1921.] 



Agricultlra]. Statistics. 



637 



These particulars would give the factors of production fairly 

 completely, and we should then want particulars of the 

 output: — 



Weight and value of crops and animals produced and marketed. 

 Weight and value of meat produced. 



Quantity and value of other produce — e.g.^ milk, cheese, butter, cider, 

 honey, &c. — produced and marketed. 



Having obtained a complete account of the output in gross 

 and detail of agricultural land, it would still remain to get 

 further particulars of its distribution and realisation, including 

 statistics of supplies at markets and of the course of prices. 



It is unnecessary to remark that the scheme thus outlined 

 is a counsel of perfection, and that in a world which is imper- 

 fectly organised and disciplined from the statistician's point 

 of view, the ideal is never likely to be fully attained. 



Historical Progress of Statistics. — Nevertheless, the world 

 does move, and it may be of interest briefly to summarise the 

 progress which has been made in this country, which may 

 fairly claipa to have been the pioneer in the development of a 

 national system of agricultural statistics. 



As I have elsewhere remarked, the earliest attempt to collect 

 agricultural statistics may be attributed to William the 

 Conqueror. Xo doubt the Domesday Inquest originated in 

 the royal desire for revenue, rather than in a passion for 

 statistics, but it nevertheless provided a detailed return of the 

 use and equipment of the land. 



Every due of every wight 



Within this England written stands 



For all to read who have the sight : 



Sokemen so many, tenants at will, 



Cotsetters. men of tenant right ; 



The Kine, the pigs, the weirs, the mill ; 



Villeins with their oxen and plows." 



The manorial records may perhaps be described as agricultural 

 statistics, and had they been collected and collated would have 

 formed -a continuous return for the whole country. It is only 

 within the past half-century that the economic historian has 

 arisen and his labours have revealed the extent of information 

 contained in these documents. 



In the absence of statistics, attempts were made from time 

 to time to make estimates of English agriculture. The 

 estimate of Gregory King, made in 1688, is well known. In 

 1808, Mr. T. Comber, and in 1827 Mr. W. Couling, made 

 estimates, the former giving the acreage under various crops 



