162 
Variation in the Price and Supply of Wheat. 
grown in 1750, according to Quesnay, on 21,000,000 acres 
of land, (101 bushels per acre). The present breadth of cereals 
is about 39,000,000 acres. Cattle have doubled in the same 
period ; the number of non-agricultural horses has largely in- 
creased. The improved condition of the labouring classes and 
of the people generally has greatly affected the consumption of 
wheat. They have entered that stage in social economy when 
wheaten flour begins to be substituted for that of rye and 
other inferior grain. The miserable condition of the peasantry 
in France, in the middle of the last century, was without a 
parallel in the history of Europe. It is related that in one year 
of unusual scarcity the Duke of Orleans laid on the council-table 
a piece of black bread, made partly of fern-leaves, as a specimen 
of the diet of the country people. 
The price at which corn can be grown cannot be learned 
from statistics. It is more to the purpose to inquire the actual 
condition of agriculture under fluctuations of price. The average 
prices in 1863, 1864, and 1865, were 46s., 41s., and 3Ss. 6cf. per 
quarter. There is no doubt that the low prices of this period 
caused much agricultural distress. The press constantly dis- 
cussed " the sufferings of agriculture," and the Central Agri- 
cultural Society held a succession of meetings to consider the 
general subject of agricultural distress and the expediency of a 
duty of 2s. Qd. a quarter, and a reduction of farmer's taxes to 
the amount of the revenue thus raised. 
The fact of agricultural distress v/as recognised in circulars 
issued by the Minister of Agriculture ; it was referred to in the 
Emperor's speech on opening the Chambers ; it formed the 
subject of an important debate, and a Commission of " inquiry 
into the condition of agriculture " was then appointed. An 
" Inquiry," furnished with elaborate means of obtaining evidence 
and assisted by the numerous Agricultural Societies of France, 
could not fail to obtain a vast amount of information on agricul- 
tural affairs. There is no doubt that wheat cannot be profitably 
grown in France at 40s. a quarter ; and however much our own 
agricultui'e may be depressed by a period of low prices, it cannot 
be endangered by the competition of our nearest neighbour. 
The broad distinction between English and French agricul- 
ture is the relative proportion of the various crops and of bare 
fallow, and especially the breadth of cereals grown for human 
consumption. In France this breadth is one-fourth of the culti- 
vated land ; in the United Kingdom one-seventh. France, with 
rather more than double the area of cultivated land, has five 
times as much land in wheat as the United Kingdom ; thirteen 
times as much bare fallow ; of roots and green crops, France 
has 6,200,000 acres against 4,900,000 acres ; of clover and 
