4 JUNE 1864, Page 2

Mr. Caird has proposed in the Tones, and will propose

in Par- liament, a plan for collecting agricultural statistics. The gist of it is to collect them not by individual farms, but by Ordnance plots selected for the purpose of giving a close average return. That gets over one difficulty, the reluctance of farmers to furnish returns which they think will be used in order to raise their rents ; but it will not, we fear, secure a perfectly trustworthy return. It is strange that the farmers cannot see how terribly the present ignorance of the dealers presses on them, reducing the trade, as it does, to a system of clever gambling. With full and accurate statistics every farmer would know at once whether holding his corn was worth while, or would only increase his loss. Now he only guesses it.