nd, he introduced the famous Act, 9 & 10 Vict. c.
22.

By this the maximum duty on imported wheat was at once to be reduced
to 10s. a quarter when the price was under 48s., to 5s. on barley when
the price was under 26s., and to 4s. on oats when the price was under
18s., with lower duties as prices rose above these figures, but the
most important part of the Act was that on February 1, 1849, these
duties were to cease, and only a nominal duty of 1s. a quarter on
foreign corn be retained, which was abolished in 1860.

By 9 and 10 Vict. c. 23 the duties on live stock were also abolished
entirely. Down to 1842 the importation of horned cattle, sheep, hogs,
and other animals used as food was strictly prohibited,[638] but in
that year the prohibition was withdrawn and they were allowed to enter
the country on a payment of 20s. a head on oxen and bulls, 15s. on
cows, 3s. on sheep, 5s. on hogs; which duties continued till 1846.

It is interesting to find that so shrewd an observer as McCulloch did
not expect any great increase in the imports of live animals from the
reduction of the duties, but he anticipated a great increase in salted
meat from abroad; cold storage being then undreamt of.

The full effect of this momentous change was not to be felt for a
generation, but the immediate effect was an agricultural panic
apparently justified by falling prices. In 1850 wheat averaged 40s.
3d. and in 1851 38s. 6d. On the other hand, stock farmers were doing
well. But on the corn lands the prices of the protection era had to
come down; many farms were thrown up, some arable turned into pasture;
distress was widespread. Owing to the depressed state of agriculture
in 1850, the _Times_ sent James Caird on a tour through England, and
one of the most important conclusions arrived at in his account of his
tour is, that owing to protection, the majority of landowners had
neglected their land; but another cause of neglect was that the great
body of English landlords knew nothing of the management of their
estates, and committed it to agents who knew little more and merely
received the rents. The important business of being a landowner is the
only one for which no special training is provided. Many of the
landlords, however, then, as now, were unable to improve their estates
if they desired to do so, as they were hopelessly encumbered, and the
expense of sale was almost prohibitive. The contrast between good and
bad farmers was more marked