(20.) Of the state of English agriculture in early ages some notion may
be formed from the fact of the prohibition for many years, and
subsequently the taxation, of the exportation of corn. It was not till
the reign of Charles II that the export of corn was exempted from a tax;
and it is from 1689 that may be dated that fundamental change in our
corn-laws which encouraged exportation by a bounty. Since that period
the fluctuations in the price of corn have been remarkable. The price of
wheat which in the beginning of the last century was 50_s._ the quarter,
became reduced in the ten years between 1740 and 1750 to 24_s._ the
quarter. The culture of corn thus received a check, and a large
proportion of arable land was transferred from tillage to grazing. The
effect of this conversion and of an increasing population raised the
price of corn in the ten years from 1750 to 1760 to an average of 42_s._
6_d._ per quarter, and soon changed the scale from export to import,
which has continued ever since. From 1764 to 1790 the average price of
wheat varied from 42_s._ to 50_s._; our annual imports from 200,000 to
500,000 quarters of corn. But since 1792 our annual imports, under
differently regulated systems of law, have been from half a million to
above two million quarters of corn of all kinds; and the average prices
of wheat have varied from 2_l._ to 6_l._ per quarter. In 1792 the price
of wheat was 2_l._ 2_s._ 11_d._; in 1800, 5_l._ 13_s._ 7_d._; in 1812,
6_l._ 5_s._ 5_d._; in 1822, 2_l._ 4_s._ 1_d._; and in 1831, 3_l._ 10_s._
3_d_. The annual consumption of wheat in the United Kingdom has been
estimated at 12,000,000 quarters; and that of other grain at 36,000,000
quarters, making together 48,000,000, of which not one-twentieth part
has during any year been imported, and, in general, a far less
proportionate quantity. The daily consumption of wheat in the United
Kingdom may be taken at 36,000, and of all other grain at 108,000
quarters, making together 144,000 quarters a day.
(21.) During the last century, upwards of five millions of acres in
England and Wales have been enclosed under Acts of Parliament, the
average extent of each enclosure being 1200 acres, and the outlay about
10_l._ per acre. From 1719 to 1759, the average number of enclosure Acts
passed was 8 a year; 1780 to 1794, it was 30; 1797 to 1803, it was 83;
in 1811 it was 134, (the highest number known); in 1814, 119; in 1816,
49; in 1827, 21; in 1829, 24; and in 1831, only 10. The great extent to
which the enclosure system thus appears to have already been carried,
now necessarily diminishes the progress of enclosures every year.
(22.) Among the various causes of the superiority of English husbandry
over that of the Continent, is that of the medium size of our farms,
which differ both from such large unmanageable tracts as those held by
Polish noblemen, and from such diminutive occupancies as those which
have prevailed in France since the first Revolution, in consequence of
the abolition of the law of primogeniture. The size of English farms is
the greatest in the best cultivated districts; such as Kent, Essex,
Suffolk, Norfolk, and Northumberland. In these counties the engagements
of the farmers are very large, and frequently amount to 1000_l._ a year
and upwards. In more retired districts, as in Cumberland, Westmorland,
and Wales, the occupancies are, in general, small, and an average of all
the farms in England and Wales would, perhaps, not exceed 150_l._ a
year. Leases are, for the most part, granted for seven years only, and
farms are occasionally let from year to year upon written agreements,
with specified covenants subjecting the tenants to fines in the event of
deviation from them. The tenants of great landholders, particularly of
the old nobility, often hold at will, without leases, upon the
understanding of conformity to the rules laid down by the lord for the
observance of all his tenants; and such tenants are found to occupy from
father to son for many generations. Upon the whole, the tenure of
leasehold property in England is considered to be too short to admit of
the improvements that tenants might otherwise be expected to make in our
system of agriculture.
(23.) The expense of cultivation of land in England has much increased
of late years, as appears by the returns to the Board of Agriculture,
which state that the average expenses of cultivating one hundred acres
of land was in 1790, 411_l._; in 1803, 547_l._; and in 1813, 771_l._
Since the latter year there have been reductions in labour and taxes,
and also, to a considerable extent, in rent. Surveyors calculate that
highly cultivated land ought to produce a threefold return, viz.:
one-third of the gross produce to the landlord for rent, another for the
expenses, and the remainder for the farmer’s profit; the rent of
inferior land being only a fourth, or even a fifth of the gross produce,
by reason of the additional expense of cultivation.
(24.) A century ago, our cattle, from the inferiority of their feed,
were not one-half, sometimes even not one-third, of their present
weight. It is computed that England and Wales now contain, at least,
five million oxen, and a million and a half of horses, of which about a
million are used in husbandry, 200,000 for pleasure, and 300,000 are
colts and breeding mares. The number of sheep is about twenty millions,
and eight million lambs. The number of long-wooled sheep is about five
millions, their fleeces averaging 7 or 8 lbs.; and of short-wooled sheep
fifteen millions, the weight of fleece averaging from 3 to 3½ lbs. The
whole quantity of wool annually shorn in England is from eighty to
eighty-five million of pounds. The Merino were introduced about the
beginning of the present century, and were imported in large numbers
after our alliance with Spain in 1809. The great pasturage counties are
Leicester, Northampton, Lincoln, and Somerset; and for butter and
cheese, Cheshire, Gloucestershire, and Wiltshire. The import of butter
and cheese from foreign countries is checked by duties, but these are
important articles of Irish commerce with England.
(25) The annual amount of profit from farming is not very susceptible of
exact calculation, but was estimated some fifteen years since at thirty
millions sterling, being a sum equivalent to the rental of England and
Wales. The probable amount of the farming capital of the country was
estimated at from two hundred and fifty to three hundred millions
sterling. In regard to the value of the total annual produce of the
land, this is necessarily subject to the fluctuations of seasons, but
taking wheat at the medium of 80_s._ and other corn in proportion, we
shall find an average produce of more than sixty millions sterling in
corn, to which adding a similar value in pasturage, and a further
allowance for hops, fruit, and vegetables, we have a total of from 130
to 140 millions. In Scotland the rent bears a higher proportion to the
gross produce, being, in general, not less than one-third. Our chief
superiority over the Continent consists in machinery and live stock.
Much valuable information on the state of agriculture on the Continent
is to be found in the Reports to the Government of Mr. Jacob, who
travelled a few years since with a view of ascertaining the effect that
would be produced by the modification of our corn-laws. From these
Reports it seems that the difficulties of transport in the corn
countries, and other impediments to production, are such as to render
the probable extent of importation under a more free system much less
than is commonly imagined. There are many improvements of which English
agriculture is susceptible, such as in the size of farms in many
counties, the length of leases, the course of husbandry, the
construction of ploughs, and the misapplication of animal strength in
labour. With attention to these points and the application of further
capital, not to wastes, but to fertile land already under culture, there
is every hope that our agriculture may be yet considerably advanced in
productiveness and in national value.
[To be continued.]
---------------------
An officer in the forty-fourth regiment, who had occasion, when in
Paris, to pass one of the bridges across the Seine, had his boots, which
had been previously well-polished, dirted by a poodle-dog rubbing
against them. He, in consequence, went to a man who was stationed on the
bridge, and had them cleaned. The same circumstance having occurred more
than once, his curiosity was excited, and he watched the dog. He saw him
roll himself in the mud of the river, and then watch for a person with
well-polished boots, against which he contrived to rub himself. Finding
that the shoe-black was the owner of the dog, he taxed him with the
artifice; and after a little hesitation, he confessed that he had taught
the dog the trick in order to procure customers for himself. The officer
being much struck with the dog’s sagacity, purchased him at a high
price, and brought him to England. He kept him tied up in London some
time, and then released him. The dog remained with him a day or two, and
then made his escape. A fortnight afterwards he was found with his
former master, pursuing his old trade on the bridge.--_Jesse’s Gleanings
of Natural History_
---------------------