which at 21 quarters per acre, will give 8,000,000 quar ters as the total produce of England and Wales That this is nearly the truth, will appear from this considera tion : the quantity of wheat used annually by each in dividual may be estimated at six bushels ; taking the population at the gross number of 10.500,000, this will give 63,000,000 bushels, or nearly 8,000,000 quarters. It may perhaps be objected, that the population of Eng land and Wales is fed partly by imported wheat ; but in answer to this we observe, that in estimating the pro duce we have not taken credit for seed•wheat, which, at one-ninth of the produce, is much more than we have imported on the average of some years. The value of this produce it is not so easy to ascertain, the price of wheat having varied so much of late years; but if we take it at 41. the quarter, the total value of the wheat crop will be 32,000,0001. Of the remaining 5,830,000 acres, (exclusive of fallow,) we may suppose that the average produce is about half the value per acre of the average produce of wheat, that is 51. per acre, which will give 29,150,0001. The produce of the pasture laud is probably worth 41. an acre on an average, which will give 69,916,000. The produce, therefore, of wheat, barley, oats, &c. and of pasture ground, will stand thus: Were the counties of England and Wales all of the same size, and did the proportions of wheat, barley, Ste. cultivated in each county nearly correspond, we should be at little loss from this Table, to ascertain the average produce of the whole kingdom in wheat, barley, &c. Even as it is, we may from it infer, with tolerable accu racy, that the average produce of wheat cannot be rated higher than two quarters and a half per acre ; of barley, four quarters ; of oats, four quarters and a half ; of rye, three quarters ; of pease, two quarters and a half ; of beans, three quarters and a half; and of potatoes 250 bushels. We shall not go into the details of all the cal culations which may be formed from these average pro duces ; hut confine ourselves to the most important. The number of acres in wheat we estimated at 3,200,000, Exclusive of the value of the produce of hops, nursery, garden grounds, orchards, &c. Mr Arthur Young, in his Agricultural Report of Essex, estimates the rental of England at 30,000,0001., and the value of the pro duce, (taking all kinds of it into the account,) at 115.800,0001. Mr Middleton, in his Survey of Middle sex, enters into very minute and laborious on this important and difficult subject ; and the resin of his enquiries is, that the whole agricultural produr of the agricultural capital of England and Wales 126,690,0001. ; and this result he comes to, notwit1 standing he rates the total number of acres in the king dom much higher than we do, by estimating the average crop of all kinds of produce of arable land at only 51. per acre, which certainly at present is much below the truth.
4. On this subject, however, we shall probably be enabled to come nearer the truth, if we can determine the rental of the lands in England and 1Vales ; since it is well known, that the produce bears a certain propor tion to the rental. Formerly, land-surveyors in valuing land, or giving their opinion respecting the rent which it ought to afford, considered that the average produce should be equal to three rents ; but at present, in the opinion and practice of the most intelligent and ex perienced, it is calculated that the rent ought to be only one-fifth of the produce. The actual rent of England and Wales it is impossible to ascertain exactly ; but the rack-rent, or the rent at which the lands are valued in the opinion of judicious and experienced men, was re turned to the House of Commons in the year 1810, by the commissioners of taxes: This return we lay before our readers in the following Table.
In calculating the value or agricultural produce by means of it, it seems fair, as it exhibits the rack-rent (though where the lands are let at their full value, the rack-rent and real rent must correspond, and in some cases, the real rent would be above the fair rent, or that rent which would be quintupled in the produce,) to consider it as 41, instead of 5 times the value of the rent, If we go on this supposition, then the value of the agricultural produce will be exhibited thus, 29,503,0731 x 4.5=132,763.8281. ; which differs very inconsiderably from the result on this point, which we obtained by the former mode of calculation. It may, perhaps, be thought, that as we before averaged the rent of land at 203. per acre, we over-rated it, since, at this estimate, the total rent would be greater than this 'Fable proves it to be ; but in our estimate, we took into account only such pasture land as is let by the acre ; and of course excluded all the downs, sheep walks, &c.
5. About twenty-four years ago, Mr Young estimated the capital employed in agriculture at 41. the acre ; since that time it has increased very much, probably it is more than doubled ; so that if we take every thing into account, it will now require 101. per acre, or at least 81. The number of cultivated acres has been esti mated at 31,000,000, which, at 81. would require a capital of 248,000,000/. ; and, at the latter rate, of 310,000,0001.: Let us take the medium, and the agri cultural capital will amount to 279,000,000/. On this point Dr Becke's statement is very much at variance with ours; for he estimated the farming capital in 1800 at 125,000,0001., taking it on an average at 5 clear rents, viz. pasture 2 to 3, and arable 5 to 7 rents ; but as he estimates the average rent of England and Wales only at 163. the acre, this would be making the capital only 41. the acre ; a sum, even at that period, much too small. Besides, he estimates the net profits of the farmers at 15,000,0001., which we shall immediately prove is little more than the amount of half their profits ; and con sequently, as the profits must always bear a certain pro portion to the capital employed, if the statement respect ing the profits is only about half of the truth, the state ment respecting the capital must be erroneous in much the same ratio.
6. The same Table (No. 2. p. 564 ) which exhibits the amount of the annual value of the land in England and Wales at rack-rent, gives also an account of the annual amount of profits arising from farming land, drawn up from the returns made to the tax-office re specting the income tax, and presented to the House of Commons. From this column of the 'Fable it appears, that the farming profits are 29,476,8521., or nearly the amount of the rent. Now, in order to arrive at the amount of the capital employed in agriculture, from the amount of agricultural profits, it will be necessary, in the first place, to fix the rate per cent. of the profit. This certainly cannot be reckoned at a lower rate than 10 per cent. which would make the agricultural capital amount to 294,768,520/., which, considering the magni tude of the sum, and the imperfection of the data on which we are obliged to proceed, does not differ very considerably from 279,000,0001., the amount of agricul tural capital at which we arrived by calculating it at 91. per acre.