The comparative returns of the importations of grain into the United Kingdom for the last four years, are as follows, in quarters:—
| 1852. | 1851. | 1850. | 1849. | |
| Wheat | 3,068,892 | 3,812,009 | 3,738,995 | 3,845,378 |
| Barley | 656,737 | 829,564 | 1,035,903 | 1,381,008 |
| Oats | 995,480 | 1,198,529 | 1,154,473 | 1,267,106 |
| Rye | 10,023 | 24,609 | 98,836 | 240,566 |
| Beans | 371,250 | 318,502 | 443,306 | 457,933 |
| Peas | 107,017 | 99,399 | 181,419 | 234,366 |
| Maize | 1,479,891 | 1,807,636 | 1,277,071 | 2,224,459 |
| Other sorts | 8,085 | 3,432 | 868 | 1,150 |
| Quarters | 6,667,375 | 8,124,280 | 7,930,871 | 9,651,966 |
The meal and flour imported in the same years, in cwts., were as follows:—
| 1852. | 1851. | 1850. | 1849. | |
| Wheat | 3,889,583 | 5,314,414 | 3,819,440 | 3,349,839 |
| Barley | 212 | 34 | 108 | 224 |
| Oats | 521 | 2,525 | 5,999 | 40,230 |
| Rye | 92 | 6,493 | 964 | 18,468 |
| Indian corn | 742 | 9,561 | 11,334 | 101,683 |
| Other sorts | 54 | 343 | 163 | 1,396 |
| Cwts. | 3,891,195 | 5,323,370 | 3,838,008 | 3,511,840 |
Before the famine in Ireland the imports seldom reached 20 millions of bushels of grain and meal of all kinds. In 1848 our imports were about 60 millions; in 1849, 85 millions; in 1850, 68 millions; in 1851, 75½ millions; in 1852, 69 millions, with good wheat harvests; showing the great shock received and the slowness of recovery.
With a rapidly increasing population in all parts of the civilized world, the production of bread is obviously the first object to be sought after, alike by the statesman and the peasant. I scarcely dare give the calculation of the immense amount which would be realised in any great country, by the single saving of a bushel to an acre, in the quantity of seed ordinarily sown. The same result would follow if an additional bushel could be produced in the annual average yield of the wheat crop.
According to Mr. H. Colman, the annual amount of seed for wheat sown in France is estimated at 32,491,978 bushels. If we could suppose a third of this saved, the saving would amount to 10,863,959 bushels per year. Suppose an annual increase of the crops of five bushels per acre, this would give an increase of production of 54,319,795 bushels. Add this, under improved cultivation, to the amount of seed saved, and the result would be 65,183,754 bushels—I believe under an improved agriculture this is quite practicable.
An eminent agricultural writer placed the average yield in England at eighteen bushels per acre; some years since a man of sanguine temperament rated it at over thirty bushels. In France it is stated, in the best districts, to average twenty-two bushels. These evidently are wholly conjectural estimates. In England Mr. Colman states that fifty bushels per acre were reported to him on the best authority, as the yield upon a large farm in a very favorable season. More than eighty bushels have been returned, upon what is deemed ample testimony, to the Royal Agricultural Society of England, as the product of a single acre. In France Mr. Colman had, upon credible authority, reports of forty, forty-four and seventy-two bushels. It would be of immense importance to any government to know the exact produce grown in any county, or district, or in the whole country; and this might be obtained by compelling, on the part of the owner or cultivator, an actual return of his crop; but it is of little use to found such returns on estimates purely conjectural.
From the best statistical accounts that can be obtained, the wheat annually produced in the United Kingdom.
| England, Scotland, Ireland is | 111,681,320 bushels. |
| In France it is | 198,660,000 bushels. |
| United States | 100,503,899 bushels. |