Consumption of Food Products. 



295 



rally considered to be the staple food of the population. The 

 extent to which the demand for bread has been affected 

 may be gauged approximately by an examination of the 

 evidence relating to the consumption of wheat. Official 

 statistics of the home production of this cereal were first 

 published in 1 884, but for the earlier years recourse may be had 

 to the estimates issued by Sir John Lawes, based upon the 

 results obtained in the Rothamsted experiments. The 

 quantity of wheat available for consumption in a given year 

 may be ascertained by two processes. The method usually 

 followed is to add to the home production, after deducting 

 something for seed, the imports less the exports of the cereal 

 year. Another process is to add to the net imports of the 

 calendar year one-third of the crop of that year, and 

 two-thirds of the crop of the previous year, after making an 

 allowance for seed. The results obtained by these two calcu- 

 lations do not differ to any material extent, but reference will 

 be made to both for the purposes of this article. A sufficiently 

 correct impression of the changes in the supplies of wheat, 

 and of other articles of diet, in the past twenty years will be 

 obtained by comparing the average annual supply for the 

 three years 1876-78 with that for 1894-96, noting when 

 necessary any marked fluctuations in the interval which may 

 modify the conclusions to be drawn from the figures for the 

 periods mentioned. 



In the three calendar years 1876-78 the average annual 

 quantity of wheat available for consumption in the United 

 Kingdom represented 5-50 bushels per head of the popu- 

 lation, whereas in 1894-96 it amounted to 5-99 bushels. 

 Similar estimates for periods of three cereal years ending with 

 1878 and 1896 show the supply to have been 5*57 and 5*96 

 bushels respectively for each individual. These figures indi- 

 cate, prima facie, that the consumption of wheat has slightly 

 increased, and the impression they convey is confirmed by an 

 examination of the results of similar calculations for earlier 

 and intervening years. Six bushels per head is usually held 

 to be the approximate average annual consumption of wheat 

 fof human food ; but judging from the estimates published by 

 Sir John Lawes and other authorities, the actual yearly 



