GENEEAL AGRICULTURAL NOTES. 



[March 1895. 



export o£ these grains in that year exceeded the import by 

 230,111 tons. 



Mr, Miller maintains that it is unnecessary to discuss what 

 the possible effect of a great development of the export trade 

 might be in theory, since the figures given negative any 

 supposition that the people had been induced by the high 

 price obtainable for wheat to send it out of the country when 

 it should have been retained for their own consumption. 

 They have merely exported surplus produce that they could 

 well spare. 



It may also be noticed that, not withstanding the high export 

 of wheat in 1891-2, and 1892-3, the average exports in the 

 seven years ending 1892-3 were actually lower than in the five 

 years preceding. From 1881-82 to 1885-86 inclusive, the 

 average annual exports were 223,000 tons; from 1886-87 to 

 1892-93 they were only 190,000 tons. The Provinces, therefore, 

 have been in recent years exporting less wheat and not more 

 than they formerly did ; and there is nothing in the history of 

 recent years to gii e any ground for supposing that their trade 

 organisation is so defective, and their traders so wanting in 

 'knowledge and foresight, as to encourage export of grain that 

 ought to be retained for consumption in the country. 



The Agricultural Population of France. 



The Bulletin de Statistique et de Legislation compctree, which 

 is published by the French Ministry of Finance, has recently 

 given an analysis of the French Census of 1891, the full results 

 of which were issued by the Ministry of Commerce in the 

 month of August last. 



It will be remembered that the census is a quinquennial one 

 in France, and in 1891, as on former occasions, the enumeration 

 forms were arranged so as to divide the whole population into 

 eight separate professional groups. These groups were further 

 subdivided to distinguish what is called the ac^^1/•e population 

 consisting of (1) employers (patrons or chefs d'etahlissement) ; 

 (2) managers, foremen, bailiffs, and others {employes) ; and (3) 

 labourers (ouvriers or journaliers) ; from the inactive popula- 

 tion consisting of (1) those members of the families of the above^ 

 whether employers or employed, with no distinct profession of 

 their own, and who were therefore taken to be dependent 

 members of the family ; and (2) servants employed by heads of 

 these families. 



At the last census, moreover, particulars were for the first time 

 taken as regards age, so as to further classify the professional 

 population of France into three categories, viz., the number of 

 persons under twenty, those between twenty and sixty, and 

 those above sixty j^ears of age. 



The following statement gives a summary of the total popula- 

 tion of France in 1891 grouped by professions, and subdivided 

 as regards social condition : — 



