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XXV. — On the Home Produce, Imports, and Consumption of 
Wheat. By John Bennet Lawes, F.E.S., F.C.S., and 
Joseph Henry Gilbert, Ph. D., F.R.S., F.C.S. 
It is almost a truism to say that the characters of the seasons 
exert a very great influence on the amount and quality of our 
home-produce of wheat from year to year; and that upon the 
amount of food which the crop supplies depends very materially, 
though less than formerly, the general prosperity of the nation. 
In a very able paper by Mr. Caird,* devoted in great measure to 
the pointing out the important bearings of the Agricultural 
Returns for 1866 and 1867, which were presented to Parliament 
last year,t he estimates the cost of the wheat and wheat-flour 
consumed in the United Kingdom at 30,000,000/. sterling more 
for the year, in consequence of the bad season of 1867, than after 
the good harvest of 1868 ; and that, out of this total 'extra cost, 
27,400,000/. more would have to be paid for foreign corn after 
the bad harvest than after the good one. He calls attention to 
the influence which such a result must have upon the trade of 
the country, and insists upon the great advantages which would 
accrue from early knowledge as to the area and yield of our 
various crops. 
Hitherto the objections of farmers, whether valid or otherwise, 
have been sufficient to prevent the legislature from requiring 
returns to be made on these and other points comprised under 
the head of ' Agricultural Statistics.' In Ireland for a number 
of years past, and in Scotland also for a few seasons some years 
ago, returns have, however, been collected. But it is only during 
the last two years that voluntary returns have been collected 
throughout the United Kingdom, as to the number of acres under 
each crop, and some other points ; and in regard to the important 
question of the amount of produce obtained, either per acre or 
in the aggregate, no returns whatever have been collected ; nor is 
any really reliable information available on the subject. 
To meet this want, the managers of some of our best con- 
ducted agricultural papers have, however, bestowed much care 
and trouble in collecting, just before harvest, from correspondents 
residing in various parts of the United Kingdom, opinions as to 
the probable yield of the various growing crops. But as these 
returns are, for the most part, made before the crops are fully 
* Bead before the Statistical Society, March 17, 1868 ; and after-wards published 
as a pamphlet under the title of ' Our Daily Food ; its Price, and Sources of 
Supply.' Longmaus & Co. 
t Agricultural Returns for Great Britain, -with Abstract Returns for the 
Uuited Kingdom, 1867. 
