Variation in the Price and Supply of Wheat. 189 
A little less than half the population was maintained bj 
wheat : now the proportion is more than two-thirds. There were 
nearly 7,000,000 in Ireland, of whom 4,000,000 were supported 
by the potato, and the other OjOOOjOOO consumed corn of various 
kinds to the amount of 2 quarters per head yearly. 
At this period the country was suffering from the effects of 
the war. Prices were high, and taxes and burdens overwhelm- 
ing. The diet of the people was inferior to what it was in 17G5, 
when Mr. Charles Smith estimated that the total consumption of 
wheat amounted to 5 bushels per head for the whole population ; 
and the barley used in malting and distilling to 4^ bushels per 
head. In 1821 a duty of 28s. IQd. per quarter had reduced the 
consumption of malt, excluding spirits, to 3,000,000 quarters. 
In 1853 Mr. McCulloch's estimate of annual consumption in 
the United Kingdom was — 
Consumption per Annum. 
Quarters. 
Wheat 16,000,000 ) 
Barley (indudino; malt) .. 6,000,000 [ By Man. 
Other com and pulse .. .. 11,000,000 ) 
Corn and pulse 16,000,000 By animals. 
Total 49,000,000 
■ Population 27,500,000. 
The barley-eaters were 500,000, instead of the 1,500,000 in 
1821. 
To obtain the total production of the country, Mr. McCulloch 
deducts the amount of corn imported (7,000,000 quarters), and 
adds the very large quantity of one-sixth of the total produce 
(8,000,000 quarters) for seed. Total 50,000,000 quarters. 
Since the repeal of the corn-laws the importations of wheat 
have increased in greater proportion to the increase in the popu- 
lation : they averaged 8,000,000 quarters a year for the past 
seven years against nearly four and a quarter million quarters 
for the seven years following the repeal. The average importa- 
tions of all sorts of grain for the same periods have been re^ 
spectively 14,192,000 quarters and 6,930,000 quarters in each 
year. An examination of our Tables shows the enormously 
increasing dependence of the country on importations, and that 
in respect to the growth of grain our agriculture is retrogressive ; 
it supports a smaller number of persons than it did in 1831, 
when the population was 24,130,000. In 1831, the importations 
were almost nothing, and the whole population was supported 
on home-grown corn. 
