March 1897.] 



FOREIGN OFFICE REPORTS. 



411 



production and seed-corn (the latter is estimated at one-seventh 

 of the production). It will be noticed also that the amounts 

 sent and received by rail, and in the coasting trade, also differ 

 slightly. The calculation is as follows (the figures all being 

 averages of the years 1890-94) : — 





Annual Average Quantity 

 in Bushels. 



Wheat produced - 



„ imported, including flour - 

 introduced by coasting trade 

 „ „ „ rail - 



Seed corn - 



Wheat exported, including flour - 

 „ sent by coasting trade 

 „ rail 



Total available for consumption 



81,032,000 

 10,067,000 

 5,334,000 

 43,797,000 

 140,230,000 



] 1,576,000 

 897,000 

 5,422,000 

 44,844,000 

 62,739,000 



77,491,000 



The amount consumed, therefore, per head of the population, 

 according to the latest census, that of 1887, works out to 

 4 J bushels. By means of the same data estimates of the con- 

 sumption in the provinces are also given, and these appear to 

 vary very considerably in different districts ; but there are 

 several considerations to be taken into account, such as the 

 absence of an inquiry into the transport of wheat by road and 

 canal, the principal one, however, being that the statistics are 

 faulty. 



Agriculture in France. 



The Board of Agriculture have recently received from the 

 Foreign Office the Report drawn up by the Budget Committee 

 upon the French Agricultural Estimates for 1897, together with 

 memoranda by Mr. Austin Lee on these estimates and on the 

 debate in the Chamber of Deputies upon this section of the 

 Budget. The Report contains an interesting summary of the 

 progress of certain branches of agriculture in France, and the 

 following information is taken from the documents referred to. 



The Report states that the value of agricultural land in France 

 exceeds 3,200,000,0002. the working capital being 340,000,0002., 

 the value of the produce exceeding 540,000,0002., and the amount 

 of wages paid to the labouring classes reaching 160,000,0002. 



The separate farms (exploitations) in France amount to 

 5,672,000, of which only 217 are of more than 1,235 acres, 

 28,000 range from 247 to 1,235 acres, 56,000 from 124 to 247 



