Nepaul Barley. 75 



Even supposing this country to be restricted to the produce of her 

 own soil, at tho present ratio of increase and of consumption, " the 

 natural limit of population" may be attained in forty-seven years. 



Ireland is capable of sustaining double the number of its present 

 inhabitants. 



The quantity of grain of all kinds requisito to the sustenance of the 

 population is estimated at about two quarters to each individual. A 

 table, carefully compiled from the London Gazette, by Mr. J. Young, 

 in November, 1841, gives tho following results, as the consumption for 

 the year 1835:— 



Quarters Consumed by 



Man. Animals. Seed. Distilling, &c. Manufactures. Total 



Wheat 18,696,694 — 3,277,143 — 966,163 22,940,000 



Oats, 12,845,000 16,000,000 4,807,500 — — 33,652,500 



Barley, 2,828.571 348,858 1,810,000 7,688,571 — 12,670,000 



Rye,. 790,000 20,000 190,000 — 300,000 1,300,000 



Beans and Pease,.. 1,000,000 2,187,480 531,270 — — 3,718,750 



36,160,265 18,550,338 10,615,913 7,688,571 1,266,163 74,281,250 



These are the ascertained quantities used by 26£ millions of inhabitants. 

 Do.' do. lj — animals. 



The wheat imported for the ten years prior to 1841 for home con- 

 sumpt averaged 790,918 qrs. each year. 



The nett imports of 1838, 39, 40, averaged 1,911,494 qrs. per annum, 

 that of 1839 being the highest, viz.: 2,626,786 qrs., which, at sixty 

 shillings a quarter, would cost £7,880,358 ; the duty paid amounted 

 to £631,608. 



The paper concluded by urging the necessity of government obtain- 

 ing annual returns of the produce and classification of lands, similar 

 to the celebrated Doomsday-book, to be included in the schedules 

 issued to the agriculturists. 



XII. — Nepaul Barley. 



A note from Mr. Fleming of Barochan, to Dr. R. D. Thomson, 

 was read, stating the result of an experiment with Nepaul Barley, 

 which Dr. T. had procured from Dr. Balfour. 



" The land upon which the Barley was sown had been in potatoes the 

 year before, and manured with 24 tons of good dung, and 14 bushels 

 of bone dust, per imperial acre. It was sown thin, but it did not 

 tiller out much, and remained, of course, thin on the ground, although 

 it came into ear ten days before tho common barley in the same field. 

 It did not ripen earlier, and was greatly deficient in straw. It how- 

 ever yielded a fair return of grain, considering it was so thin on tho 

 ground. The following arc the comparative results from common 

 and Nepaul barley on the same field: — 



