Page:The agricultural labourer (Denton).djvu/53

 On the of the. By, Esq.

CONTENTS.

been invited by the Council to continue the subject of the agricultural statistics of the United Kingdom, on which I read a paper in March last year, I propose first to consider the result of the estimates then offered of the previous crop, the probable yield of the last crop (1868), and the great public advantage which followed the early announcement contained in the summary of the returns.

Estimates and Result of Crop, 1867.

It will be remembered that I then offered an estimate of the result of the bad wheat crop of 1857, in which, after making deductions for the diminished consumption likely to be caused by high prices, I computed the foreign supply required within the harvest year at 9,600,000 qrs. The actual receipts have been 9,609,006 qrs., between August, 1867, and August, 1868, the date at which the new crop was ready.

But the harvest was a very early one, and the condition of the corn so good that it was available for immediate use. The harvest year, as generally and properly understood, and within which it is very desirable that the statistical tables should be framed, is from