudes of° seed-time and harvest, unfavourable 

 dimates, blights, insects, affect the amount of produce. 

 Bad crops are not always the consequence of bad farming. 

 Consequently it is proper that the consumer should 

 **sist in meeting these losses by an increase of price. 



"This is legitimate rise and fall, springing from real 

 «k«aand and supply. By the absence of any statistics, 

 speculative 'ups and downs' are encouraged. The 

 Market is open to be moved by any rumour ; and when 

 there is a real cause for a rise in the price, the poorer 

 * anner has too frequently sold his produce. He learns 



whole country. 



"If we subject these figures to the same analysis a* 

 those of Scotland, we find i hat there are 286,000 arret 

 under the plough, of which we have 155,000 in white or 

 cereal erftps, and 81,88") in green crops ; in Pulse, 

 15,089; iiii*l in open fallow, 21,041; or altogether 

 (considering Pulse crops to be intermediate or prepara- 

 tory), 131,015 acres, strictly speaking fit to sow with 

 white crop. We have thus an tat *>ss of 24,018 acre* 

 of white crop over the green crop and the Pulse crop 



combined. 



"It is clear, therefore, there are many stubble crops- 

 growing in the district. It is true we are near large 

 towns, and the heavy supply of manure may justify, in 

 some measure, an expectation of more white crops than 

 usual. But this excess is much too great to be thus 

 explained ; and arises as follow : — We have, in this 

 district, 24,000 acres of open fallow-land, which we may 

 set down as principally unfit for Turnips. This land is- 



and 



" Thus." savs Mr. Hannam, " even the returns which , „ , A , A% 



xiius, myb mi. it* , - . , „„,!„<• *!,;« generally managed on the three course system; 



have been made of the statistics of Scotland, and of tins g^ J^ 7 , noo ftcm of land , the principal 



district of Yorkshire, which are just published, presen 

 features of interest to the farmer. For example, we 

 learn that the acreage of crops in Scotland is as follows : 



Fallow ... 20,128 26,128 



• » ■ 



■ • • 



Wheat 

 Barley 

 Oats 



Rye... 



Here 

 Turnip Seed 



Beans 

 Peas 

 Tares 

 Flax 



Turnips 

 Potatoes 



Mangold 



Carrots 



t • • 



• . • 



■ * ■ 



168.266 



207,507 



932,994 



3,809 



18,118 



1,429 



37,702 



6,169 



13,442 

 6.670 



433,915 



143.032 



1,94b" 



1,218 



1,332,073 



1,427,790 1,427,790 



63,9S3 



580,111 



Gross Produce. 



Wheat 4,848,499 



7,639,601 

 33,854.319 



637,250 



... 1,080,921 

 tons 6,372,189 



Barley 



Oats... 



Bere... 



Beans 



Turnips 



Potatoes 



• • . 



• •• 



■ - - 



• • • 



Grass in 

 rotation, 

 seeds, and 

 Clover. 



Permanent N 20710 l 

 pasture. J ' ' 

 Meadow ... 49,256 



Sheep walks 6,553,842 

 Houses, ) 

 roads, and r 130,538 



830,730 



413,391 9,184,858 



por- 

 tion of which requires draining. Two-thirds of this, 

 therefore, will be in grain crop, i.e., 48,000 instead of 

 36,000 acres. 



Hence from ... 2S6,000 acres, the total arable land, 

 Deduct 72,000 acres, the quantity farmed on the three- 

 course shift, 



And we have ... 214,000 acres of arable land, which is farmed 



on the four-course shift. 

 And again, from 155.000 acres of grain crop, the total in the 



* » « * 



district, 



4S,000 the acre in grain belonging to tb» 



72,000 acres, 



Deduct 



fences. 

 Waste 

 Woods 



• • • 



■ - • 



Animals. 



* - • 





• • • 



• • 



• •• 



Horses 



Milk Cows 



Cattle .. 



Calves 



Kwes ... 



Tups and Wethers... 



Swine... 



• • ■ 



* ■ - 



• •• 



• • t 



« • * 



• ■ • 



- • • 



12,613,345 



156,595 



292,365 



438 334 



205,172 



3,360.280 

 1,426,946 



163,683 



523,383 



From this we gather that in each year there are 

 1,332,000 acres in white crop in Scotland, while in 

 Turnips and fallow there are 606,000 acres, and in 

 seeds 1,400,000, or a total of 2,006,000 acres fit for a 

 crop the enduing year, independent of 26,000 acres of 

 Bean and Pea stubbles ; a state of cropping which cer- 

 tainly illustrates the high position hitherto claimed for 

 Scotch agriculture. There is no cross cropping ! If, 

 however, we take ball the seeds in rotation, sny 

 700,000, which is as much as would be ploughed in one 

 year— by adding it to 600,000 acres of Turnip and 

 fallow land, we have 1,300,000 acres of the quantity of 

 land fit for Bowing. And this is the exact quantity 

 which the statistics show us is sown. 



"It is clear, therefore, that at least 700,000 acres 

 remain under Grass every year, after the full crop of 

 white corn is sown. The great quantity of seeds which 

 stand for two vears, indicate that the soil is not naturally 

 fertile. Upon' good soil, crops of corn can be grown on 

 one year seeds. It would on such he a great loss to lose 

 a year, and by that means make the next grain crop too 

 luxuriant to be safe. This great breadth of Clover and 

 seeds, however, perhaps partially arises from the large 

 proportion of such which is mown for hay and for seed. 

 While this quantity is kept up, it is quite evident that 

 the fertility of the farm is safe. It will not diminish, 

 but it does not increase. Nevertheless, by mowing less, 

 and by grazing with sheep for one year only, along with 

 the use of artificial food upon the land, and a still more 

 liberal employment of portable fertilisers— Scotland 

 may exhibit it in her returns, a much larger 

 average of Wheat, as well as an increased average 

 of bushels per acre, that she shows at present. Indeed, 

 it is clear that the soil upon which grain crops 

 can be safely grown after two years seeds, upon the 

 system of one year old seeds, will bear the addition «f 

 artificial food and manure. And by regulating this 

 application judiciously, an increased breadth of gram 

 will be grown ; and, in many instances, an increased 

 quantity per acre obtained at the same time. I he total 

 acreaee of Wheat grown in Scotland, and the average 

 per acre of the crop-both much less than was antici- 

 pated-justify this reasoning. The fact of 26,900 acres 

 of bare fallow being all that Scotland has of tor arable 



And we have ... 107,000 acres of grain growing on the 214,000 



acres winch Su cultivated on the four- 

 course shift.' 



And this is exactly half the total quantity of arable 

 land— a most satisfactory position as regards cultivation,. 

 80 far as the four-course land is concerned. 



" Interesting as these comparisons are, and satisfactory 

 as our position may seem, whether we compare the 

 compare the yield per acre or the rotation, upon the 

 land which is drained and under the four- course shift, 

 the fact that out of 3,400.000 acres of arable land in 

 Scotland, we only find 26,000 acres in bare fallow, 

 while in a district of this county containing 700,00 

 acres, we find 24,000 in fallow, is a Startling aod 



significant one." 



We recommend any who may have been startled by 

 the speech of Mr. i'acke upon the subject to read the 

 Jecture of Mr. Hannam. 



Miscellaneous. 



Irish Agricultural Stathtics. 

 185 



As compared with 



acres 



54, we have in 1355 an increase of 34,225 statute 

 res in Wheat ; in Oats, 72,657 acres ; and a 



decrease in Barley, Bere, and Rye, of 19,589 acres ; 

 or a total increase'in cereals of 87,293 stature acres ; 

 and of meadow and Clover, an increase of $8,875 acres j 

 but in Flax we have a decrease of 54,297. 



In green- 



crop 



_ r .-, from the operations last spring, we were not 

 prepared for the announcement of a decrease of 81 31 

 acres of Potatoes in the present year, as compared with 

 1854, but such seems to be the case. In Turnips there 

 increase of 37,327 acres, but a decrease of 3685 



in which are included 



is an 



acres of all other green crops, 



m 



may 



Mangold WurzeJ, Beet root, Carrots, Parsnips, Cabbage, 

 Vetches, and K ape, so that in 1855 we have includmg 

 grain and green crops, a total increase of 112 382 acres 

 under tillage as compared with 1854. Considering our 

 present state of affairs, being shut out from Russia for 

 a Iar*e portion of the Flax necessary for our manufac- 

 tures! the decrease in the Flax crops w much to be 

 regretted, and in some de-ree unaccountable ; but. we 

 strongly suspect the fault does not lie in any inability 

 our soil or our farmers to produce that crop, hut 

 in some degree, be attributed to the difficulty 

 experienced in getting a sale for it in districts remote 

 from markets, and in the fall in prices which took place 

 within the last year, and therefore our farmers turned 

 their attention to crops more marketable and con- 

 sequently, more valuable, and until manufactories are 

 brought within a reasonable distance of the producers, 

 a practical stimulus will not be given to the cultivation 

 of this crop. In the abstract which we present our 

 w readers, showing the quantity of live stock in I'M*" 

 ]e 1855, as compared with that of 1854, we find the total 

 f*t our crops cannot "supply" the" markets, when it is too I of bare fallow being all ^^"^^^7^ ' herTgri- increase in horses of various ages "^**™J J 

 la *e. Agricultural Statistics, then, would enable him so 1 unproductive, « a .J™™^ , cattle, 58,715 ; in sheep, a decrease of 1 23,, 48 j and >n 



'ttaiu to a enable approximation to the quantity lci&nral energy. Hcwrtftft of beottisii pers^ei | 



*° attain 





