Profits per acre. 
45 
A closer examination of the foregoing figures will bring 
out several points of interest. In the first place it is noticeable 
that there has been no practical diminution in the production 
of wheat or barley. An occasional bad season for wheat, like 
1880, 1892, or, more recently, 1903 and 1904, will reduce the 
yield, but in an average year over 32 bushels of wheat and 
over 37 bushels of barley may still be reckoned upon. On the 
other hand, prices, more especially for wheat, have undergone 
very marked changes. The lowest price for wheat was in 
1894, the year of Mr. Prout, sen’s., death, when it was only 
22s. 10 d. per quarter. The high prices of 1880-1883 have not 
been again reached, but the price of wheat in 1904 was little 
below what it was eighteen years previously. With barley the 
fluctuations have not been so marked, and the 28s. per quarter 
that ruled in 1904 is only about 2s. a quarter less than was the 
case twenty years before. Taking the last eight years (1897- 
1904) the average prices have been per quarter, for wheat 
28s. 6<i., for barley 25s. 5<7., these not being greatly below the 
average prices for the whole series of twenty-five years. 
To put, however, what will be admittedly the worst side of 
the case, we will take the last five years, 1900-1904. These 
include the bad years 1903 and 1904, when less than 30 bushels 
per acre of wheat were grown, and the three years 1900, 1901, 
and 1903, when the price of wheat was below 27s. per quarter. 
In 1904, moreover, only 27 bushels of barley per acre were 
grown, and the prices went as low as 22s. Sd. per quarter in 
1903. We obtain the following conclusions : — 
( a ) Wheat — average of five years, 1900-1904 : — 
Average produce per acre (corn) . 32 bushels. 
Average price per quarter . . . 27 s. 8 d. 
32 bushels wheat at '27s. 8 d. per quarter 
Straw (proportionately reduced, see page 42), say . 
Deduct cost of cultivation per acre . 
Net profit per acre . 
( b ) Barley — average of five years, 1900-1904 
Average produce per acre (corn) . 35 bushels. 
Average price per quarter . . . 25-5. 6(7. 
35 bushels barley at 25s. 6(7. per quarter 
Straw (proportionately reduced, see page 43), say . 
Deduct cost of cultivation per acre 
. Net profit per acre 
£ 
s. 
d. 
5 
10 
8 
2 
5 
8 
7 
16 
4 
6 
8 
0 
£1 
8 
4 
£ 
s. 
d. 
5 
11 
7 
1 
0 
2 
6 
11 
9 
6 
8 
0 
£0 
3 
9 
