was just coming in, but was not much used till some
years later. In 1840 Liebig suggested the treatment of bones with
sulphuric acid, and in 1843 Lawes patented the process and set up his
works at Deptford.[624]

Italian rye grass, not to be confounded with the old English ray
grass, had been introduced by Thomson of Banchory, in 1834, from
Munich;[625] and though the swede was known at the end of the
eighteenth century, in many parts it had only just become common. In
Notts it was in 1844 described as having recently become 'the
sheet-anchor of the farmer'.[626] In Cheshire a writer at the same
date said, 'in the year 1814 there were not 5 acres of Swedish turnips
grown in the parish where I reside; now there are from 60 to 80, and
in many parts of the county the increase has been in a much greater
ratio.'[627]

About this time a remedy was found in the south for leaving the land
idle during the nine months between harvesting the corn crop in
August, and sowing the turnip crop in the following June, by sowing
rye, which was eaten green by the sheep in May, a good preparation for
the succeeding winter crop. Turnip cutters were at last being used,
and corn and cake crushers soon followed.

The seasons from 1838 to 1841 were bad, and must be characterized as
a period of dearth, wheat keeping at a good price.[628] That of 1844-5
was remarkable for the first general appearance of the potato disease,
not only in these islands but on the continent of Europe.[629] In
August, 1846, the worst apprehensions of the failure of the crop were
more than realized, and the terrible results in Ireland are well
known. In the early part of 1847 there was a fear of scarcity in corn,
and the price of wheat rose to 102s. 5d. in spite of an importation of
4,500,000 quarters, but this was largely owing to the absence of any
reliable agricultural statistics, which were not furnished till 1866,
and the price soon fell.[630]

We have now reached the period of free trade, when the Corn Laws,
which had protected agriculture more or less effectually for so long,
were definitely abandoned. That they had failed to prevent great
fluctuations in the price of corn is abundantly evident, it is also
equally evident that they kept up the average price; in the ten years
from 1837 to 1846, the average price of wheat was 58s. 7d. a quarter,
in the seven years from 1848 to 1853, the average price was 48s.
2d.[631]

The average imports of wheat and flour