in a barren condition, and resort to other parts. A
competition under such circumstances resembles that of two men of equal
income, one of who appears wealthy by spending a portion of his capital,
the other parsimonious by living within his means. Of course, the latter
has to debar himself of many enjoyments. The British farmer has lessened
the produce of grain, and consequently of meat; and the nation has
become dependent upon foreigners for meat, cheese, and butter, as well
as for bread.

This is hardly the place to discuss a question of agriculture, but
scientific farmers know that there is a rotation of crops, [Footnote:
The agricultural returns of the United Kingdom show that 50 and 1/2 per
cent of the arable land was under pasture, 24 per cent under grain,
12 per cent under green crops and bare fallow, and 13 per cent under
clover. The rotation would, therefore, be somewhat in this fashion:
Nearly one fourth of the land in tillage is under a manured crop or
fallow, one fourth under wheat, one fourth under clover, and one fourth
under barley, oats, etc., the succession being, first year, the manured
crop; next year, wheat; third year, clover; fourth, barley or oats; and
so on.] and that as one is diminished the others lessen. The quantity
under tillage is a multiple of the area under grain. A diminution in
corn is followed by a decrease of the extent under turnips and under
clover; the former directly affects man, the latter the meat-affording
animals. A decrease in the breadth under tillage means an addition to
the pasture land, which in this climate only produces meat during the
warm portions of the year. I must, however, not dwell upon this topic,
but whatever leads to a diminution in the labor applied to the land
lessens the production of food, and DEAR MEAT may only be the supplement
to CHEAP CORN.

I shall probably be met with the hackneyed cry, The question is entirely
one of price. Each farmer and each landlord will ask himself, Does it
pay to grow grain? and in reply to any such inquiry, I would refer to
the annual returns. I find that in the five years, 1842 to 1846, wheat
ranged from 50s. 2d. to 57s. 9d.; the average for the entire period
being 54s. 10d. per quarter. In the five years from 1870 to 1874 it
ranged from 46s. 10d. to 58s. 8d., the average for the five years being
54s. 7d. per quarter. The reduction in price has only been 3d. per
quarter, or less than one half per cent.

I venture to thin