1st September to 1st September. Between these dates last year the total imports of wheat and floor were 9,293,000 qrs.
On either basis it will appear that my estimate was not very wide of the mark, though it was severely handled at the time, and figures were put forth to show that considerably less than two million quarters was all we could possibly receive between that time and harvest. The price, which had begun to droop, was thus again strengthened, and maintained during April, May, and part of June, when the final fall began, and steadily continued till beginning of September, by which time the drop from the highest point had reached 20s. a quarter. But in the meantime the pressure on the poor, as was partly shown by the statistics of outdoor relief was unnecessarily prolonged, while it was found that the foreign supply, which had been represented to have been exhausted by the enormous imports of the first six months of the harvest year, continued with very little diminution to its close. Instead of the 1,000,000 or 2,000,000 qrs., which was the utmost we were led to expect from all sources, we actually received 4,500,000 qrs. in the second half of the harvest year.
The economy in the use of bread caused by the high price of last year has proved very close to the estimate I ventured to put forth. It will, perhaps, be remembered that I assumed every 10 per cent. of additional price on the crop would diminish the consumption by 1 per cent.; and as bread had risen 50 per cent., I reckoned the saving at 5 per cent., or a little over 1,000,000 qrs. on the total consumption. The actual saving is shown by the following figures:—
| Qrs. | Qrs. | ||
| Average annual consumption since 1862, inclusive of seed |
— | 20,800,000 | |
| Seed, 214 bushels per acre | 1,100,000 | ||
| Foreign wheat imported | 9,300,000 | ||
| Home crop, 9,700,000 qrs. of 59 lb. quality, equal to 61 lb. quality |
9,380,000 | ||
| 19,780,000 | |||
| Saving by economy in the use of bread | 1,020,000 | ||
This bears out the opinion of eminent statisticians, that the consumption of bread is very constant: that whatever the price may be, everything must be given up before bread—for the very severe pinch of an increase of price of fully one-half diminished the use of it by only one-twentieth.
Wheat Crop, 1868.
The bountiful harvest of 1868, and the splendid condition in which it was saved rendering it fit for immediate consumption, was
