from grain harvested before the rains has been, for the most part, abundant; yet that great quantities of corn were damaged by the rains, and, in confequence thereof, furnished a deficient return of flour; and that, on the other hand, the yield of grain from ftraw has been generally deficient. They have the fatisfaction, however, of being able to inform your lordships, that the crops of barley may, upon the whole, be confidered as approaching nearer to an average crop, and the crop of oats as equal, on the whole, to an average; but it is neceffary to flate, that in many parts of the kingdom thefe crops have alfo been Ach damaged by the rains; although in others they have been well harvested, and the flour from the barley of the prefent year fo harvested is ftated to be of the finest quality ever remembered.

The committee have likewife the fatisfaction to add, that the crops of peafe are, in general, good; and that thofe of potatoes, although inferior in produce by the acre to the crops of former years, and although the quality of that root is lefs nutritious, from its having fprouted in confequence of the rains fucceeding the hot weather; yet, from the additional number of acres planted, the lords' committees think themfelves juftified in ftating the whole quantity produced not to be much lefs than the ufual average; but they think it neceflary to fubjoin, that it has been found, from the above caufe, that the potatoes of this year are more liable than ufual to spoil in the keeping.

The committee think it proper to make fome obfervations relating to Scotland in particular; and are happy to obferve, the grain which is prin

cipally deficient in England, is not that which is moft neceffary for the fupport of the labouring claffes in Scotland.

The refult of the information received reprefents the western fide (for every part of Scotland, from its narrownels, fpeaking generally, may be confidered as belonging to the eastern or western divifion of the island) as having had nearly an average crop of all forts of grain; but the eaftern fide, from England to Edinburgh, has not produced more than two-thirds of the ordinary quantity of wheat, or more than three fourths of oats and barley. From Edinburgh to Caithness inclufive, notwithitanding the productivenefs of that country this feafon, the committee cannot estimate the crops of wheat, oats, and barley, at more than 'two-thirds of an ufual produce, though the laft-mentioned grain must be understood as rather more productive than oats, north from Dundee.

The committee, in fumming up what they think it neceffary to state concerning Scotland, are forry to obferve, taking the whole of the country, that the crops of hay and ftraw muft be confidered as confiderably defective.

The lords' committees have been informed, with fearcely an excep. tion, that the flock of old corn was very nearly exhausted at the per iod of the late harvest; and, inftead of the ufual ftock in the poffeffion of the farmers, millers, and bake rs, at that time, which is almoft univerfally ftated to be from two to three months confumption, and even fometimes more, they have been invariably informed, that the ftock of this year was not in any place more than the confumption

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of about three weeks, and that many parts of the kingdom were at that period wholly fupplied with foreign grain.

Part Second.-Means of economizing

Confumption.

In their firft report, the lords' committees advifed your lordships to concur in an addrefs to his majefty, as propofed by the houfe of commons, humbly requefting that his majefty would be graciously pleafed to illue a proclamation, frictly enjoining and requiring the utmoft economy in the confumption of all articles of grain. The lords' committees can entertain no doubt of the difpofition of their fellow-fubjects to concur in carrying into the fulleft effect the folemn call which his majefty has, in confequence thereof, been pleafed to make on all claffes of the community. But they take the liberty to repeat to your lordships their decided opinion, that this can only be done by the adoption of detailed meatures for the purpofe, grounded on a deliberate conviction of that neceffity, the existence, of which has, on the fulleft investigation,; been clearly, proved to the committees of both houles of parliament.

With a view to bring more particularly before your lordthips the confideration of the different refources to which recourle may be had on this occation, to economize the confumption of wheat, the lords' committees have entered very extenfively into this branch of the fubicct referred to them.

The moit natural and obvious fubftitutes for wheat are the other grains of the growth of this kingdom, barley, oats, and rye.

With respect to thele, the lords'

committees have been informed that a much larger proportion than is perhaps generally understood, of the northern parts of England, has always continued in the habit of confuming oaten bread, and that in the midland and weftern counties, barley enters largely into the food of the labouring claffes; and they truft that these facts, ftrongly urged and impreffed upon the public mind, will tend to remove an ill-founded prejudice which your committee are informed ftill exifts in this metropolis, and in its neighbourhood, against the ufe of any other bread than that made from the finest wheaten flour.

The lords' committees have found, that in moft parts of the kingdom, where the inhabitants had formerly been accustomed to the ufe of bread made with a mixture of barley, or with barley alone, and where, with in a few years, that diet had been partially changed for wheaten bread, recourfe had almoft univerfally been had to their former food; and that, in fome parts of this kingdom, where mixed bread had not before been brought into general ufe, this mode (which your committee conceive to be far the best) of economizing of wheat, has recently been adopted.

poorer claffes than bread made entirely of barley; that in ordinary years one-eighth part of the confumption of the county of Dorlet is in barley, and that this year it has been one-fourth; that on the hills, in Gloucestershire, it has been used with wheat, in the proportion of one-half, and in the vale part of the fame county, in that of onethird. That in fome parishes of Nottinghamshire, the fubfiflence of the poorer claffes has been confined to barley alone; that in many parts of Northamptonshire and Hunting donhire, and other of the midland counties, they ufe bread made entirely of barley; that the ufe of mixed bread has become general in parts of Bedfordshire and Buckinghamshire; that in Lincolnshire the poorer claffes who (within the memory of the perfon from whom this teftimony was received) had exchanged the ufe of barley bread for wheaten, returned last year to barley bread; that in Yorkshire and Lancashire the use of it has been much extended; and that in Scotland a confiderable quantity of barley meal was fubftituted for oats during the laft feafon, and has given fatisfaction.

The information thus received of the great increase of the ufe of this grain is the more fatisfactory to the committee, from the circumftance of the knowledge they had already acquired of the fuperior quality of the flour produced from it in the prefent year; and the increafed demand appears to them to afford a fufficient reafon for the high price of this article, notwithflanding the crop has been proportionably much more productive than that of wheat. That an article now of fuch geperai ufe is, in no degree, prejudi

cial to health, it is hardly neceffary to ftate. But leaft any doubt fhould' be entertained on this fubject by thofe who have not been in the habit of feeing its effects, the committee think it right to mention, that on information, refpecting places where it has been uled exclufively through the whole year, it appears in evidence, that the inhabitants have been at least as healthy as with the ufe of any other fo d; and the committee are informed, that one of the best proportions in which it can be mixed with wheat, where it is not ufed alone, is one half barley to a like quantity of wheat.

Qats.

With refpect to oats, the crop of which, in England, appears to have been equal to an average crop, the committee find, that the confumption of this article, which is ufed almoft univerfally in Scotland and fome of the bordering countries of England, has also been confiderably extended in Lancashire and in other parts of the kingdom; and as no race of men is more hardy than that of the inhabitants of those counties where this article is the general food, the committee think, that it must be confidered as a vяluable fubftitute for wheat in those parts of the kingdom where it is not yet brought into general ufe.

It may be ground in equal proportions with wheat or with barley; and either of thefe mixtures will, as the committee are informed, make a palatable and nutritious bread.

terally ufed, by fall two-thirds of the inhabitants.

Indian Corn.

Your committee have received very fatisfactory information of the great advantages which have accrued from the ufe of Indian corn, where it had been tried, both as food for man and for horfes, and they have alfo the fatisfaction to inform the houfe, that the importation of this grain, which has formerly been inconfiderable, may in future be much enlarged.

They have not learned that the ufe of this article has, as yet, become general in any part of the kingdom; but on trials that have been made of it in different parts of the kingdom, it has been found to anfwer perfectly well, and to afford a peculiarly cheap and nutritious food; and it is well known, that in America it conftitutes a confiderable part of the food of all claffes of the inhabitants, who are fo attached to it, that, when in this country, they frequently procure it by importation for their own confumption. It may be ground into meal by the ordinary procefs, or may be used when only broken, according to the modes flated in the appendix.

As food for horfes it is very nourifbing and healthy; it is in general ule for this purpofe alfo in America, and is confidered as more ftrengthening than oats, being given only in the proportion of one-half of that grain.

Its ordinary price in America is flated to your committee to be onethird less than wheat; and there appears reafon to believe, that even in the prefent year confiderable quantities may be imported.

To the confideration of these ar ticles of grain your committee thought it neceflary to add that of fith, of meat, and of foups, in fo far as thele appeared to afford the means of food for the more numerous claffes of their fellow fubjects.

Fish.

On the first of these points all they could have ftated to the house has been anticipated by the fecond report of the committee of the houfe of commons, which has been com municated to your lordships and referred to this committee. They highly approve the meafures already taken on this fubject, and if fufficient encouragement be given by parliament to the plan there detailed, and if the zeal of individuals, and of thofe with whom refts the management of the parishes, particularly in the metropolis, be directed to it, the committee are fanguine in their expectation of its being productive of the most extenfive advantages.

Meat.

With refpect to meat, it has been ftated to the committee, that the cheaper parts of beef and mutton may be applied with great advantage, in point of expenfe, to the food of labourers, particularly if mixed with rice.

But there is another refource which might be reforted to, and that to a confiderable extent.

Your committee have learnt that there is a large quantity of lalt beef" now in the London markets, and that more is daily expectel from Ireland, where the price is confiderably lower than laft year. This beef is now fold at fuch a price, as that it may be applied with very

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great