. qrs.

1839-40 4,022,000 1,762,482
1840-1 3,870,648 1,925,241
1841-2 3,626,173 2,985,422
1842-3 5,078,989 2,405,217
1843-4 5,213,454 1,606,912
1844-5 6,664,368 476,190
1845-6 5,699,969 2,732,134

(Tooke, _History of Prices_, iv. 414.)

1844-5 was a very abundant crop, and the threatened repeal of the Corn
Laws induced farmers to send all the corn possible to market.

[632] Tooke, _History of Prices_, iv. 32.

[633] Cobden's Speech, March 12, 1844.

[634] Tooke, _History of Prices_, iv. 142.

[635] From evidence collected by Mr. Austin in the southern counties.

[636] _Progress of Nation_, pp. 137 sq. For the amount imported before
that date, see Appendix 2.

[637] Walpole, _History of England_, iv. 63 sq. Cobden apparently
never contemplated such low prices for corn as have prevailed since
1883. In his speech of March 12, 1844, he mentioned 50s. a quarter as
a probable price under free trade, and he died before the full effect
of foreign competition was felt by the English farmer.

[638] McCulloch, _Commercial Dictionary_, 1847, p. 274. See below, pp.
325 sq.

[639] Caird, _English Agriculture in 1850-1_, p. 498.

[640] Ibid. p. 490.

[641] _Victoria County History: Warwickshire_, ii. 277.

[642] Caird, _op. cit._, p. 481.

[643] Caird, _op. cit._ p. 507.

[644] Hasbach, _op. cit._ pp. 220, 226.

[645] Cobden's Speech, March 12, 1844.

[646] Mr. Pusey, one of the best informed agriculturists of the day,
estimated the produce of wheat per acre in 1840 at 26
bushels.--_R.A.S.E. Journal_, 1890, p. 20.

[647] Caird, _English Farming in 1850-1_, p. 474.

[648] _Progress of the Nation_.

[649] Thorold Rogers, _History of Agriculture and Prices_, v. 29.

[650] _Progress of the Nation_, pp. 137-9.

[651] Yet as the growth of population overtakes the corn and meat
supply, these prophets may in the end prove correct.

[652] The Great Exhibition of 1851 was said to have widely diffused
the use of improved implements.--_R.A.S.E. Journal_, 1856, p. 54.

[653] _R.A.S.E. Journal_, 1890, p. 34.

[654] _R.A.S.E. Journal_, 1856, p. 60.

[655] Ibid. 1901, p. 30. See below, p. 343.

[656] _Board of Agriculture Returns_, 1878, and _R.A.S.E. Journal_,
1868, p. 239. Young estimated the number of cattle in England in 1770
at 2,852,048, including 684,491 draught