State Agricultural Society. 



267 



foin, a crop good for six or seven years, has proved advantageous; also, 

 of buckwheat for fodder. 



In seventeen hundred and eighty nine million acres were cultivated; 

 in eighteen hundred and sixty-nine, thirty-six million one hundred thou- 

 sand" one hundred and fifty-three; in eighteen hundred and seventy, 

 forty-six million one hundred and seventy-seven thousand three hundred 

 and seventy; of which eleven million seven hundred and fifty-five thou- 

 sand and fifty-three acres were devoted to wheat culture. How far that 

 goes in feeding the English millions is best seen by a statement of the 

 imports of wheat and flour from the United States for the last fifteen 

 years: 



Year. 



Cwt. Wheat. 



Cwt. Fiour. 



1856. 

 1857. 

 1858. 

 1859. 

 1860, 

 1861. 

 1862, 

 1863, 

 1864 

 1865, 

 1866, 

 1867, 

 1868 

 1870 



5,542,983 



2,819,934 



2,567,991 



159,926 



6,479,339 



10,866,891 



16,140,670 



8,704,401 



7,895,015 



1,177,618 



635,239 



4,188,013 



5,908,149 



12,372,176 



2,892,518 



1,464,867 



1,764,795 



216,462 



2,254,322 



3.794,865 



4,449,534 



2,531,822 



1,745,933 



256,769 



280,792 



722,976 



676.192 



2,154,751 



SCOTLAND. 



Of Scotch farming, it may be said that it has made great advances in 

 the last century, chiefly from the superior education of the agricultural 

 class. So great have been the agricultural improvements that it is said 

 the climate is already perceptibly ameliorated, the Winters commencing 

 a month later and the snow disappearing a month earlier. Until the 

 breaking up of the clans and the large consequent emigration of the 

 Highlanders to Canada, there was no husbandry in Scotland worthy of 

 the name. It now produces the finest wheat in the United Kingdom. 

 The farms range from fifty to a thousand acres; the latter, however, is 

 exceptionally large. One fifth of the cereal crops are oats. The breed- 

 ing of pedigree cattle and sheep commands the attention of the best 

 Scotch farmers. The condition of farm laborers is far superior to that 

 in England, and rural economy better understood. 



Mr. W. Little, in a treatise on the technical education of farmers, 

 says: "The success to which British farming has arrived is owing to 

 mechanical rather than scientific causes. Drainage, steam culture, and 

 a liberal use of capital, we have tried; but now chemistry, in its applica- 

 tion to artificial manures, is taking such a prominent position, it is of 

 the first importance that our farmers should be educated, should have 

 such a general knowledge of science, as will serve them in their labors." 



