348 Home Produce, Imports, Consumption, 
requirements for consumption and the imports are considerably 
lower than the average of the annually adopted estimates for 
those periods. The fact is that, for each of the first two periods, 
the estimated consumption was itself finally founded on the 
estimated home produce and the imports of the periods ; so that, 
although there will be discrepancy in the results arrived at in 
the two ways for individual years, there could not be material 
disagreement over the whole of either of those periods. For 
each of the last two periods, however, the estimate of consump- 
tion per head has been annually adopted independently, as fore- 
casts, and the discrepancy between the results of the two modes 
of estimate for those periods has, therefore, a real significance. 
Independently of the question of whether or not any cor- 
rection in the estimates for individual years should be made, the 
foregoing results would lead to the conclusion that the actual 
consumption per head, taken together with the amount consumed 
by stock, has been greater over the last two periods than has been 
annually assumed. If now we assume the requirement per head 
to have been 5*6 bushels over the third eight years, and 5*65 
bushels over the last three years, instead of, as previously, 
5*5 bushels over those eleven years, this would bring the two 
estimates into very much closer agreement. We should then 
have the average produce per acre per annum, over the United 
Kingdom, for the respective periods as follows ; — 
Table III. 
Average Produce per Acre. 
According to 
increased 
Consumption, 
and Imports. 
According to 
Annually 
adopted 
Estimates. 
Average 8 years, 1852-3—1859-60 .. 
Average 8 years, 1860-1—1867-8 .. 
A vera ge 8 years, 1 868-9 - 1 875-6 . . 
Average 3 years, 1876-7—1878-9 .. 
Average 27 years, 1852-3—1878-9 
Bushels. 
28| 
28» 
26^ 
27 
Bushels. 
28 
28| 
26^ 
. 27i 
27i 
It will be observed that, even with the estimates of the average 
consumption per head raised as above supposed, the average 
produce per acre founded on the annual estimates is slightly 
higher over the last two periods than that founded on consump- 
tion and imports. It must be borne in mind that the quantity 
of wheat consumed by farm-stock is an unknown and varying 
element ; and either the estimate of the consumption per head 
of the population must be fixed to include the average consump- 
