A7////on3  o/  Quar/er^  A7////0/7S  ^ CtvA 
104 
Wheat  Prices  and  the  World’’ s Production. 
harvests  which  followed,  the  acreage  under  wheat  in  the 
United  Kingdom  fell  by  nearly  2,000,000  acres,  from  3,737,000 
to  1,773,000.  The  enormous  increase  in  imported  supplies 
and  the  part  played  by  the  opening  up  of  the  United  States 
is  indicated  on  the  diagram  (Chart  B),  the  details  of  which 
explain  themselves.  It  may  be  here  mentioned  that  the  self- 
Char/"  C. 
binder,  in  general  use  in  the  United  States  of  America  for 
several  years  before  being  introduced  into  this  country,  was 
an  enormous  help  to  the  transatlantic  wheat  grower. 
Meanwhile,  home  production  actually  fell  off,  thus  forming 
a rapidly  diminishing  proportion  of  the  whole.  It  is  difficult 
to  give  precise'  figures  on  this  point,  but  such  as  we  possess 
indicate  that  the  home  supply  fell  from  60  per  cent,  in  1860 
and  50  per  cent,  in  1870,  to  15  per  cent,  in  the  last  five  or  six 
years. 
* The  amount  of  the  British  crop  which  is  sold  in  our  public  markets  for 
consumption  is  only  a matter  of  conjecture.  But  we  shall  not  be  far  wrong  in 
assuming  that  of  the  crop  is  consumed  by  stock,  is  wasted,  or  is  used  as  seed 
corn.  This  assumption  enables  us  to  get  some  idea  of  the  proportion  of  our 
food  supply  provided  by  our  own  farmers. 
