The Sun.
London, England, 1841-06-15 00:00:00

portion of those employed iii agriculture, as es imated
by.lll'Queen, the consumption of barley will stand thus :
by the agricultural class, 4,850,000 quarters, and by/the
other classes of the community, 3,150,000, showing an
exec 53 of consumption by the agricultural over all the
other classes of the community of 1,700,000 quarters.
The firmer, it is true, in most cases', disposes of his
barley to the maltster in the first instance, but although
he then receives the money for it, still he should keep in
mind the fact that agriculturists, and those directly de-
pendant upon agriculture alone, consume their propr-
tionate quota, and have to pay for it to the maltster,
brewer, or distiller. Nor should he ever lose sight of
the fact, that his class consumes 4,850,000 out of the whole
8,000,000 produced ; thus making, at 325. per quarter,
his own consumption 7,760,000/., and the quantity avail-
able for the market, 5,040,000/.

OATS.—The quantity of oats therefore consumed by
the agriculturists as seed corn, as a portion of their food,
in rearing young stock, keeping horsrs, working oxen,
pigs, poultry, and cattle, and in fattening them for the
market, will amount in money value at 245. the quarter
t • 37,991,121/. whilst the portion avail able for tl e market
will make only 10,008,8781.
The consumption of the different classes is
brought distinctly before the reader by the fol-
io-Ai:lg table :

Consumption. Produce.
15,000,000

Wheat
By Agriculturists, ex.... 9,093,750
By Trades, 5,906,250

Barley
By Agriettlturits, 3,e
By Trades, &c.
Omits

8,000,000
_4,850,000
...3,150,000

... 40,000,000

• -
By Agriculturists, &c 31,659,268
By Trades, &c 8,340,732
From these data it appears that out of the 63,000,000
quarters of wheat and Lirley and oats grown upon an
average in the United Kingdom, agriculturists and those
directly dependant upon agriculture alone, as Mr.
M`Queen would say, consume 45,603,018 quarters, whilst
those employed in trades and manufactures consume only
17,196,982 quarters.
The tixit table we shall quote states the value
of the produce
In average years the money value of the grain that the
agriculturists can dispose of as a surplus with justice to
their class is as tbllows:—
Quarters.
Wheat, 5,906,250 value at 565. 16,537,500
Barley, 3,150,000 „ 325. 5,040,000
Oats, 8,340,000 „ 245. 10,008,878

Total £31,586,378
The money value of the portion consumed bY them-
selves ai:d their dependents amounts to
Wheat £25,462,500
Barley 7,762,500
Oats

Total £71,216,121

Mr. Roberts subsequently shows that when
the return is sevenfold, instead of the average
eight, the deficiency in value is 10,507,953/. ; at
six returns is 21,739,503/.; at five returns the
agriculturists will have to purchase oats for their
cattle to the extent of 1,132,0751.; and at fbur
returns there will be an insufficiency of all kinds
of grain for their own consumption, supposing
all other persons were left to starve. These cal-
culations, he 'concludes, show that the agri-
cultural portion of the community is in reality
the most serious sufferer whenever the supply of
grain becomes inadequate to the demand. With
an increased production the reverse is the case,
and with an improved husbandry, promoted by
the compeition of free trade, the returns might
be latterly taken at twt 1 ie , and the agriculturists
would benefit to the extent 0f23,631,671/.
" It cannot," says Mr. Roberts, "be too often repeated,
that under the present general system of agriculture, the
13 1-sth individuals located upon these 73 acres of land,
or upon this farm, will require the same quantity of
bread to satisfy the cravings of hunger, and to keep
them in working order ; and the same quantity will also
be requirerl for seed in one year as in another, without
any reference to the high or low price of grain. The
live stock, also, whether working. rearing, or fattening,
will require the same quantity of corn, be the price in
the market; 20s. or 40s. the quarter. In a stale of pros-
perity, therefore, the consumption of corn by the farmer
and by his dependents, as well as by the live stock upon
the 73 acres, ought, as to quantity, to be the same in one
year as in another."
The character and condition of farmers is in-
dicated in the two following paragraphs, which
confirm some remarks we have more than once
laid before our readers :

Under the system, if it can be so called, of agriculture,
now generally followed upon nine-tenths of the land in
the kingdom, agriculture can by no means be fairly
deemed a profitable occuoation. In the majority of in-
stances farmers can barely make both ends meet, and if
here and there one can be found who has saved money,
as it is called, it will turn out in ninety-nine cases out of
a hundred that the sum saved amounts to barely live per
cent. upon the value of his stock without any idlowance
whatever being made for the time, skill, and labour of
the farmer, and the different members of his family. In
fact, insteadC of the fanner having made money, it will
appear on a strict examination that he and la; family
have exi ended their time, skill, and labour for a series
of years without any other return than food awl raiment
of the coarsest kind, the money saved amounting to
barely four or five per cent. upon the value of the stock.
This amount they might easily have obtained free from
risk upon a mortgage security. They mit ht have had
from an employer as wages for their skill and labour be-
yond fioll and clothing, and independently of such in-
terest, a far larger amount.
A free trade in Corn is -.1:7 disperwable to the
prosperity of the British.,• absolutely
required to rouse lfini from tlie is r by which
he has long been distinguished. In co son with
other productive classes, the land-occupiers, with some
exceptions, indeed, but with exceptions like angel visits,
" few and far between," are absolutely stationary, mak-
ing no progress, and availing themselves but seldom and
with evLdent reluctance of the improvements which are
made, from yea: .to year, in every scientific pursuit.
ey rarely manifest a sufficient, degree either of skill or
of energy to meet the increasing demands of an increas-
ing pc pulation, and thus to augment their own wealth
' and a c ire their own prosperity. They resemble the
waggoner, and begin to. pray to some Parliamentary
Jupiter fir assistance, instead of manfully putting their
shoulders to the wheel, and by the vigorous exercise of
their ow n powers, rescuing themselves from their
dilemma.
Agricilturists look .to the Legislature for that pros-
perity, which their own resources and their own industry
can alone ensure ; and in hunting that phantom, they
become the dupes of necessitous or of crafty men, who,
under the disguise of aiding them in the attainment of
their object, swindle them out of their cash and their
civil rights. making them in the one case beggars, and
in the other slaves. _ _ _ _ _

In this little work there is a good deal of sound
sense, worthy the consideration of the working
agriculturists.
We will add to these remarks a short extract
from a letter published in the Chebnsford Chro-
nicle, which displays some of the errors com-
mitted by landlords.
Lord Western had written—

Suppose a farm of two hundred acres of arable land,
at 255. an acre, farmed on the four-course husbandry,
which will give fifty acres of wheat, fifty of barley,
twenty-five of beaus and peas, and twenty-hve of clover.
Acres. Qrs. Qrs.
50 of Wheat
50 of Barley 5
25 of Beans
25 of Clover
50 of Fallow

200 500
Suppose the reduction in the market price to
amount to ten shillings a quarter on an average, one
sort of grain with • another, and the thfi.:it in th: farm-
er's r,ce pt, for the year will be exactly the whole amount
of his rent.

To this an occupier, aware of the facts and
writing in the same sense as Mr. Roberts, re-
plies:—
Upon his illustration of 200 acres, I find the tenant
requires the following quantity of seed corn, &c.:--
Bush. Qrs. Bush.
For the 50 acres of Wheat, 21 per acre... 15 5
50 Barley, 4 ditt0....... 25 0
25 Beans, 3 ditto - 9 3
*Six plough horses and one market horse
will consume 2 bushels of corn ea,ch
per week during the year, namely. 91 0
Ten quarters of barley sent to maltsters
during the year, consumed on the farm 10 0

Making a total of..

151 0

X s. d.

This must be a set-off at 103. per quarter reduc-
tion in price, making a saying of 75 10 0
This item his Lordship has omitted.
Now let us go through with a few of the ex-
penses on the 200 acres ; suppose the rent-
charge to be at 6s. per acre, and to vary with
the price of corn—deduct one-fourth—we
have a reduction of Is. 6d. per acre, amount-
ing to l3 0 0
Take the present capital at £2,0001
With the proposed reduc-
tion of stock and crops,
&e. 5001. less will be } 5 per cent. ' 25 0 0
sufficient 1,500
500
At present assesse at 22011
Four 9d. rates, 3s £33 0 0
At reduced rent, say 16 10 0 less \\

Saving £l6 10 0

16 10 0

Total
Here we have a saving entirely unaccounted for in
his Lordship's calculation of 132/.. which is the actual
rent that his Lordship contended was entirely lost. We'
here see the point on which the whol9 question turns
between real and artificial rent, leaving 1181. as as "ade-
quate reduction to be made by the landlord."
In the above calculations I make no reduction of the
farmer's income, on the 200 acres of land, nor any re-
duction in the labourers' wages, so that each party will
have the full benefit arising out of the reduction in the
necessaries of life, in consequence of the reduction on
corn, viz. bread, meat, pork, butter, cheese, poultry, &c.
&c. which I estimate at 25 per cent ; but that his Lord-
ship should not be alarmed at the gain which the " new