THE CULTIVATOR. 
Oct. 
whole ; they may have awakened a spirit of inquiry, 
hut they cannot he depended upon—they are liable to 
mislead. Each country needs an agricultural litera¬ 
ture of its own, growing out of its own soil, and shaped 
to its own wants. 
You will recollect that in giving your readers some 
account of British agriculture, I was to discriminate 
between such usages as may be advantageously copied, 
and such as may not This has not yet been done. It 
is no easy task; and if I take more time to study the 
subject than was contemplated, I am confident that 
your well known caution, your wish not to mislead, and 
your utter contempt for the practice of teaching before 
learning, will lead you to judge leniently of any delay 
on my part, either past or future. 
In the prosecution of this subject, it will be natural 
to inquire in the first place, what arc the annual results 
of British agriculture, and then ascertain how these re¬ 
sults are obtained , discriminating as far as possible 
between such practices as are applicable to American 
agriculture, and such as are not. Of the first of these 
questions, I propose to dispose very briefly, in the re¬ 
maining part of this letter ; but to dwell more at large 
on the second in future letters. 
Strange to say, while the British government has 
gathered up and embodied the statistics of every other 
great interest, with wonderful accuracy, it has almost 
wholly neglected those of agriculture. Societies and 
individuals have done something to supply the defi¬ 
ciency, but not all that could be desired. According to 
the best authorities I can find, I have reason to believe 
that the following statements, so far as they go, are not 
very far from the truth. 
The population of Great Britain and Ireland, at the 
present time, may safely be set down at 30,000,000. 
Several valuable writers, and, among others, McCul¬ 
loch, have estimated the agricultural population at 
2,500,000. It has been common, also, to estimate the 
male field laborers at 750,000. Respectable as are the 
authorities, I cannot but think them too low, the former 
by half a million, and the latter by a quarter of a mil¬ 
lion. If so, then the following statements are near the 
truth : 
Whole population,. 30,000,000 
Agricultural population,. 3,000,000 
Male field laborers,. 1,000,000 
The British Empire (in Europe) embraces not far 
from 75,000,000 acres. It is equal in extent to sixteen 
such states as Massachusetts. This would give for each 
person two and a half acres; whereas, in the state of 
Massachusetts, there are five acres for each person, 
which shows that the population of Massachusetts has 
attained just about half the density of that of the Bri¬ 
tish empire. The lands of the united kingdom may, 
without essential deviation from truth, be distributed 
thus : 
Cultivated land, including meadows and Acres. 
arable pastures,. 50,000,000 
Pasture land, valuable as such, but unfit for 
d the plow,. 10,000,000 
h Eens, bogs, heaths and moors, nearly un- 
V S . productive, but reelaimable,. 10,000,000 
Broken land, slightly productive, and near¬ 
ly hopeless,. 5,000,000 
I do not suppose that the foregoing numbers are ac¬ 
curate. They are given as round numbers, expressive 
of what I suppose may be regarded as an approxima¬ 
tion to the real state of the case. Proceeding in the 
same manner, the land actually under the plow may 
be set down at 25,000,000 acres, and may be distributed 
thus: 
Acres. 
Wheat,. 5,000,000 
Barley,. 2,275,000 
Oats and rye,. 6,250,000 
Beans and peas,. 750,000 
Potatoes, turneps, and rape,. 5,000,000 
Clover,. 2,000,000 
Eallow, . 2,000,000 
Hops, ..* • • ..50,000 
Flax,. 100,000 
Gardens.. 250,000 
Various other crops,. 1,325,000 
McCulloch, in his Dictionary, Geographical, Statisti. 
cal and Historical, the materials for which were col¬ 
lected, of course, before 1849, as the work bears date 
of that year, gives the following, as what he believes 
to be the annual value of the woodlands and pasturage 
of the united kingdom. I copy his estimate for Eng¬ 
land and Wales, and annex his sum totals for Scotland 
and Ireland: 
Cattle, 1,100,000,. £13,200,000 
Calves, 200,000,. 600,000 
Sheep and lambs, 6,800,000,....... 10,200,000 
Wool, (exclusive of slaught’d sheep) 4,056,000 
Hogs and pigs, 555,000,. 1,000,000 
Horses, 200,000 grown annually, •• • 3,000,000 
Poultry, eggs, rabbits, deer, &c.,••• 1,344,000 
Mead’ow and grass,. 13,000,000 
Dairy produce,. 12,000,000 
Wood, uncultivated land and wastes, 3,350,000 
Total for England and Wales, •• * £61,750,000 
Same for Scotland,. 8,500,000 
Same for Ireland,. 21,500,000 
Total for the empire,.. • £91,750,000 
The following figures also are from McCulloch • 
“ Aggregate annual value of the agricultural produce of 
the united kingdom 
For England and Wales. 
Crops and gardens,.. £79,992,857 
Pastures, woods, and wastes,.. 59,750,000 
Total,. £139,742,857 
For Scotland. 
Crops and gardens,.. £18,744,287 
Pastures, woods, and wastes,. 8,500,000 
Total,. £27,244,287 
For Ireland. 
Crops and gardens,. £27,126,667 
Pastures, woods, and wastes,. 21,500,000 
Total,-.... £48,626,667 
Recapitulation. 
Total for England and Wales,. £139,742,857 
for Scotland,.. • * • • 27,244,287 
for Ireland,.. • 48,626,667 
Total for the empire,.£215,613,811 
If ten per cent, be added to this amount, for increase 
since 1848, and the sum be reduced to federal money, 
we shall have, as the annual results of British agricul- 
