Home Produce, Imports, and Coiisumpllon of Wheat. oG5 
The subjects to be considered arc — the extent of area under 
■wheat ; the average yield per acre ; the aggregate home-produce, 
and the amount of it avaihable as human food ; the quantities 
imported ; the number of consumers ; the consumption per head 
<)f the population ; also some other points. 
1. Area under Wheat. 
On this very fundamental element of the inquiry the informa- 
tion at command is extremely incomplete. Perhaps the average 
number of acres under wheat, over a series of years, may be 
estimated for each of the main divisions of the United Kingdom 
with approximate accuracy. But a consideration of such records 
as are available, showing the fluctuations in area from year to 
year, indicated how desirable it was, if possible, to estimate the 
variation from the average area each year. This, therefore, v.as 
attempted with regard to England, which comprises so large 
a ])roportion of the total wheat-growing area of the United 
Kingdom. After much consideration, however, it was decided 
that the uncertainty, or deviation from the truth, in regard to 
the area in individual years, might be equally great, and the 
average result over a series of years perhaps less to be relied 
upon, if it were attempted to estimate the area for each indi- 
vidual year, and for each separate division of the kingdom, in an 
arbitrary manner, on the authority of mere opinions or general 
statements. 
After this explanation of the difficulties which beset the 
question, and at the same time freely admitting the great need 
of more complete and reliable data on the point, we may here 
state generally, that, throughout the calculations, we have esti- 
mated the area for the years preceding, intermediate to, or 
succeeding those for which returns or reliable estimates are 
available, by the simpler method of either adopting those 
returns or estimates for the proximate years, or distributing the 
tlifference between the figure adopted at one date and that at 
another, equally from year to year. 
P'or neither England nor Wales have we any official records 
or estimates, of the area under wheat for any year within 
the period of our review prior to 18G6. We have, how- 
ever, for England Mr. Caird's estimate for 1850. This, so far 
as we are aware, is the most reliable information available re- 
lating to the period prior to the recent official returns. The 
approximate accuracy of the estimate is, moreover, rendered the 
more probable from the fact that it gives a somewhat higher 
acreage than the recent returns ; the general opinion being that 
the area under wheat has diminished durins: the last 15 or 20 
years. 
