support each horse requires as much land as would upon an average support eight men. If this quantity of animal power were displaced by steam-engines, and the means of transport drawn from the bowels of the earth, instead of being raised upon its surface, then, supposing the above calculation correct, as much land would become available for the support of human beings as would suffice for an additional population of eight millions; or, what amounts to the same, would increase the means of support of the present population by about one third of the present available means. The land which now supports horses for transport on turnpike roads would then support men, or produce corn for food, and the horses return to agricultural pursuits.
The objection that a quantity of land exists in the country capable of supporting horses alone, and that such land would be thrown out of cultivation, scarcely deserves notice here. The existence of any considerable quantity of such land is extremely doubtful. What is the soil which will feed a horse, and not feed oxen, cows, or sheep, or produce food for man? But even if it be admitted that there exists in the country a small portion of such land, that portion cannot exceed, nor indeed equal, what would be sufficient for the number of horses which must after all continue to be employed for the purposes of husbandry, pleasure, and a variety of cases where steam must necessarily be inapplicable. It is to be remembered, also, that the displacing of horses in one extensive occupation, by diminishing their price, must necessarily increase the demand for them in others.
The reduction in the cost of transport of manufactured articles, by lowering their price in the market, will stimulate their consumption. This observation
