116 REPORT— 1839. 



1839; 2nd, The number of patients attended, from March 1828 to 

 March 1835, with the diseases from which they suffered; and, 3rd, A 

 return of Mr. Middlemore's patients for the year ending March 1839, 

 giving the disease, sex, age, employment, and colour of the eyes of each 

 patient, and likewise the result of treatment. The total number of pa- 

 tients reported is 23,554, and the expenditure 2,161/.; making the ave- 

 rage cost of each case 1^. 9c?. — With reference to the tables laid before 

 the Section, the Committee regretted to find that the records of the 

 various institutions did not afford all the information required to give 

 value to such documents. In the practice of some of the surgeons 

 the facts are all recorded, but the house-books do not contain them ; 

 so that the perfect returns only comprise a small portion of the cases. 

 The last return produced by the Committee was the Superintendent 

 Registrar's report, for two years, ending June 30, 1839. The births 

 reported are 8,218, of which 34-7, or 41 per cent., were born out of wed- 

 lock. Of the 2,106 marriages, 1,854 were solemnized according to the 

 rites of the Church of England. 



Suggestions in favour of the Systematic Collection of the Statistics of 

 Agriculture. By G. R. Porter, Esq. 



After showing the amount of ignorance on this subject, which is so 

 great, that to this day the public does not possess any authentic docu- 

 ment, from which we can learn even the quantity of land under culti- 

 vation in any county of England, and that the only information available 

 for further calculation is contained in the estimate of Mr. Couling, who 

 gave evidence before a Committee of the House of Commons which 

 was appointed in 1827 to inquire into the subject of emigration, — Mr. 

 Porter explained the processes by which, in Belgium, Holland and 

 France, a superior degree of information on agricultural statistics is col- 

 lected. In a statement published in September, 1838, by the Prefect 

 of the Department of the Eure, may be found a separate account for 

 each canton, giving its population and superficial area, the distribution 

 of the soil, the nature of the crops, the breadth of land appropriated to 

 each kind, the total produce, the average price of each description of 

 produce, the quantity used for seed, and the consumption by the native 

 population. There are also given, the extent of land appropriated to 

 the growth of wood, and the quantity lying fallow, the number and va- 

 lue of different kinds of animals reared and kept, the number slaugh- 

 tered in the year, and the price of each kind of meat. In the course of 

 a slight examination of this publication, comparing its results with such 

 facts as we possess concerning the agriculture of our own country, some 

 very striking differences appear, into the consideration of which it is 

 not necessary to enter minutely on this occasion. It will, however, be 

 interesting to state, that the produce of wheat throughout the depart- 

 ment is not equal, on the average, to quite 18^ bushels to the English 

 acre, and that the return obtained from the seed sown is not greater 



